Economics elective courses, Fall 2025
The Department of Economics offers the following ECON elective courses during the Fall 2025. For information about delivery mode, location, instructor names, and prerequisites, please refer to the course schedule accessible via the Student Hub.
The prerequisites for the following 300-level courses are ECON 201 and 203.
ECON 318 Canadian Economic Policy and Institutions
This course focuses on economic policies and institutions related to contemporary issues in the domestic economy. It is guided by the application of economic principles to such issues as regional disparities, income distribution and inequality, intra‑provincial trade, social security policies, welfare programs, foreign ownership and control, competition policy, government regulation of business, unemployment, inflation, and environmental policy.
ECON 319 International Economic Policy and Institutions
This course focuses on economic policies and institutions related to issues such as protectionism, regionalism, and globalization. Selected topics in exchange rate and currency convertibility, liberalization of economic systems, and international economic development are also covered.
ECON 330 Economics in Practice
This course relies on concepts used in managerial economics, applied microeconomics, public economics, applied statistics, and industrial organization to examine how economists approach and think about real‑world problems. The course is organized around the setting that students are employees of a consulting firm hired to provide timely advice on pressing issues.
ECON 331 Money and Banking
Overview of a monetary economy: nature, forms, and the economic role of money. Monetary standards: markets, prices, and the value of money; the payments system; financial markets. Determinants of size and distribution of wealth portfolios. Supply of money: measure, composition, and size determination. The economic role of commercial banks and non‑bank financial intermediaries. Central banking and monetary policy. The international monetary system. (Topics covered within the Canadian banking institutional framework.)
ECON 398 Selected Topics in Economics: Economics of Fiscal & Monetary Union
This course provides an overview of monetary unions with an emphasis on the Eurozone. It examines the costs and benefits of a common currency, and monetary and fiscal policies, including austerity, within the union. It analyzes the European sovereign debt crisis – the possibility of “Grexit” and/or “Exitaly”. It also discusses whether countries in Latin America, West Africa and East Asia should form a monetary union and whether Quebec should have its own currency.
Please consult the Concordia Class schedule for each course's prerequisites, course delivery, and class notes. Kindly note that restrictions apply for access to ECON classes for non-program students.
ECON 409 History of Early Economic Thought
This course covers the evolution of economic thought from the Greek philosophers up to (and including) Classical economics. It seeks to provide the student with an outline of the development of economic analysis in this period.
ECON 432 Monetary Theory
This course examines the nature of the Monetarist-Keynesian controversy and gives a critical appraisal of the IS-LM-AS model. Topics covered may include the term structure of interest rates, post-Keynesian theories of money supply and demand as well as issues in macroeconomic policy theory such as transmission mechanisms, policy coordination and implementation lags, and international constraints.
ECON 433 Financial Economics
This course introduces students to the theory and practice of finance as seen from the economist’s point of view. In particular, it examines the following topics: the theory of decision making under uncertainty; the basic portfolio models, such as the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and the Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT); equilibrium aspects of financial markets, such as the role of arbitrage in the pricing of financial assets; the pricing of derivative securities, such as options.
ECON 440 Market Design
This course focuses on the design and analysis of market mechanisms, which are concerned with how to construct rules for allocating resources and how to structure successful marketplaces. It draws on tools of game theory to identify why certain market rules or institutions succeed and why others fail. Topics may include matching markets, auctions, contracts, economic platforms and network effects. The main objectives of this course are to introduce students to some of the fundamental concepts and ideas in the theory of market design and to connect this theory to real‑life markets and to practical aspects of market design policy.
ECON 461 Industrial Organization
This course examines departures from the perfect competition paradigm to analyze economic behaviour in an industrial setting. An industry consists of a number of firms which interact strategically to maximize their profits. Topics addressed include measures of market structure, theories of oligopoly, effects of potential entry, product differentiation and advertising, technological change, vertical integration, and monopoly and merger issues.
ECON 463 Economics of Regulation
This course is devoted to an examination of the economic aspects of governmental regulations. Besides a critical review of the economic theories of regulation, the spectrum of the existing regulatory network, and empirical investigations aimed at discerning cost‑benefits, the course focuses on the process of regulatory reforms in all aspects of the Canadian economy.
ECON 465 The Economics of Professional Sport
This is a course in applied microeconomic theory. Various observations on the state of professional sports are explained using economic theory. Evidence of the statistical relevance of such explanations is also investigated. Issues addressed include the magnitude of the earnings of professional sports stars; the impact of free agency on competitive balance in sports leagues; the value of professional sports teams to cities, and whether such valuation justifies public subsidization of franchises or arenas.
ECON 485 Health Economics
This course introduces students to the role of economics in health, health care, and health policy. It surveys the major topics in health economics and forms an introduction to the ongoing debate over health care policy. Topics include the economic determinants of health, the market for medical care, the market for health insurance, the role of government in health care, and health care reform.
ECON 492 Advanced Urban Economics
This course examines geographic aspects of economies through the application of microeconomic theories. The objective of the course is to understand why, how and where cities are created and organized (or disorganized), and what types of remedies urban economics has to offer when market failure is present at a city level. Topics may include location choice, suburbanization, New Economic Geography, city-size distribution, geographic mobility, spatial sorting, and quality-of-life index.
Please consult the Concordia Class schedule for each course's prerequisites, course delivery, and class notes. Kindly note that restrictions apply for access to ECON classes for non-program students.
ECON 509 History of Early Economic Thought
This course covers the evolution of economic thought from the Greek philosophers up to (and including) Classical economics. It seeks to provide the student with an outline of the development of economic analysis in this period.
ECON 532 Monetary Theory
This course examines the nature of the Monetarist-Keynesian controversy and gives a critical appraisal of the IS-LM-AS model. Topics covered may include the term structure of interest rates, post-Keynesian theories of money supply and demand as well as issues in macroeconomic policy theory such as transmission mechanisms, policy coordination and implementation lags, and international constraints.
ECON 533 Financial Economics
This course introduces students to the theory and practice of finance as seen from the economist’s point of view. In particular, it examines the following topics: the theory of decision making under uncertainty; the basic portfolio models, such as the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and the Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT); equilibrium aspects of financial markets, such as the role of arbitrage in the pricing of financial assets; the pricing of derivative securities, such as options.
ECON 540 Market Design
This course focuses on the design and analysis of market mechanisms, which are concerned with how to construct rules for allocating resources and how to structure successful marketplaces. It draws on tools of game theory to identify why certain market rules or institutions succeed and why others fail. Topics may include matching markets, auctions, contracts, economic platforms and network effects. The main objectives of this course are to introduce students to some of the fundamental concepts and ideas in the theory of market design and to connect this theory to real‑life markets and to practical aspects of market design policy.
ECON 561 Industrial Organization
This course examines departures from the perfect competition paradigm to analyze economic behaviour in an industrial setting. An industry consists of a number of firms which interact strategically to maximize their profits. Topics addressed include measures of market structure, theories of oligopoly, effects of potential entry, product differentiation and advertising, technological change, vertical integration, and monopoly and merger issues.
ECON 563 Economics of Regulation
This course is devoted to an examination of the economic aspects of governmental regulations. Besides a critical review of the economic theories of regulation, the spectrum of the existing regulatory network, and empirical investigations aimed at discerning cost‑benefits, the course focuses on the process of regulatory reforms in all aspects of the Canadian economy.
ECON 565 The Economics of Professional Sport
This is a course in applied microeconomic theory. Various observations on the state of professional sports are explained using economic theory. Evidence of the statistical relevance of such explanations is also investigated. Issues addressed include the magnitude of the earnings of professional sports stars; the impact of free agency on competitive balance in sports leagues; the value of professional sports teams to cities, and whether such valuation justifies public subsidization of franchises or arenas.
ECON 585 Health Economics
This course introduces students to the role of economics in health, health care, and health policy. It surveys the major topics in health economics and forms an introduction to the ongoing debate over health care policy. Topics include the economic determinants of health, the market for medical care, the market for health insurance, the role of government in health care, and health care reform.
ECON 592 Advanced Urban Economics
This course examines geographic aspects of economies through the application of microeconomic theories. The objective of the course is to understand why, how and where cities are created and organized (or disorganized), and what types of remedies urban economics has to offer when market failure is present at a city level. Topics may include location choice, suburbanization, New Economic Geography, city-size distribution, geographic mobility, spatial sorting, and quality-of-life index.
Please consult the Concordia Class schedule for each course's prerequisites, course delivery, and class notes. An ECON 695 course may be taken more than one time for credit, provided the subject matter is different each time.
ECON 614 Game Theory
This course offers an in-depth coverage of some important topics in mostly non-cooperative but also cooperative game theory. Although formal reasoning, precise definitions and proofs are part of the course, emphasis is placed on the importance and use of the various concepts in economics. Main topics include Nash equilibrium and subgame perfection, correlated equilibria, rationalizability, zero sum games, repeated games, (perfect) Bayesian Nash equilibrium, core Shapley value, bargaining problems, and stable sets.
ECON 662 International Finance
Selected topics in international finance or open economy macroeconomics are analyzed within modern dynamic general equilibrium models. These include deviations from the law of one price and from purchasing power parity, pricing to market, exchange rate determination, the international transmission of business cycles, the international financial system and crises, sovereign debt and default, global trade imbalances, currency unions (like the European Monetary Union), customs unions (like the European Union), and optimal monetary and fiscal policy in an open economy setting.
ECON 683 Applied Econometrics: Microeconometrics
This course provides an introduction to statistical techniques and practical aspects of microeconometric analysis. Topics include binary response models, censored and truncated regression models, analysis of categorical survey data, instrumental variables, treatment effects, panel data models with fixed and random effects, analysis of transition data, estimation by simulation, and estimation of dynamic programming models.
ECON 695 A Seminar in a Special Topic: Auctions and Markets
This course will explore the design of institutions and markets, focusing on mechanism and market design. The primary emphasis will be on mechanisms involving monetary transactions, with auctions as a key example. Auctions have long been used for buying and selling various goods, including government procurement for public projects (e.g., airports, bridges) and the allocation of radio spectrum for cell phone providers. This interdisciplinary topic spans economics, operations research, and computer science. The course will also cover mechanisms without monetary transfers and introduce the emerging field of information design.
ECON 695 B Seminar in a Special Topic: Applied Machine Learning
This course aims to introduce students to machine learning methods and their applications in economics. Our focus will be on supervised machine learning with an emphasis on predictive methods. We will cover learning methods such as regression and classification in high dimension, splines, tree-based methods, support vector machine and deep learning. Some aspects of causal machine learning will also be covered.