Program Requirements
The Population Dynamics Option (PDO) is open to M.A. (non-thesis) students in Economics specializing in Population Dynamics. The purpose of this program is to provide graduate training in demographic methods (including life table analyses) and enhance students’ knowledge of critical population issues. As such, students will be required to take a course on demographic methods and a course in microeconomic methods relevant for population studies. In addition, students will take one complementary course in Economics, which focuses on a particular population issue such as population health, migration, aging, family dynamics, and labour markets and skills acquisition. Students will attend at least five of the seminars given in the Social Statistics and Population Dynamics Seminar series. Research topics must be related to population dynamics and approved by the PDO coordinating committee.
Research Project (18 credits)
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ECON 650 Research 1 (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : Preparation for work on M.A. thesis and M.A. research report.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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ECON 651 Research 2 (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : Preparation for work on M.A. thesis and M.A. research report.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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ECON 680 M.A. Report 1 (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : The M.A. Report must demonstrate the candidate's ability to do independent work at the graduate level in a particular field of economics. While length will vary with the subject matter, it is expected that on average reports will be about 50 pages long. The Report will be graded jointly by two members of the Department. The supervisor will normally be one of the examiners.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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ECON 681 M.A. Report 2 (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : The M.A. Report must demonstrate the candidate's ability to do independent work at the graduate level in a particular field of economics. While length will vary with the subject matter, it is expected that on average reports will be about 50 pages long. The Report will be graded jointly by two members of the Department. The supervisor will normally be one of the examiners.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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ECON 682 M.A. Report 3 (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : The M.A. Report must demonstrate the candidate's ability to do independent work at the graduate level in a particular field of economics. While length will vary with the subject matter, it is expected that on average reports will be about 50 pages long. The Report will be graded jointly by two members of the Department. The supervisor will normally be one of the examiners.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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ECON 683 M.A. Report 4 (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : The M.A. Report must demonstrate the candidate's ability to do independent work at the graduate level in a particular field of economics. While length will vary with the subject matter, it is expected that on average reports will be about 50 pages long. The Report will be graded jointly by two members of the Department. The supervisor will normally be one of the examiners.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Required Courses (21 credits)
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ECON 610 Microeconomic Theory 1 (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : This is the first in a two-course sequence in microeconomics. The core microeconomics sequence (ECON 610, ECON 611) provides a rigorous coverage of the economic foundation upon which economic fields are built. Most of the sequence is devoted to building up this foundation of consumer and firm optimisation (including choice under uncertainty), partial and general equilibrium, and welfare economics. The remainder of ECON 611 covers special topics that vary from year to year. These are likely to be drawn from the following: social choice; externalities and public goods; models of asymmetric information; the principal-agent framework; search; basic game theory.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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ECON 620 Macroeconomic Theory 1 (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : This course is the first in a two-course sequence in macroeconomics. The course offers a thorough treatment of the fundamentals of macroeconomic theory. Emphasis is placed on the construction of economic models with microeconomic foundations. Topics include market-clearing and non-market-clearing models, capital accumulation, business cycles, monetary policy and fiscal policy.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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ECON 661 Applied Time-Series and Forecasting (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : Essential methods used in practical forecasting and modelling contexts: standard time series models for forecasting; non-stationary data; conditional variance forecasts; nowcasting macroeconomic quantities; density and probability forecasts; feasible forecast horizons; forecast evaluation and presentation.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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ECON 664 Applied Cross-Sectional
Methods (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : With limited public resources, determining which programs, reforms, policies are beneficial, and at what cost, is crucial, and allows public policy to be driven by evidence. However, evaluating programs is made difficult by the “counterfactual problem”: one cannot observe the outcomes or behavior of a participant, had (s)he not participated. This course will describe the standard OLS model, its limitations, and an improvement (panel data models). This course will then present the state-of-the-art empirical techniques used by economists to address the counterfactual issue (randomized experiments, instrumental variables, difference-in-differences, regression discontinuity design; and time permitting selection models and matching). For each of these approaches, we will give the basic intuition, discuss the necessary assumptions, present the strengths and weaknesses, and analyze applications drawn from the literature. Moreover, each technique will be implemented by the students in hands-on Stata sessions.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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ECON 665 Quantitative Methods (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : A survey of quantitative methods frequently used in economic research. Special emphasis will be placed upon the formulation and evaluation of econometric models. Illustrations will be drawn from the existing empirical literature in economics. Required for all Ph.D. students who have not taken Econometrics as a field.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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ECON 742 Empirical Microeconomics (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : Surveys the empirical techniques used in applied microeconomic fields, particularly development and labour economics. Focus is on the formulation of empirical models derived from economic theory, and on various estimation methodologies, including panel data econometrics, limited dependent variable models, and duration analysis. A "hands on" approach is emphasized.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Chaudhuri, Saraswata (Fall)
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SOCI 626 Demographic Methods (3 credits)
Overview
Sociology (Arts) : Introduction to demographic measurement and modeling. Course covers direct and indirect estimation, standardization, life table construction, and population projections.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Torrisi, Orsola (Winter)
Specific topics may vary from semester to semester.
Complementary Courses (6 credits)
3 credits related to population dynamics, chosen from the following:
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ECON 634 Economic Development 3 (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : A systematic treatment of the characteristics and problems of economic development in underdeveloped countries.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Grimard, Franque (Fall)
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ECON 641 Labour Economics (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : A synthesis of theoretical developments in the area of labour economics with stress upon problems of empirical testing.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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ECON 734 Economic Development 4 (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : Problems of economic growth and planning in selected underdeveloped countries. Topics covered vary from year to year in response to student interests; growth, poverty and income distribution, LDC labour markets and institutions, trade and development, international debt problems, issues in trade policy.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Grimard, Franque; Amodio, Francesco (Winter)
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ECON 744 Health Economics (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : The emphasis will be on describing and analyzing the structure and performance of the Canadian health system, though some attention will be given to recent attempts by the federal and provincial governments to deal with current problems in this field. Readings will be selected from the economics and health literature.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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SOCI 502 Sociology of Fertility (3 credits)
Overview
Sociology (Arts) : An upper-level course that will cover the major theories and findings from the social scientific study of fertility behavior. Readings and discussion will focus on the causal linkages between social change and transitions in fertility behavior. We will examine contemporary and historical fertility behavior and transitions across the globe.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Restriction(s): Open to graduate students and final year undergraduates
3 credits from the following (a course in the same/approved field, chosen in consultation with the student’s supervisor):
- ECON 510 Experimental Economics (3 credits)
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ECON 525 Project Analysis (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : A course in cost benefit analysis for graduate and advanced undergraduate students.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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ECON 531 Historical Experience of Economic Development (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : Examination of historical patterns of economic development.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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ECON 546 Game Theory (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : This course introduces students to game theory, the branch of the social sciences that focuses on the formal modelling and analysis of human interactions and strategic behaviour. Basic concepts in cooperative and non-cooperative games are applied to economic models.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Dutta, Rohan (Fall)
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ECON 611 Microeconomic Theory 2 (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : This is the second in a two-course sequence in microeconomics.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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ECON 621 Macroeconomic Theory 2 (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : This is the second in a two-course sequence in macroeconomics. The course provides an in-depth analysis of selected issues in macroeconomic theory, extending and complementing the coverage provided in ECON 620.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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ECON 623 Money and Banking (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : A rigorous analysis of the demand and supply of money and the role that it plays in the economy. Study of the ideas of the major schools of thought in monetary economics.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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ECON 624 International Economics (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : A detailed examination of theories and policies in international trade and finance.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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ECON 625 Economics of Natural Resources (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : The concept of optimal resource management and the associated rules, such as Hotelling's rule and Faustmann's rule. Implications of the need to sink capital for equilibrium in resource utilization under certainty and uncertainty. Conditions under which there is market failure and the merits of price and quantity instruments.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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ECON 634 Economic Development 3 (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : A systematic treatment of the characteristics and problems of economic development in underdeveloped countries.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Grimard, Franque (Fall)
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ECON 637 Industrial Organization and Regulation (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : An analysis of the nature of the firm, industrial structure and the effect of structure on firm and industry behaviour and performance.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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ECON 641 Labour Economics (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : A synthesis of theoretical developments in the area of labour economics with stress upon problems of empirical testing.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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ECON 647 Applied Computational Economics (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : Study of tools that allow numerical solutions to selected economics problems for which closed-form analytical solutions are not available. Coverage includes solutions to dynamic stochastic models in economics and finance, including dynamic programming in discrete and continuous time.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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ECON 654 Research Methods in Economics (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : Preparation of M.A. research papers.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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ECON 688 Seminar on Social Statistics (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : Seminar on social statistics.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
- ECON 706 Selected Topics (3 credits)
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ECON 710 Selected Topics in Economics (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : Selected topics in specialized areas of Economics.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Gendron-Carrier, Nicolas (Winter)
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ECON 720 Advanced Game Theory (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : The main focus of the course will be the "theory of social situations" (which is closely related to "game theory") which is a new and integrative approach to the study of formal models (both cooperative and non-cooperative) in the social sciences.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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ECON 721 Advanced Monetary Theory (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : Selected topics in monetary theory, the theory of monetary policy, and the history of monetary institutions.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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ECON 724 International Economics (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : Selected problems in international trade, foreign exchange and international movements of capital.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Ruge-Murcia, Francisco (Winter)
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ECON 726 Topics in Environmental Economics (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : Topics in environmental economics.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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ECON 734 Economic Development 4 (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : Problems of economic growth and planning in selected underdeveloped countries. Topics covered vary from year to year in response to student interests; growth, poverty and income distribution, LDC labour markets and institutions, trade and development, international debt problems, issues in trade policy.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Grimard, Franque; Amodio, Francesco (Winter)
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ECON 737 Industrial Organization and Regulation Seminar (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : Builds on material covered in ECON 637. Problems are examined in greater depth with specific topics varying from year to year.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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ECON 741 Advanced Labour Economics (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : Selected theoretical and policy issues in labour economics.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Saltiel, Fernando (Fall)
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ECON 744 Health Economics (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : The emphasis will be on describing and analyzing the structure and performance of the Canadian health system, though some attention will be given to recent attempts by the federal and provincial governments to deal with current problems in this field. Readings will be selected from the economics and health literature.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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ECON 761 Econometrics: Time Series Analysis (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : Theory and application of linear, non-linear expectational and asymptotic time series models to economic phenomena. Probabilistic models of economic dynamics and experimental economies, including simulation.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Goncalves, Silvia (Winter)
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ECON 762 Econometrics - Asymptotic and Finite - Sample (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : Exact and asymptotic distribution theory in econometrics: basic results for estimation and inference in regression models, extensions and other selected topics including nonparametric and distribution-free methods for econometric models.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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ECON 763 Financial Econometrics (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : This course covers advanced time series methods used in the analysis of financial data and other potentially non-stationary time series. Topics: integrated time series, co-integration, unit root testing, conditional heteroscedasticity, long memory, non-parametric and neural network models. Applications include market efficiency, stochastic volatility and predictability of asset returns.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Dufour, Jean Marie (Winter)
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ECON 765 Models for Financial Economics (3 credits)
Overview
Economics (Arts) : A review of mathematical techniques used in modern finance theory, including measure theory and stochastic processes in continuous time (e.g., Brownian motion) and other techniques essential to understanding arbitrage pricing theory, including the pricing of options.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Prerequisite: Permission of instructor.
Courses may not be double counted for both the Population Dynamics complementary course and other complementary courses.
