Economics is a social science that encompasses a particular range of human behaviour and has a strong influence on the structure, well-being, and development of a society.Much of human activity is directed towards the satisfaction of material wants. In many areas of the world, the greater part of human effort must be directed towards meeting the most elemental demands for food, clothing, and shelter. Even in technologically-advanced societies, where these basic requirements can be met with comparative ease, the desire for more goods and services never appears to be fully satisfied. In consequence, every society - regardless of whether it is capitalist, socialist or communist in political orientation - is both competitive and cooperative. It is competitive because its members contend with one another to satisfy their individual wants from a limited supply of productive resources. It is cooperative because the greatest supply of goods is available when the activity of producing them is coordinated and organized. Economics deals with any issue arising out of the conflict between the demand for goods and services, and a limited supply of resources to satisfy those demands.Undergraduate training in Economics is intended to familiarize students with the discipline of economic thinking, and to equip them for intelligent appraisal of contemporary economic problems. It is also intended to make students aware of the nature of economic science, and of the directions in which economic theory is moving.Economic theory now makes considerable use of mathematics in some of its enquiries. A student who chooses to specialize in Economics should take at least one basic course in mathematics. More such courses may be taken, as several Economics courses draw on mathematical analysis.Owing to advances in economic theory, an undergraduate degree is not sufficient to become a professional economist. For this or other reasons, graduate work may be necessary. Students who wish to do graduate work should seek advice from the department concerning their choice of courses.
The Certificate in Advanced Economics is open to students who seek a more formal and deeper analysis of economic models and their application. The requirements include core advanced courses in the three main fields of economics: microeconomics, macroeconomics, and econometrics that will help prepare students for graduate and professional studies as well as provide valuable applicable skills for future careers.
Essential Mathematics For Economic Analysis 4th Edition
My interests in applying mathematics to economics by becoming a mathematical economic theorist developed further upon taking a pair of graduate mathematical economics courses Linear and Convex SystemsThis course covered convex analysis, fixed point theorems, separating hyperplane theorems, general equilibrium theory, the fundamental theorems of welfare economics, and algorithms for computing fixed points and general equilibria of competitive economies.
I enrolled at Harvard University in what is now known as the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences to pursue a Ph.D. in applied mathematics at the age of 17. My Ph.D. dissertation was titled Asymptotic and Structural Stability of Signalling Equilibria. My principal thesis advisor was Kenneth J. Arrow, a recipient of the 1972 Nobel memorial prize in economic sciences at the age of 51, and who remains the youngest person ever to receive the Nobel memorial prize in economic sciences. Kenneth J. Arrow, General Economic Equilibrium: Purpose, Analytic Techniques, Collective Choice, 64 Am. Econ. Rev. 253 (1974) (Nobel lecture).
I also took in the spring semester of my first year of graduate school another fascinating course, A Mathematical Approach to General Equilibrium. This course covered the mathematics of combinatorial topology, differentiable topology, and algebraic topology. It also covered economic applications to general equilibrium theory and social choice theory, in addition to applications to biology, chemistry, and physics.
I was an economics instructor at Cañada Community College, assistant professor at Tulane University, and visiting assistant professor at the University of Iowa, Southern Methodist University, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of Southern California, and Stanford University. I have taught a diverse range of undergraduate and graduate economics courses: microeconomics principles, macroeconomics principles, intermediate microeconomics, industrial organization, public finance, mathematical economics, microeconomic theory, advanced microeconomic theory; law and economics, modern welfare economics, economics of the firm, organization economics, speculative markets, game theory and economic applications, and optimization and economic analysis. I have also taught these two courses in the finance department of the A.B. Freeman business school at Tulane University: investments, a standard required undergraduate business course, This course covered modern portfolio theory, capital asset pricing model, arbitrage pricing theory, bonds, stocks, mutual funds, and collectibles.
I have taught a diverse range of elective and required courses in law schools at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California, the University of Chicago, the University of Virginia, the University of Minnesota, and Yale University. I have taught these courses: business associations; business basics for lawyers; corporate finance; derivative securities and their regulation; economic analysis of law; financial decision-making; law and economics; law and human behavior; law, happiness, and neuroscience; law, happiness, and subjective well-being; law and popular culture; legal ethics and professionalism: business law issues; media, law and popular culture; neuroscience and law; securities regulation; securities litigation and enforcement; and torts. I was the inaugural Harold E. Kohn Chair professor at Temple University law school. I am currently a law professor and the inaugural DeMuth Chair of business law at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Two women behavioral law and economics scholars who each hold a J.D. and an economics Ph.D. asked me while I was a 1L whether I found being a law student or undergraduate mathematics major or graduate student in applied mathematics taking graduate economics courses to be more challenging or difficult. I told both of them such a comparison is like that between apples and oranges. That being said, I also told them that law school was often pedantic and unintellectual, while economics and mathematics were fun. Additionally, there is an about one order of magnitude difference between the couple of hundred first-year students in an entering class of a top law school program compared to about thirty first-year students in an entering class of a top economics graduate program. That difference reflects both applicant preferences and program selectivity. That difference also is associated with differences in student competition and culture. Graduate economics courses have Ph.D. teaching assistants running weekly sections and grading written homework assignments and midterms. Law school courses provide no such teaching support nor regular feedback to students.
Law professors can and should teach law students about empirically validated well-being mindsets, skills, strategies, techniques, and tools proven to mitigate the likelihood, duration, and severity of anxiety, depression, and chronic stress. Part III of the Article offers many possible resources to help law professors do this. First, this part of the Article discusses approaches that law professors, lawyers, and others have developed or suggested to teach law students about happiness and mindfulness. Second, this part of the Article discusses my experiences teaching law students about happiness and mindfulness. This discussion will be brief because I have already written elsewhere extensively about my experiences teaching about happiness and mindfulness to law students in torts, legal ethics and professionalism, economic analysis of law, neuroscience and law, media, law, and popular culture. Huang, supra note 1; Huang, supra note 2.
I have taught law students about happiness and mindfulness in these courses (in alphabetical order): economic analysis of law; financial decision-making; law and human behavior; law, happiness, and neuroscience; law, happiness, and subjective well-being; legal ethics and professionalism: business law issues; media, law, and popular culture; neuroscience and law, and torts. In many of these courses, I have assigned as required readings: an eight-page article about whether lawyers can learn to be happy, written by Ted David, who is a tax law professor, tax practitioner, former Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agent, and IRS District Counsel attorney; Ted David, Can Lawyers Learn to be Happy? The Practical Lawyer, Aug. 2011, at 29. 2ff7e9595c
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