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Billy Foster, PhD

Billy Foster

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Quotations

As a skeptic, I reject a sole time series of the past as an indication of future performance; I need a lot more than data. My major reason for this is the rare event, but I have others. On the surface, my statement here may seem to contradict earlier discussions, where I blame people from not learning enough from history. The problem is that we read too much into shallow recent history, with statements like ‘this has never happened before,’ but not from history in general… [H]istory teaches us that things that never happened before do happen. — Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Archive for the ‘Teaching’ Category

Health Economics
Course numbers:
UIC – ECON 215
Loyola – ECON 329
FULL SYLLABI:
UIC | Loyola

“America’s health care system is neither healthy, caring, nor a system.”

– Walter Cronkite

INTRODUCTION

This course will cover supply and demand for health services, the role of insurance in the health care industry, public policy issues, cost and quality regulation. Upon completion of this course you will be able to:

  • Use cost-benefit analysis to evaluate health related topics.
  • Apply economic principles to the production of health and health capital.
  • Use economic tools to analyze health insurance markets.
  • Understand the basics of the health care labor market.

REQUIRED TEXTS

The Economics of Health and Health Care, Seventh Edition
Sherman Folland, Allen C. Goodman, Miron Stano
ISBN-13: 978-0132773690

Irrationality in Health Care: What Behavioral Economics Reveals About What We Do and Why
Douglas E. Hough
ISBN-13: 978-0804777971

Principles of Macroeconomics
Course numbers:
UIC – ECON 221
NEIU – ECON 121
Loyola – ECON 202

FULL SYLLABUS (.pdf)

“Economic depression cannot be cured by legislative action or executive pronouncement. Economic wounds must be healed by the action of the cells of the economic body – the producers and consumers themselves.”

– President Herbert Hoover

INTRODUCTION

This course investigates the determinants of the level of economic activity, inflation, unemployment, interest rates, the roles of fiscal and monetary policies, exchange rates, international trade.

REQUIRED TEXTS

Modern Principles of Macroeconomics, Second Edition
Cowen and Tabarrok
ISBN: 1429239980

The Choice: A Fable of Free Trade and Protectionism, Third Edition
Russ Roberts
ISBN: 0131433547

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Principles of Microeconomics
Course numbers:
UIC – ECON 120
NEIU – ECON 217

FULL SYLLABUS (.pdf)

“A planted seed has value long before it becomes a tree. The potential benefits are enough to give it value. Teaching is the planting of seeds. Knowledge, or even better, wisdom, is an investment like a tree that goes on and on producing fruit. But unlike a fruit tree, you have no idea when the fruit will come or what kind it will be.”

– Russell Roberts, The Price of Everything p. 168

INTRODUCTION

This course is an introduction to microeconomics. We will be looking at some general beliefs about how firms, individuals, and households respond to changes in incentives.

REQUIRED TEXT

Modern Principles: Microeconomics, First Edition
Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok
Publisher: Worth
ISBN: 1-4292-4638-3

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Intermediate Microeconomics
Course number:
UIC – ECON 218

FULL SYLLABUS (.pdf)

“Ask a physicist how long it would take a bowling ball to land if you dropped it from the roof of your house. He will happily assume that your house is located in a vacuum, and then proceed to calculate the right answer. Ask an engineer to predict the path of a billiard ball after it is struck at a certain angle. He will assume that there is no such thing as friction, and the accuracy of his prediction will give him no cause for regret. Ask an economist to predict the effects of a rise in the gasoline tax. He will assume that all people are rational and give you a pretty accurate response.”

– Steven E. Landsburg The Armchair Economist p. 10

INTRODUCTION

The price system, efficient resource allocation by consumers, firms, and government; perfect and imperfect competition; government regulation; ethics and the marketplace; business applications. Prerequisites: Econ 130 or both Econ 120 and 121; and either Math 160 or 165 or 180.

REQUIRED TEXT

Microeconomics: Theory and Applications
Browning and Zupan Tenth Edition
ISBN: 978-0-470-12891-6

Study guide: ISBN: 978-0-470-42949-5

 

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Intermediate Macroeconomics
Course numbers:
UIC – ECON 221
NEIU – ECON 303

FULL SYLLABUS (.pdf)

“Macroeconomic policy can never be devoid of politics: it involves fundamental trade-offs and affects different groups differently.”

– Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Laureate Is Central Bank Independence All It’s Cracked up to Be?, Project Syndicate

INTRODUCTION

Macroeconomics is the study of the economy as a whole. We will be discussing the use of aggregate data, trends in the national and international economy, and the role of policy in the economy. Other topics include determinants of the level of economic activity, inflation, unemployment, international economics, impact of domestic and world economy on business decisions, and applications of theory.

The analysis in this course will be deeper than that in the introductory course. The main additions include IS-LM analysis, the determinants of economic growth, and a more rigorous version of the Phillips curve.

REQUIRED TEXT

Macroeconomics
N. Gregory Mankiw
Publisher: Worth
ISBN: 978-1-4292-1887

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Behavioral Economics
Course Numbers:
UIC – ECON 390
NEIU – ECON 341

FULL SYLLABUS (.pdf)

“Non decipitur qui scit se decipi: he is not deceived who knows himself to be deceived.”

-Maxim of Roman Law
(from The Student’s Law Lexicon: A Dictionary of Legal Words and Phrases by William Cox Cochran)

“Homo economicus is dead, but whose Homo behavioralis will replace him?”

– Ken Binmore, University College London

INTRODUCTION

This course will discuss recent developments in behavioral economics. The focus will be on economic behavior, heuristics, and experimental economics.

REQUIRED TEXTS

Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness
Richard Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300122233

Thinking, Fast and Slow
Daniel Kahneman
Publisher: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux
ISBN: 978-0374275631

Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
Dan Ariely
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 006135323X

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Introduction to Econometrics
Course number:
UIC – ECON 346/300

FULL SYLLABUS (.pdf)

“All models are wrong, but some models are useful”

– Statistician George E. P. Box

COURSE OVERVIEW

This course will develop the linear regression model and show how it can be used to analyze economic problems. We will consider the steps needed to perform econometric research, the assumptions required on our part in order to do so, and the consequences of violating these assumptions.

Upon completion of this course you will be able to:

  • Develop a model for empirical testing
  • Distinguish between various types of data
  • Test a model for Multicollinearity, Serial Correlation, and/or Heteroskedasticity
  • Read computer output and interpret the results
  • Use software to estimate a simple multiple regression model

REQUIRED TEXTS

Using Econometrics: A Practical Guide
A.H. Studenmund 6th Edition
ISBN: 0-13-136773-0

Fooled By Randomness
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
ISBN: 978-0-8129-7521-5

RECOMMENDED TEXTS

Numbers Rule Your World
Kaiser Fung
ISBN: 978-0-07-162653-8

The Drunkard’s Walk
Leonard Mlodinow
ISBN: 978-0-375-42404-5

Freakonomics
Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
ISBN: 978-0-06-123400-2

The Signal and the Noise
Nate Silver
ISBN: 978-1-59420-411-1

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Introduction to Mathematical Economics
Course number:
UIC – ECON 345

FULL SYLLABUS (.pdf)

“As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.”

– Einstein, Albert (1923) from Sidelights on Relativity (Geometry and Experience)

INTRODUCTION

This class focuses on the mathematical analysis of microeconomic theory, specifically the mathematical treatment of price theory and the behavior of consumers and firms. Students in this course should have taken and understood both Finite Mathematics for Business and Intermediate Microeconomics.

REQUIRED TEXTS

Mathematics for Economics, Third Edition (March 4, 2011)
Michael Hoy et al.
Publisher: The MIT Press
ISBN-13: 978-0262015073

Schaum’s Outlines: Introduction to Mathematical Economics, Third Edition (August 30, 2000)
Edward Dowling
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
ISBN-13: 978-0071358965

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International Economics
Course numbers:
UIC – ECON 333

FULL SYLLABUS (.pdf)

“No nation was ever ruined by trade”

-Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), Thoughts on Commercial Subjects

“Trade is in its nature free, finds its own channel, and best direct[s] its own course: and
all laws to give it rules and direction, and to limit and circumscribe it, may serve the
particular ends of private men, but are seldom advantageous to the public.”

-Charles d’Avenant (1656-1714), An Essay on the East India Trade

INTRODUCTION

This course is intended to provide an overview of the analytical framework for the
study of international economics. Topics covered include but are not limited to: the
balance of payments; fixed and flexible exchange rates; capital flows; comparative
advantage; tariffs and quotas; the costs and benefits of international trade.

Students are expected to attend all classes. Attendance and class participation will
make up a portion of the final grade. Lectures will be crucial for understanding the
material. Students are also expected to have completed the readings before each
class.

REQUIRED TEXT

Essentials of International Economics, Second Edition ©2011
Robert C. Feenstra and Alan M. Taylor
Worth Publishers
ISBN-10: 1-4292-7710-6 ISBN-13: 978-1-4292-7710-5

Fundamentals of Business Economics
Course number:
NEIU – ECONOMICS 401

FULL SYLLABUS (.pdf)

“The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know
about what they imagine they can design.”

– F.A. Hayek, The Fatal Conceit

“The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and
when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the
world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite
exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct
economist.”

– John Maynard Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money

INTRODUCTION

Fundamentals of Business Economics is directed to MBA students who need
a survey of basic economic theory in order to succeed in the graduate study of
business. Throughout the course, the basic theoretical concepts and tools of
microeconomics and macroeconomics are introduced and used to analyze
contemporary business and economic issues and problems.
The course has six sections: markets and prices, industry and commerce,
work and pay, time and risk, the national economy, and the international economy.
Students are expected to attend all classes and complete all work. Late work will
not be accepted without prior consent.

REQUIRED TEXTS

Economics in One Lesson
Henry Hazlitt
ISBN: 0-930073-19-3

Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy
Thomas Sowell
ISBN: 978-0-465-02252-6