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This course has evolved from a theory-oriented emphasis to a course that utilizes economic principles to explore such issues as health care pricing, anti-trust enforcement and hospital mergers, choices in adoption of managed care contracts by physician groups, and the like. Instruction style and in-class group project focus on making strategic decisions. The course is directed for a general audience, not just for students and concentration in health systems management. Offered as ECON 421, HSMC 421, and MPHP 421.

Students frequently enroll in a negotiation class with one thought in mind--negotiating a better job offer from an employer. They soon learn, however, that negotiation skills can do far more than improve a pay check. Negotiations occur everywhere: in marriages, in divorces, in small work teams, in large organizations, in getting a job, in losing a job, in deal making, in decision making, in board rooms, and in court rooms. The remarkable thing about negotiations is that, wherever they occur, they are governed by similar principles. The current wave of corporate restructuring makes the study of negotiations especially important for M.B.A.s. Mergers, acquisitions, downsizing and joint ventures call into question well established business and employment relationships. Navigating these choppy waters by building new relationships requires negotiation skills. The increased stress on quality and other hard-to-measure aspects of relationships with customers and suppliers makes the process of negotiation even more complex and subtle. For these reasons, negotiation classes have taken center stage in the study of management. Every major business school now offers classes in negotiation and these classes are overflowing with students.

Institutions such as commercial banks, investment banks, insurance companies, and mutual funds perform important financial intermediation roles in an economy. This course provides a conceptual framework that allows the exploration of how these financial institutions perform their intermediation role through their different activities, such as loan origination, underwriting, insurance, and asset management. This framework also lends itself to the study of how and why regulation can be critical in ensuring the safety and soundness of the financial system. Prereq: ACCT 401, MBAC 416 or BAFI 402, ECON 403 or MBAC 426, and QUMM 414 or MBAC 414.

What is the digital economy all about? How big is it, and what are its main features? Despite the dot-com debacle and subsequent stock market decline, there are some fundamental changes taking place in the economy, due to the Internet, that will affect business for many years to come. Among the topics discussed are the effects on productivity growth, structural change at the industry level and organizational change at the corporate level, the role of small business and entrepreneurship, the digital economy in Cleveland, and issues for public policy. Prereq: ECON 403 or MBAC 426.

This course is designed to help students to identify, evaluate, and obtain control over technology opportunities that they can successfully exploit by starting new companies. The course focuses on four themes: (1) the source, discovery, and evaluation of technological opportunities, (2) the process of organizing innovation to produce new technology that satisfies the needs of customers, (3) the different mechanisms available to appropriate the returns from the exploitation of technological opportunities, and (4) the differences between opportunities and approaches that are valuable and sustainable for independent entrepreneurs and large firms. Students taking this course may not receive credit for both ECON 464 and ENTP 441.

This course deals with the causes and effects of international trade and investment. Its coverage includes the global and regional commercial agreements and institutions that affect the international business environment. The European Union, the North American Free Trade Agreement, and the World Trade Organization are treated extensively.Prereq: ECON 403 or MBAC 426.

This course deals with the fundamentals of business activities that cross national boundaries. It focuses on not only exports and imports, but all other issues, such as foreign direct investment, international technology transfer, organizational structure, and financial management, that required a corporate strategy in establishing and maintaining global competitiveness. It covers the basic international business activities within an interdisciplinary framework, drawing fromeconomics, finance, accounting, marketing, organizational behavior, political science, and history. Its aim is not onlyto enable an understanding of such technical issues as how the effects of tariffs and quotas differ or how foreign exchange rates are determined, but also to provide a systemic view of how government policies and corporate strategies interact in changing the environment of international business. The basic premise of the course is that to formulate successful global corporate strategies, we must comprehend and cope with the political, cultural, and economic environment of international business.

Introduction to economic analysis of real estate markets, with focus on development of urban land. Introduction to financial instruments used in development, and to the role of government in facilitating and constraining the use of real property. Prereq: ECON 403.

This course focuses on the theoretical underpinning of multivariate regression analysis. The course also develops practical applications of econometric analysis. The course alsointroduces students to more advanced topics including discrete choice analysis, instrumental variables, and time-seriesmethods.