ECN7520 Economic and Financial Forecasting

3 Credits If you have taken and passed QTM9501, you cannot register for ECN7520, as these two courses are equivalent

Do you anticipate making or evaluating economic and business forecasts in your career? This _hands-on_ course provides students a comprehensive introduction to the field of forecasting and econometrics. It covers three main areas of forecasting: basic statistical methods, structural models, and time series models. Throughout the course we will focus on applied examples and use software to forecast key economic and business measures of performance (such as asset pricing, investment risk, interest rates, unemployment rates, industry level and firm level sales, revenues and other variables) while learning to assess the strengths and weaknesses of these forecasts.

These techniques can improve corporate financial planning, marketing, sales forecasts, production planning, and many other decisions where better predictions in light of uncertainty can reduce costs, raise profits and lead to better decision-making.

Prerequisites: None

ECN7500 Economic Analysis for Business Decisions
3 Elective CreditsIf you have taken and passed ECN7200 you cannot register for ECN7500 as these two courses are equivalent

Running a successful business requires decision-making that is informed by an understanding of the market environment in which the firm operates. Business leaders and entrepreneurs need analytical skills and the ability to anticipate market dynamics if they are going to manage for growth. Economic Analysis for Business Decisions provides students strategic and tactical competencies such as: sizing market demand, identifying market opportunities, differentiating products and services effectively, strategic pricing, cost modeling, determining optimal firm size and identifying sources of market power. With these competencies in hand, students will then develop the ability to determine the best competitive strategies based on a clear understanding of an industry's structure and behavior, and the firm's advantages within the larger market. Students will use game theory to model strategic behavior, consider the firm's responsibilities and the government's role in correcting market failures, and will leave the course with an ability to create business models that will grow stakeholder value.

Prerequisites: None

ECN6300 Economic Analytics
3 Blended CreditsThis course provides a framework for systematic analysis of consumer and firm's choices in light of global market dynamics to create and capture value, given the firm's and industry's market structure.

This course can be broken down across three phases:

- Foundation: Economic data sources for business; economics theories and models related to analytics in business (e.g. maximization of consumer utility/satisfaction; consumer and firm behavior).
- Intermediate: Linear and non-linear models in the context of business applications (e.g. elasticity and demand; marginal productivity; sales simulation; quantifying impacts of government policies on business); Association and Causality; logit and multinomial logit for multiple outcomes (e.g. predicting choices of different brands; predicting market shares of different products).
- Advanced: Time series (AR, MA, ARMA and ARIMA), exponential smoothing, and trend models (e.g. their applications in sales and revenue forecasting, human resource and customer service); how to present economics findings for business purposes.

SCN3630 Economics Botany
Advanced Liberal ArtsThis course will investigate the relationship between plants and society. Without plants and plant products humans would be hungry, naked, and lacking oxygen to breath. We will begin by exploring the basics of different plant parts and how plants grow and reproduce. We will then examine plants as sources of food, materials, perfumes, drugs, and medicines. Throughout the course we will discuss the role plants have played in influencing economics, language, politics, and religion. Current topics of particular interest for this course include the debate over genetically engineered crops, the development of new pharmaceutical medicines, the changes in human diet, and the use of plant products in new technologies. This course will emphasize the development of skills in critical thinking, synthesis of information, science literacy, hand-on exercises, and current topical issues in plant biology.

Prerequisites: NST I

ECN7550 Business Strategy and Game Theory
3 Elective CreditsThis course makes extensive use of Game Theory (in addition to applied economics and other emerging strategic models) to provide a systematic and rigorous approach for formulating winning strategies for creating and capturing value in the context of interdependence and uncertainty. This course will empower you with the knowledge and skills to frame the strategic questions for data analysis and turn data into strategic insight and foresight for agile startups as well as for large corporations. Case studies are used to illustrate successful application of strategies. The teaching method utilizes simulations, gaming, and practical, case-based discussions. Topics include: threats and opportunities in the supply chain, the dynamics of pricing rivalry, entry decisions/entry deterrence, mergers and acquisitions, strategic commitment, negotiating, bidding, and managing innovation for sustaining competitive advantage. Antitrust issues are also addressed.

Prerequisites: ECN7200 or ECN7500

ECN3663 Economics of Education
4 Advanced Liberal Arts CreditsHuman capital development is a critical and expensive social investment, leading to intense debates about education policies, such as public funding for private schools, access to "free" community college, and college student-loan burdens. We will examine education's critical role in growth, development, equitable outcomes, and economic well-being for individuals and societies. We will apply economic theories, methods, and frameworks to analyze educational problems, considering potential goals of efficiency, adequacy, and equity; to discuss policy context and implications; and to explore innovation in educational settings.

Prerequisites: SME2031 or ECN2002

ECN3671 The Economics of Labor Markets
4 Advanced Liberal Arts Elective CreditsLabor earnings provide over sixty percent of household income in the United States, driving the U.S. economy just as labor drives economies around the globe. The theoretical foundations for analyzing labor demand and supply will be the starting point for examining a range of labor market topics such as human capital investment, wage determination and inequality, the impact of robotics and artificial intelligence on employment, the choice between work and household production, the effect of unions on the labor market, labor mobility and migration, labor market discrimination, and the effects of taxation, regulation, unemployment insurance and other government policies on labor market outcomes.

Prerequisites: SME2031 or ECN2002

EPS8573 Entrepreneurship Intensity Track (EIT)
Regular Speaker: EIR Rich Palmer

****THIS COURSE REQUIRES ACCEPTANCE INTO THE EIT PROGRAM. Registration is manual for students who have been accepted into the program****Students selected for the EIT: Entrepreneurship Intensity Track course will engage in rigorous practice and a reality-based curriculum that includes both classroom and outside class activity. Students will also work with an outside mentor to help them execute on their business concept. As such, the emphasis of the course is not idea conception or creation but execution of an already formed concept from your prior courses and experiences. EIT is focused on developing and enhancing the student's knowledge and experience in order to maximize their prospects for starting a successful business during the course or soon after completion. The course combines readings, discussions, lectures, conceptual tools, and guest speakers, all with an emphasis on the practical steps that students need to get their business up and running. Given this, EIT is not an introductory course focused on the beginning of the entrepreneurial experience, but instead focuses on idea refinement, execution, launch, and growth.

Prerequisites: Completion of one of the following courses: EPS7500 or EPS7530 or EPS7545 or EPS7546

NST1030 Electronics
4 Foundation Liberal Arts CreditsElectronic devices transform the way people work and communicate. This course will focus on understanding the inner workings of those devices to provide a background on what they can and cannot do. We will also explore the impact of resource limitations on electronics, and how electronics can contribute to solving some resource issues.

Prerequisites: None

LIB3603 Encounters with the BRIC
2 Advanced Liberal Arts CreditsOffered to students in the BRIC Program