Three hours of lecture and one hour of discussion per week.

Prerequisite: ECON 201A or equivalent or consent of instructor.

Course emphasizes how to model and test hypotheses using microeconomic tools. We emphasize problems from agriculture, natural resources, and industrial organization. Jeff Perloff teaches the first half of ARE 202, and Sofia Berto Villas-Boas covers the second half.

Course Outline to download.

First Half Course Materials are available on b-space.

Second Half Course Materials are available here .

First Year Graduate Studies

The course makes extensive use of microeconomic modeling techniques including equilibrium concepts, comparative statics, and welfare economics using partial and general equilibrium models. The course concentrates on industrial organization: dominant firm and competitive fringe, oligopoly, monopolistic competition, vertical integration, price discrimination, and economics of information with applications to agriculture, food retailing, cooperatives, fishing, and energy.

For the topics we cover, we shall focus on one of the models and take the first steps towards formulating an empirical paper strategy. We shall collect data, discuss main features of the data and how they link to the model we covered, and then using theoretical predictions and equilibrium condititions we shall discuss how to take theory to the data. The last step is to estimate the model and test reduced form theroretical predictions we shall derive. The last problem set has an empirical compenent, and students will get familiar with matlab and stata.

Each student shall present a classic and/or a second year paper from a previous year among a list of topics that are below.I will provide students with a "format" to present a paper, with steps to structure the presentation, and also how to discuss a paper/ referee a paper.

Spring 2005 Course Materials

Spring 2006 Course Materials

Spring 2007 Course Materials

Spring 2008 Course Materials

Spring 2009 Course Materials