ECN 201 Principles of Microeconomics (3 credits)
Basic concepts of Economics. Overview of microeconomics, concepts, tools and techniques. Theory of demand, Elasticity consumer behaviour and market demand. Theory of production: production and cost functions. Price and out put determination in different product markets. Perfect competition, monopoly, oligopoly and monopolistic competition. Factor markets, pricing of factors of production. Markets and economic efficiency: public goods and externalities.

ECN 202 Principles of Macroeconomics (3 credits)

Basic concepts of Economics. Macroeconomics, concepts, tools and techniques are introduced in this course. National income and other related concepts. Measurements and use, aggregate demand and supply, consumption and saving, investment. Demand and supply of money, and demand and supply of labor. Theories of national income determination in a closed economy. Business cycles, unemployment and inflation, fiscal, monetary and income policies. National income determination in an open economy, internal and external balance. Economic growth. Introduction to different schools of macroeconomics with respect to the determination of output, employment, unemployment, interest rates, inflation. Introduces basic models of macroeconomics and illustrates principles with the experience of different economies.

(Prerequisite: ECN 201)

ECN 203 Mathematics for Economics (3 credits)
Why economists use mathematics? Economic variables and their relations. Formalizing decisions as functions. Differential calculus and its uses. Constrained optimization: profit maximization and cost minimization. Preferences and demand function; technologies and cost functions; Systems of linear equations; Matrix algebra and input output models; exchange models; Linear programming; Introduction to integral calculus and differential equations.
(Prerequisite: MAT 101)

ECN 220 Economy of Bangladesh (3 credits)
Overview of Bangladesh economy in transition; brief historical background. Resource base: natural and human; capital accumulation and financial growth; Long-term structural transformation; Agrarian transformation: green revolution, structure of agriculture; food production. Rural transformation: growth of off-farm employment; Urbanization; Demographic transition; industrialization; growth of services; financial transformation: money, credit and capital. Infrastructure development: physical and social. Development policy in transition; NGOs and private sector’s contribution; international trade, aid and remittances. Growth outlook.
(Prerequisite: ECN 201, ECN 202)

ECN 301 Intermediate Microeconomics (3 credits)
More advanced than ECN201, this course studies issues of microeconomic modeling. Modeling of individual decision: optimal choice by consumers, producers, savers and investors; Modeling social choice; Modeling market interactions: price theory. Modeling bargaining and competition; Modeling choice of technology; modeling fertility choices.
(Prerequisite: ECN 201, ECN 202)

ECN 302 Intermediate Macroeconomics (3 credits)
More advanced than ECN202, this course studies issues of macroeconomic modeling and major debates on Say’s law, Phillips Curve, neutrality of money and real business cycle. Modeling Say’s Law; Why Say’s Law fails? Modeling Keynesian AD-AS interaction with inflationary and deflationary gaps; savings-investment equilibrium, IS-LM framework; Closed and open economy models; Modeling Phillips curve and its criticisms; Modeling expectations: Keynesian animal spirit, adaptive and rational expectations; Modeling the role of money; the multiplier model; modeling business cycles; studying the effects of money supply shocks on prices and outputs. Neutrality versus non-neutrality of money. Critical evaluation of classical, Keynesian, monetarist, and new classical macroeconomics.
(Prerequisite: ECN 201, ECN 202)

ECN 308 International Trade (3 credits)
From autarky to trade: institutional prerequisites for trade. Gains from trade: Ricardian and Mengerian measures of gain. Brief review of classical trade theory: Smith and Ricardo. Neoclassical trade theory of Heckscher, Ohlin, and Samuelson. Factor abundance and factor proportions; Rybczynski Theorem. Stolper- Samuelson theorem. Factor Price Equalisation. Leontief paradox. Role of money in tarde: Growth and trade: the source of economic growth. The effects of growth on small country/ immiserisation thesis, Prebisch thesis. terms of trade. Growth in the world trade and its impact on north and south. Tariff. partial and general equilibrium analysis of tariff. The optimal tariff. Protection and its costs; Arguments for and against protection. Export taxes and subsidies. Quantitative restrictions. International cartel, dumping and voluntary restrictions, customs unions and economic integration.
(Prerequisite: ECN 201, ECN 202)

ECN 310 Money and Banking (3 credits)
FFinancial markets and institutions; development of contemporary system of money, banking, and financial institutions. Central bank policy, policy goals and tools; operation of the central bank in regulating financial institutions and in controlling inflation and unemployment; Regulation of capital markets, speculative markets, and portfolio theory. Financial instruments: money, bond/debt, stock/equity, and domestic/foreign currency markets; Adverse selection and moral hazard in determining what types of financial instruments exist and how financial markets and institutions are organized: micro-credit movement;; global financial flows and Bangladesh.
(Prerequisite: ECN 201, ECN 202)

ECN 320 Econometrics (3 credits)
This course provides an introduction to multiple linear regression methods, including the use in estimating and testing the validity of models in economics, finance and business. The topics covered include the classical assumptions underlying the linear model; the properties of the ordinary least squares estimator; probability distributions and their application to interval estimation and hypothesis testing; the generalized least squares estimator; an introduction to the problems of heteroscedasticity, serial correlation, multicollinearity, structural breaks and stochastic regressors.
(Prerequisite: MAT 211, ECN203)

ECN 330 Development Economics (3 credits)

This course examines theoretical and empirical issues in economic development, focusing on the nature of development; the role of history and expectations in development process; interconnections between economic inequality and development; population, education and human capital issues; household, family and gender concern; the rural – urban migration; markets in agriculture; credit markets, insurance and savings; political economy of development. The objective of the course is to provide students with the necessary knowledge and skills to interpret academic literature on development and to draw implications for policy.
(Prerequisite: ECN 201, ECN 202)

ECN 350/ENV 301 Environmental Economics (3 credits)
The course starts with a discussion of growth, environmental restriction and sustainability. The basic economic concepts of government regulations and market failure, externality, public goods and (common) property are explained. This forms a basis for discussing and comparing various policy instruments such as command-and-control regulation, taxes, tradable permits and the criteria by which to judge various policy instruments when they are actually implemented in complex real world situation. Some time is also spent on natural resource accounting, cost-benefit analysis and on discussing the various complex issues of valuing environmental services, the use of shadow prices etc.
(Prerequisite: ECN 201, ECN 202)

ECN 401 Microeconomic Theory (3 credits)
The course will attempt to develop students’ capacity for strategic reasoning via the translation of economic stories into simple models, spelling out every step of each argument in detail. The broad objective of the course is to lay the foundation for empirical applications in microeconomics. In order to accomplish this broad objective, the course discusses theory of the firm, consumer behavior, market structure, theory of public goods and externalities, welfare economics, and information economics.
(Prerequisite: ECN 301)

ECN 402 Macroeconomic Theory (3 credits)
The course involves discussions on neoclassical and endogenous growth theories, real business cycle and new Keynesian theories of economic fluctuations, monetary theory, macroeconomic policy, and open-economy macroeconomics. Topics also include; consumption theories, theories of prices, output inflation and unemployment. Fiscal and monetary policy.
(Prerequisite: ECN 302)

 

ECN/FIN 470 International Finance (3 credits)
Analysis of the impact of international trade and payments on price formation, allocation of resource, economic welfare, and the level of economic activity in trading countries. Political considerations. Full employment, effects and considerations. Price stability. Economic growth. Free trade. Fixed and flexible exchange rates. Capital Mobility. Equilibrium on the balance of international payments.
(Prerequisite: ECN 201, ECN 202)

ECN 486 Research Methodology (3 credits)

This course provides an introduction to the fundamentals of social research by comparing the approaches of several different research methods. Focusing on research design, data collection, data analysis, and the ethics of research, the students will explore the strengths and weaknesses of the different methods. The ultimate goals of the course are (1) to have developed the ability to critically evaluate various forms of social research from a methodological standpoint and (2) to be able to conceptualize and design a research project at the end of the course.
(Prerequisite: ECN 320)

ECN 490 Research Paper/ Thesis (6 credits)
Students will write a research essay by end of the undergraduate program to demonstrate skills learned in the program. This will be individual supervision by faculty members; student will propose their research title and supervisors name to the department for approval at least three months in advance. The length of the essay should be approximately 50 pages.
(Prerequisite: ECN 320, ECN 486)

Elective Courses

ECN 303 Agricultural Economics (3 credits)
This course will cover the rationale for government intervention in the agri-food sector, policy objectives and instruments of government intervention, international trade, agricultural protectionism and WTO; and world food safety and food security. Other topics to be covered will include characteristics and determinants of agricultural demand and supply, economic analysis of rural households, government support mechanisms, economics of food safety and security, economics of share-cropping, sustainable resource use and environmental protection.
(Prerequisite: ECN 201, ECN 202)

ECN 335 Political Economy of Development (3 credits)
Economic development under colonialism, the colonial legacy, population, trade and development, land reform, the Green Revolution, industrialization strategies, distribution of the gains from development and growth. Political economy of institutions and research methodology in political economy is also discussed. Each topic is discussed in the context of a developing country. Comparative analyses of different economies are considered.
(Prerequisite: ECN 201, ECN 202)

ECN 340 Public Finance (3 credits)
Economic analysis of governmental activity, Public goods and externalities, Collective choice, Cost benefit analysis, Public welfare programs, Microeconomics of taxation, Efficiency, incidence, Effect on distribution of income, Personal and corporate taxes including VAT, Taxation of property and estates.
(Prerequisite: ECN 201)

 

ECN 351 Labor Economics (3 credits)
This course is an introduction to the study of labor economics. It provides an overview of labor supply and labor demand models, with extensions to models of taxes and tax credits, welfare, and social security. The focus then shifts to models of wage determination and extensions such as the effects of minimum wage, performance-based pay, unions, and discrimination. The course will be equally devoted to both theoretical and empirical analysis of these issues. Topics broadly covers; demand for labor, overview of labor market and elasticity, supply of labor, labor unions, human capital theory, labor mobility and wage differentials, international labor mobility
(Prerequisite: ECN 301)

ECN 361 History of Economic Thought (3 credits)
The purpose of the course is to give the students an overview of the growth and development of the economic thought. Topics covered: Introduction to different schools of thought, Ancient and Medieval Economic Thought, Mercantilism, Harbingers of Adam Smith, Adam Smith: Value Theory, Growth and Income Distribution, Political Economy and Ideology; Malthus and Ricardo: Population and Scarcity, the theory of Value and Distribution, Accumulation and Gluts; Karl Marx: Value Theory, Accumulation, Growth and Crises. Developments and formations of modern economics in light of economic history; recent development is economic thoughts such as rational expectations, experimental economics and role of game theory in economics.
(Prerequisite: ECN 201, ECN 202)

ECN 380 Urban and Regional Economics (3 credits)
This course is an extension of microeconomic foundations of regional and urban economics to recent advances in economic growth and development, economic structure, land-use, public finance, housing, social welfare, environmental quality, and transportation. It will also analyze the urban growth and development, and regional economic development within the framework of economic theory. The discussion centers on urban and regional growth, urban problem areas and urban-regional policy issues, analysis of the underlying concepts and characteristic features of modern economic systems.
(Prerequisite: ECN 201)

 

ECN 382 Health Economics (3 credits)
This course covers the application of economic principles to the study of health. Topics include the demand for health care and its supply; issues in health care finance, including uncertainty, insurance, and the rationale for public and private provision; the extent to which welfare economics can be applied to health, including definitions of inequality and the links between inequalities in income and health; health services for the poor and the role of government and health in the context of a developing country; overview of the national health system and recent development in Bangladesh health system; and evaluation of health care treatments with focus on cost effectiveness and cost utility analysis.

(Prerequisite: ECN 201)

ECN 385 Industrial Organization (3 credits)
This course is a relatively advanced undergraduate course in Industrial Organization. In this course we will consider variations in the market structures away from extremes of perfect competition and monopoly. Topics include; overview of course; competition policy: history, welfare measures, competition law; monopoly; static games and Cournot competition; Bertrand competition; Dynamic Games and First and Second Movers; Collusion; product differentiation; limit pricing and entry deterrence; bundling: theory and policy issues; advertising; research and development; mergers.
(Prerequisite: ECN 301)

ECN 420 Applied Econometrics (3 credits)
Topics covered include applied regression tools, including simple and multivariate regression analysis; linear, non-linear, and qualitative dependent variable models, distributed lags, seemingly unrelated regression, model specification and validation tests.
(Prerequisite: ECN 320)

ECN 425 Mathematical Economics (3 credits)
The objective of this course in Mathematical Economics is to prepare students for future graduate level course work in the field of economics. Optimization problems: the n-variable case; optimization with equality constraints: the n-variable case; first and second order differential equations; first and second order difference equations. concavity and static optimization. Concave functions; homogeneous functions; constrained optimization and Kuhn-Tucker conditions; closed, convex and compact sets; quasi-concave functions; the envelope theorem; applications to consumer and producer theory; continuous time dynamics and dynamic optimization. Hamiltonians, maximum principle conditions and time dynamic optimization models.
(Prerequisite: ECN 203)

ECN 431 Welfare Economics (3 credits)
The course covers welfare theory, theory of public goods, cost benefit analysis, budgetary issues and legislation, public choice, taxation theory and practice, tax reform, the welfare state, efficiency, targeting and poverty traps, insurance markets, social insurance, pensions and the economics of the ageing population. The course draws on the rich source of innovative developments in state expenditure, project evaluation, taxation, privatization and accountability that are associated with the public sector and tax reforms from local, regional and international cases.
(Prerequisite: ECN 301)

ECN 435 Game Theory (3 credits)
In this course, the basic tools of game theoretic analysis will be introduced. Some of the many applications of game theory, primarily in economics and political science will be introduced. The course discusses the following main themes of models of imperfect competition, evolution of game theory and description of economic behavior, and repeated games and cooperative behavior.
(Prerequisite: ECN 301)

ECN 441/ENV404 Natural Resource Economics (3 credits)
An Overview of Depletable and Renewable Resource Use. Depletable Energy Resources: Oil,Gas,Coal and Uranium. Recyclable Resources: Soalr,Water and Wind. Petroleum and OPEC. Water as a depletable resource. Agriculture as a private resource. The forests as a storable resource.The fisheries as a common- property resource. Generalized Resource Scarcity. Case studies on the economic of energy, environment and development.
(Prerequisite: ECN 201)

ECN 442 Gender and Development (3 credits)
The course will primarily focus on the main models used in gender and development theory and to compare the strengths and weaknesses of these models. It will discuss the background to the emergence of gender awareness in development theory and practice as well as define ‘social development’ and identify its origins in development theory and practice. It also touches upon the factors determining the social development agenda and models, such as home production models.
(Prerequisite: ECN 201, ECN 202)

ECN 445 Technology and Economic Development (3 credits)
The course will begin with an overview of theories of economic growth and role of technology in the models. This course also aims to discuss theoretical technology diffusion models and reasons for unequal access to Information and Communication Technologies ( ICTs) within developing countries and between courtiers. This will cover specific topics related to sources and dynamics of technical innovation in different countries with specific reference to economic development.
(Prerequisite: ECN 301, ECN 302)

ECN 450 Project Analysis (3 credits)
The topics in the course include; Pareto optimality, actual or potential Pareto improvements, public goods vs private goods and the general principles of valuation of benefits and costs, the concept of net social benefit, specific guidelines, the competitive market, valuation with market prices, valuation without market prices.
(Prerequisite: ECN 301)