Dr. P.V. Viswanath

pviswanath@pace.edu

ECO 826: Doctoral Concentration Seminar in Economics Spring 2006

Email: pviswanath@pace.edu Tel: (212) 618-6518
Webpage: http://www.pviswanath.com
Blackboard: http://blackboard.pace.edu

Course Objectives

• To be able to read academic economics articles with a greater understanding of the content and the techniques.
• To be able to construct basic game-theoretic models for use in your own research

Course Text

Game Theory and Economic Modelling (Clarendon Lectures in Economics) by David M. Kreps
Two, Games and Information: An Introduction to Game Theory (Hardcover) by Eric Rasmusen
Three, Readings in Games and Information (Blackwell Readings in Contemporary Economics) (Paperback) by Eric Rasmusen (Editor)

Computer Use and E-mail Policy:

You should obtain a Pace e-mail address as soon as possible, so that I can send you e-mail. Any student's Pace e-mail address can be obtained by going to the Contact Pace section of the main Pace Home Page (the default password is the student’s Pace Identification Number).  More information about e-mail address, etc. can be obtained from the DoIT website.  Even if you have another e-mail address where you wish to get your e-mail, you should still get a Pace e-mail address.  Once you have your Pace e-mail account and password, you can go to the Pace University Student E-Mail Server at http://stmail.pace.edu and have your e-mail forwarded to your preferred e-mail address.  You can find information on how to have your mail automatically forwarded at http://www.pace.edu/DoIT/forward/. 

Course Requirements

As laid out in class. Assignments will be posted on Blackboard as well as on the Assignments page. Presentations of academic articles will be required.

Class Attendance and Participation

Class attendance is mandatory. 

Assignments and Working with Teams

Assignments are a critical part of the course.  See Assignments page for details. You are free to work with other colleagues in the class, unless told not to.

Academic Integrity and Library Resources

Any student taking this course is presumed to agree to abide by the statement on academic integrity, as described in the latest Graduate Catalog. You can get a copy of the Catalog from Lubin Undergraduate Academic Advisement. If you have any doubts as to what plagiarism is, please go to http://appserv.pace.edu/library/pages/apollo/. You will need to create a login name and password to begin. However, this resource is very useful, not only to understand what plagiarism is, and how to avoid it, but also how to use library resources.

Disability Policy

If you have a disability for which you are or may be requesting an academic accommodation, you must register with the Coordinator of Services for Students with Disabilities. You can contact the coordinator at 212-346-1526 in New York and 914-773-3710 in Westchester.

Exams

There may be one exam.

Short Quizzes

None planned, unless expressly requested by students!

Study Aids

I will post links that I find useful.

Media Articles

On my webpages, you will find recent media articles.  From time to time, I will add to this list.  There are several reasons why you should look regularly at these pages.  

• I will be posting interesting and recent articles to this page.  As such, it will be a useful way for you to keep abreast of topical issues (in addition to your regular perusal of the Wall Street Journal.)
• I will pose questions on the subject matter of several of the articles.  These questions will be good preparation for the media article based questions on the exams.
• You can draw on the articles for classroom discussions.
• These articles and the appended questions are useful preparation for job interviews.
• Some of these articles may be required reading, to be followed up by Blackboard postings.

The password, necessary to access the Media Articles section will be announced in class, and can also be found at the Blackboard website, under Course Information. In case of emergency, you can contact me for the password.

Grades

Note that the minimum and maximum quantitative scores for plus and minus refinements to the letter grades will be at my discretion. These will be partly determined by the distribution of student scores within each letter grade category.   I place a high value on effort; at my discretion, I will raise your grade one notch if I feel that you have tried hard to satisfy all the requirements of the course.

Prerequisites:

ECO 820

Data Cards

On the index card handed out in class, please fill in the information requested below.  Make sure to number the item that you are responding to.

1. Name
2. Home and Work Phone number; Fax number, if any
3. Email address, other than at pace.edu (for my convenience).  (Note that I will send you email only to your Pace email address)
4. Work experience, if any (provide particulars of what your duties are)
5. Previous knowledge of finance (if any)
6. Interests outside of business management (such as languages, music, etc.)
7. What is your proficiency in Math?
8. Why did you choose Economics?