Please consult the New School Course Catalog for a full course list. Fall 2024 courses include:
Math for Economics, GECO5010
Jennifer Wilson, Associate Professor of Mathematics
This course provides students with the mathematical tools they need for graduate courses in microeconomics, macroeconomics, econometrics, and finance and prepares them students to read classic texts such as Varian's Microeconomic Analysis without getting bogged down in mathematical details. The first third of the course covers matrix algebra and its use in solving systems of equations and equilibrium points, as well as probability and discrete probability distributions. The central portion focuses on interpretation and applications of one- and two-variable calculus, including graphical analysis, derivatives and integrals, and optimization of functions. The final portion provides an introduction to difference and differential equations. The focus will be on conceptual understanding, problem solving, and developing familiarity with mathematical notations and arguments. Prerequisites: Students should have some experience with calculus.
Financial Macroeconomics, GECO5080
Jan Kregel, Part-Time Faculty
This course seeks to integrate money and finance with macroeconomics. It builds on the theories of 19th- and 20th-century economists whose activity in financial markets led to monetary theories of the cycle that rejected the quantity theory of money. Part of this approach was a fiscal basis for finance, which has re-emerged in modern monetary theory. It also seeks to explain how Fisher and Keynes, whose active market participation produced a common monetary framework of analysis that provided the basis for modern financial practices, nonetheless produced diametrically opposed monetary and macroeconomic theories. It thus provides support for Minsky’s insistence that post-Keynesian economics eschews the separation of real and monetary analysis.
Historical Foundations of Political Economy I, GECO5104
Nikolaos Chatzarakis, Assistant Professor of Economics
This course provides an introduction to the history of classical economic thought. Classical economics provides important building blocks for an understanding of modern capitalism, as it attempts to integrate its economic analysis with social class, income distribution, real competition, technological change, the world economy, and the historical place and limits of industrial capitalism. It may thus help broaden and challenge the analytical scope of much contemporary economic thought. This course is the first of a two-part sequence and focuses on Quesnay, Smith, Ricardo, and Marx and on salient discussions and elaborations of their work—mainly the development of the labor theory of value and of general macroeconomic laws. Attention will be paid to the development of ideas in their historical context. No background in economics is required.
Economics of Climate Change, GECO6050
Willi Semmler, Arnhold Professor of International Cooperation and Development
This course deals with topics relating to the economics and politics of climate change. The focus is on the overuse of natural resources, resource depletion, the environmental effects of economic growth, and the economic causes and effects of climate change. We consider empirical trends of causal factors driving climate change and the frequency and severity of climate disasters. Integrating economic modeling and policies, we stress mitigation and adaptation policies, disaster risks and management, the transformation of the energy system, and ways of sharing the costs of climate policies. We discuss the effectiveness of regulatory instruments, cap and trade, the carbon tax, and fiscal and monetary policies. Other important issues considered are whether the financial market is a roadblock or a bridge to a low-carbon economy, the impact of climate change policies on employment and green jobs, and the widely discussed Green New Deal and IRA. We also study the extent to which international climate negotiations and treaties can be framed as cooperative or non-cooperative games. Finally, we explore the possibility of decarbonizing the economy by phasing in renewables and phasing out fossil fuel energy technology. Overall, we examine historical trends, empirics, modeling, and policies. Prerequisite: some knowledge of microeconomics and macroeconomics.
Graduate Macroeconomics, GECO6191
Steven Pressman, Part-Time Lecturer
This course covers the theory of macroeconomic fluctuations, economic growth, and income distribution. The first part of the course centers on the theory of economic fluctuations, aggregate demand, and the business cycle. Topics discussed include the role of the financial market and the dynamic interaction of the product, financial, and labor markets; the Phillips curve and the NAIRU; and monetary and fiscal policies. The second part of the course introduces classical, Keynesian, and neoclassical theories of economic growth and income distribution. In this context, the theory of endogenous growth and an open economy are also covered. There are two meetings each week: class (Tuesday) and lab (Thursday).
Advanced Macroeconomics I, GECO6202
Mark Setterfield, Professor of Economics
This course develops macroeconomics in the New School tradition, using neoclassical theory as a foil and emphasizing macroeconomic theory in the classical political economy and post-Keynesian traditions. Following a brief discussion of short-run macroeconomics that compares and contrasts new classical, real business cycle, and post-Keynesian approaches to the determination of output and employment, the course focuses on longer-term theories of growth, distribution, and technical change. Models developed include neoclassical theories of endogenous and semi-endogenous growth, and classical Marxian, neo-Keynesian, Kaleckian, and Kaldorian theories of growth and distribution. Topics covered include the question of whether growth is wage or profit led, the emergence and consequences of Harrodian instability, and reconciliation of actual and potential rates of growth. There are two meetings each week: class (Wednesday) and lab (Friday).
Labor Economics I: Labor, Development, and Gender, GECO 6270
Teresa Ghilarducci, Schwartz Professor of Economic Policy Analysis
Labor Economics I is a graduate survey course in labor economics. The course is aimed at surveying classic topics in labor economics to prepare students to engage in original research and teach labor economics in several economic traditions. The successful student will be able to distinguish between several schools of thought in labor economics: the neoclassical, institutionalism, and radical political economy. Specific objectives include understanding modern research methods in labor economics and the dominant and heterodox models of labor markets. Students will be able to explain the most important labor market outcomes using various analytical frameworks, including ones that assume varying degrees of market power, full employment, and constraints on choice. Some labor union history and regulatory issues will also be covered. Modern capitalism distributes resources in such a way that living standards, in terms of both material well-being and security, dignity, safety, and longevity, have never been more unequal. We look at how markets, institutions, and rules affect the power balances between capital and labor, employers and workers, and determine the value of people’s time and life as well as working conditions and wages and salaries.
Advanced Econometrics I, GECO6281
Kirstin Munro, Assistant Professor of Economics
This course is a survey of topics related to specification, estimation, diagnosis, inference, and interpretation in applied econometrics. Students begin the course by studying the history and epistemology of econometrics to provide a basis for their own use of statistical methods for economic research. A major course objective is for students to gain mastery in framing an answerable econometric research question, formulating a hypothesis, specifying and testing a model, interpreting the results, and reviewing and applying the relevant literature to contextualize findings. Techniques commonly used in contemporary applied econometrics (micro and macro) will be covered at an advanced level.
Development Economics: Theory and History, GECO6290
Aleksandr Gevorkyan, Part-Time Lecturer
This course is aimed at situating the discussion of development issues within a historical context. We start with the classical theories of development, move on to real-world development history, and end with discussions on contemporary development issues.
Institutional Political Economy, GECO5041
Jamee Moudud, Part-Time Assistant Professor
All economists, whether orthodox or heterodox, argue that “institutions matter.” In this course, we explore the tensions inherent in this claim by contrasting the orthodox new institutional economics (NIE) with a rival form that draws on the insights of the original institutional economics (OIE), Karl Polanyi, and American legal realism. The contemporary law and political economy (LPE) tradition, which builds on OIE and legal realism, is a vital extension of the broad heterodox economic tradition. It challenges law and economics, the World Bank’s global development policies, and neoclassical economics more generally. Rejecting the neoclassical view that “government intervention” may be merited when there are “market failures,” we use the concept of social cost theory to understand why private property rights are political, the legal basis of inequality and ecological degradation, the significance of technology platforms and disinformation, and the rise of authoritarian modes of market control, or authoritarian libertarianism. Finally, we explore the ways in which the LPE tradition extends insights regarding business investment, industrial competition, and class conflict in classical political economy. It will be shown that the LPE framework constitutes a powerful critique and alternative to the Washington Consensus while extending many insights from heterodox economics.
International Trade, GECO6252
William Milberg, Professor of Economics
This course will cover the theory of and empirical evidence for the relation between trade liberalization on the one hand and income distribution, economic growth, employment, and economic development on the other. We review the positive and normative theories of trade and then consider the limits of and alternatives to the general competitive neoclassical model. We focus on such issues as increasing returns to scale, trade in intermediates, monopoly product markets, oligopsony, gender-segmented labor markets, global value chains and unequal exchange, foreign direct investment, profit reinvestment, and financialization. We then analyze the relation between trade protection and economic growth and development, with an emphasis on both theory and policy considerations in contemporary trade relations (in the WTO and in multilateral and bilateral agreements) related to labor and environmental standards, investor protections, intellectual property, deindustrialization, and supply chain resilience.
Economics, Ethics, and Political Theory, GECO6300
Sanjay Reddy, Professor of Economics
This course surveys ways in which economic analyses are illuminated by considerations in ethics and in political philosophy, and vice versa. It includes a discussion of relevant debates in welfare economics, social choice theory, theories of justice, professional ethics, and other areas.