Applied Economics

Description: Introduces principles of microeconomics as a framework for making more informed managerial decisions and policy analysis. Includes the analysis of competitive markets with supply and demand, sources of market power and strategic pricing. Also provides an introduction to game theory to illustrate competition, anti-trust policy, and how to generate cooperation both within and between firms. Expectations and evaluation criteria differ for students taking graduate version; consult syllabus or instructor for specific details. Intended for non-MBA students.

Professor(s) who recently taught this course:

• Joseph Doyle


• Michael Whinston

Description: Introduces principles of microeconomics as a framework for making more informed managerial decisions and policy analysis. Includes the analysis of competitive markets with supply and demand, sources of market power and strategic pricing. Also provides an introduction to game theory to illustrate competition, anti-trust policy, and how to generate cooperation both within and between firms. Expectations and evaluation criteria differ for students taking graduate version; consult syllabus or instructor for specific details. Intended for non-MBA students.

Description: Introduces principles of microeconomics as a framework for making more informed managerial decisions and policy analysis. Includes the analysis of competitive markets with supply and demand, sources of market power and strategic pricing. Also provides an introduction to game theory to illustrate competition, anti-trust policy, and how to generate cooperation both within and between firms. Expectations and evaluation criteria differ for students taking graduate version; consult syllabus or instructor for specific details.

Description: Uses case studies to investigate the macroeconomic environment in which firms operate. First half of subject develops the basic tools of macroeconomic management: monetary, fiscal, and exchange rate policy. Discusses recent emerging market and financial crises, examining their causes, how best to address them, and how to prevent them from recurring in the future. Second half evaluates different strategies of economic development. Topics include growth, the role of debt and foreign aid, and the reliance on natural resources.

Professor(s) who recently taught this course:

• Roberto Rigobon
• Tavneet Suri

Description: Establishes understanding of the development processes of societies and economies. Studies several dimensions of sustainability (environmental, social, political, institutional, economy, organizational, relational, and personal) and the balance among them. Explores the basics of governmental intervention, focusing on areas such as the judicial system, environment, social security, and health. Builds skills to determine what type of policy is most appropriate. Considers implications of new technologies on the financial sector: internationalization of currencies, mobile payment systems, and cryptocurrencies. Discusses the institutional framework to ensure choices are sustainable across all dimensions and applications.

Professor(s) who recently taught this course:

• Roberto Rigobon

Description: Focuses on the policy and economic environment of firms. Subject divided in two parts: study of the closed economy and how monetary and fiscal policy interacts with employment, GNP, inflation, and interest rates; and study of the open economy with discussion of recent financial and currency crises in developed and emerging markets. Restricted to MIT Sloan Fellows.

Description: Develops understanding of the fundamental economic factors that shape the market for real property, as well as the influence of capital markets in asset pricing. Analyzes of housing as well as commercial real estate. Covers demographic analysis, regional growth, construction cycles, urban land markets, and location theory. Exercises and modeling techniques for measuring and predicting property demand, supply, vacancy, and prices.

Professor(s) who recently taught this course:

• William Wheaton

Description: Develops facility with concepts, language, and analytical tools of economics. Primary focus on microeconomics, analysis of markets and strategic interactions among firms. Emphasizes integration of theory, data, and judgment in the analysis of corporate decisions, and in the assessment of the changing global business environment. Restricted to MIT Sloan Fellows in Innovation and Global Leadership.

Professor(s) who recently taught this course:

• Robert Gibbons
• Tavneet Suri

Description: Develops and applies principles of game theory relevant to managers' strategic decisions. Topics include how to reason about strategies and opponents; strategic commitment, reputation, and "irrational" actions; brinkmanship and negotiation; auctions; and the design of markets and contests. Applications to a variety of business decisions that arise in different industries, both within and outside the firm. Meets with 15.0251 when offered concurrently. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments.

Professor(s) who recently taught this course:

• Alessandro Bonatti

Description: Develops and applies principles of game theory relevant to managers' strategic decisions. Topics include how to reason about strategies and opponents; strategic commitment, reputation, and "irrational" actions; brinkmanship and negotiation; auctions; and the design of markets and contests. Applications to a variety of business decisions that arise in different industries, both within and outside the firm. Meets with 15.025 when offered concurrently. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments.

Professor(s) who recently taught this course:

• Alessandro Bonatti

Description: Provides an in-depth and interdisciplinary look at electric power systems, focusing on regulation as the link among engineering, economic, legal, and environmental viewpoints. Topics include electricity markets, incentive regulation of network utilities, retail competition, tariff design, distributed generation, rural electrification, multinational electricity markets, environmental impacts, future of utilities and strategic sustainability issues under both traditional and competitive regulatory frameworks. Background in policy, microeconomics, or engineering desirable.

Professor(s) who recently taught this course:

• Jose Ignacio Perez-Arriaga

Description: Enables students to evaluate the quality of evidence supported by data and to implement an empirical toolkit that provides credible answers to questions in finance, marketing, human resources, strategy, and general business planning. Uses econometrics as the underlying framework to develop deep understanding of regression modelling and its insights for data analytics using big and small data. Focuses primarily on empirical work conducted by students via in-class labs, problem sets, and projects. Expectations and evaluation criteria differ for students taking graduate version; consult syllabus or instructor for specific details.

Professor(s) who recently taught this course:

• Joseph Doyle
• Roberto Rigobon

Description: Enables students to evaluate the quality of evidence supported by data and to implement an empirical toolkit that provides credible answers to questions in finance, marketing, human resources, strategy, and general business planning. Uses econometrics as the underlying framework to develop deep understanding of regression modelling and its insights for data analytics using big and small data. Focuses primarily on empirical work conducted by students via in-class labs, problem sets, and projects. Expectations and evaluation criteria differ for students taking graduate version; consult syllabus or instructor for specific details.

Professor(s) who recently taught this course:

• Joseph Doyle
• Roberto Rigobon

Description: Analyzes business and public policy issues in energy markets and in the environmental markets to which they are closely tied. Examines the economic determinants of industry structure and evolution of competition among firms in these industries. Investigates successful and unsuccessful strategies for entering new markets and competing in existing markets. Industries studied include oil, natural gas, coal, electricity, and transportation. Topics include climate change and environmental policy, the role of speculation in energy markets, the political economy of energy policies, and market power and antitrust. Two team-based simulation games, representing the world oil market and a deregulated electricity market, act to cement the concepts covered in lecture. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. Limited to 60.

Professor(s) who recently taught this course:

• Christopher Knittel

Description: Theoretical and empirical perspectives on individual and industrial demand for energy, energy supply, energy markets, and public policies affecting energy markets. Discusses aspects of the oil, natural gas, electricity, and nuclear power sectors. Examines energy tax, price regulation, deregulation, energy efficiency and policies for controlling pollution and CO₂ emissions. Students taking the graduate version complete additional assignments. Limited to 60.

Professor(s) who recently taught this course:

• Christopher Knittel

Description: Analysis and modeling of stochastic processes. Topics include measure theoretic probability, martingales, filtration, and stopping theorems; elements of large deviations theory; Brownian motion and reflected Brownian motion; stochastic integration and Ito calculus; functional limit theorems. Applications to finance theory, insurance, queueing and inventory models.

Professor(s) who recently taught this course:

• Guy Bresler

Description: Develops facility with concepts, language, and analytical tools of economics. Primary focus is on microeconomics. Emphasizes integration of theory, data, and judgment in the analysis of corporate decisions and public policy, and in the assessment of changing US and international business environments. Restricted to Executive MBA students.

Professor(s) who recently taught this course:

• Ernst Berndt

Description: Focuses on how managers build and manage complex organizations to achieve strategic goals. Develops theoretical frameworks that build on 15.010 and 15.311. Applies these frameworks to corporate strategy (i.e., the design and management of the multi-business firm) and extended enterprises (i.e., the design and management of multi-firm structures such as supply chains, alliances, joint ventures, and networks).

Professor(s) who recently taught this course:

• Robert Gibbons

Description: Group study of current topics related to management not otherwise included in curriculum.

Professor(s) who recently taught this course:

• Tavneet Suri

Description: Group study of current topics related to management not otherwise included in curriculum.

Professor(s) who recently taught this course:

• Athanasios Orphanides

Description: Group study of current topics related to management not otherwise included in curriculum.

Professor(s) who recently taught this course:

• Michael Whinston