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BUSINESS ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC POLICY
areas: the environment, income redistribution, social security,
regulation . The course also examines the growing importance
of allowing competitive markets to provide publicly funded
services, taking advantage of private management approaches
to fostering innovation in public management: vouchers (for
medical care, education and housing), and contracting with
private firms for provision of “public” services . Although not
a current events course, many of these issues will incorporate
a discussion of the issues in the context of a new presidential
administration, in an unusual economic environment .
Format: Lectures; there is a midterm and final exam .
Prerequisites: A basic understanding of microeconomics
BEPP / REAL 772
Urban Public Policy and
Private Economic Development
Description: This course considers the pervasive interactions
between real estate developers and government . Governments
influence real estate development in many ways: through zoning
laws, taxes, public expenditures, impact fees, infrastructure,
building codes, and environmental regulations, to name just a
few . Much of the time in the course is spent understanding the
effect on residential and commercial real estate development of
these government interventions .
As a “case study” of this interaction between government
and real estate developers and markets, we will consider one
of the major policy interventions currently being advocated,
adopted, and considered by governments throughout the country
— growth controls or smart growth to deal with the alleged
problem of urban sprawl . To this end, we will consider what is
meant by urban sprawl, why it is considered a problem — by
whom — why growth controls are considered a solution to the
problem, the possible effects of growth controls on various
groups, the views of developers about both urban sprawl and
growth controls . Several guest lecturers from the private, not-forprofit,
and public sectors are scheduled to make presentations .
Format: Lectures, a midterm, and final exam .
Prerequisites: Microeconomics
BEPP 773 / FNCE 730 / REAL 730
Urban Fiscal Policy
Description: The purpose of this course is to examine the
financing of governments in the urban economy . Topics to
be covered include the causes and consequences of the urban
fiscal crisis, the design of optimal tax and spending policies
for local governments, funding of public infrastructures and
the workings of the municipal bond market, privatization of
government services, and public financial systems for emerging
economies . Applications include analyses of recent fiscal crises,
local services and taxes as important determinants of real estate
prices, the infrastructure crisis, financing and the provision of
public education, and fiscal constitutions for new democracies
using South Africa as an example .
Format: Lectures, a midterm, and final exam .
Prerequisites: MGEC 611, Corporate Finance (FNCE 611,
FNCE 612, or FNCE 613)
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BEPP 785
Management of the Cultural and Performing Arts
Description: As an introduction to the management of cultural
and performing arts, this course provides a general
investigation into the problems facing arts management and
the study of specific institutions . Major topics studied will
include: institutional structure, environment, operations,
financial planning, fund raising, and the role of business and
government in the arts .
BEPP 788
International Industrial Development Strategies
Description: The course analyzes the problems of emerging
markets . The course considers the industrialization strategies
they have chosen and the recent financial and macroeconomic
problems they have encountered . Particular emphasis will be
given to the recent problems of Latin American and Asian
countries that experienced rapid growth for considerable periods
only to encounter major reversals in the last half of the
1990s . The implications of this experience for the private and
public sectors will be considered in detail . The role of foreign
aid, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in
dealing with crises in developing countries will be explored
in detail .
Format: Lectures, two exams, and one paper .
Prerequisites: MGEC 611/612 or an undergraduate
intermediate microeconomics course .
BEPP 789
Nations, Politics, and Markets
Description: This course is designed for students who are
interested in pursuing an international career and for those
who plan to work for industrial and financial corporations that
operate in emerging markets . The course will deal with the
economic and political problems of macroeconomic adjustment,
corruption, the transition economies, and international
financial transactions . All of these topics will be illustrated with
in-depth studies of economies in Africa, Asia, Latin America,
the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and China .
Format: Lectures, two exams, and one paper .
Prerequisites: FNCE 613
BEPP 805
Risk Management
Description: This course describes the concepts and techniques
available to corporations, non-profit organizations, and
other organizations in their efforts to manage pure risks . The
costs associated with such pure risks as product liability, environmental
impairments, property losses, work-related injuries,
and employee benefits (e .g ., pensions, health insurance, etc .)
affect the daily management of all organizations . Managers
who make decisions without appropriate consideration of risk
management issues can jeopardize the long-term survival of
their organizations . The course examines a common set of
techniques which can be used by managers in dealing with
these problems, including risk assumption, prevention, diversi-