Weill Medical College of Cornell University · Courses
AEM
288 courses with the subject AEM, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
AEM 1101Dyson Foundations: Business for a Better World3
AEM 1101 is the required introductory course for the AEM major and the Grand Challenges program. It provides an essential foundation for understanding academic resources, expectations, and opportunities at the Dyson School, within the Cornell community, and beyond. The course fosters collaborative connections among Dyson students, faculty, staff, and alumni—building relationships that will support students throughout their academic journey. Students will explore global Grand Challenges through the lens of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), identifying the SDGs that best align with their values and skill sets. This exploration may inform future coursework and capstone projects.
This course offers a comprehensive exploration of business management and organizations, covering key aspects such as organizational behavior, finance, strategy, teamwork, and leadership. Emphasis is placed on addressing contemporary issues, including relationship management and entrepreneurship. The curriculum is strategically designed to provide students with exposure to essential concepts and frameworks for analyzing, understanding, and effectively managing business enterprises. Throughout the course, we will bridge theoretical knowledge with real-world organizational situations through case studies, fostering a deeper understanding of the dynamic business landscape.
AEM 1300Introduction to Macroeconomic Theory and Policy3
This course is an introduction to macroeconomic analysis at the college level and the issues that are most important to the national debate relating to economic policy.
AEM 1400Intro to Artificial Intelligence for Business1
This course introduces students to the use of artificial intelligence in business contexts. Rather than focusing on any single AI tool or platform, the course aims to build a durable understanding of how AI systems work, where they are likely to improve, and where their weaknesses persist. Students will gain hands-on experience applying AI across four functional domains: aesthetic and presentation applications, research and data acquisition, analytical reasoning, and engineering. The course also addresses the security, confidentiality, and ethical implications of AI use in professional settings, including questions of fairness, evidentiary reliability, authorship and attribution, secure handling of data, and AI accountability and oversight.
AEM 1500An Introduction to the Economics of Environmental and Natural Resources3
This course provides an introduction to the economic foundations for public decision-making regarding environmental quality and natural resources. Emphasis is placed on how basic tools of economic analysis can be used to identify sources of environmental problems and solutions to these problems. Topics to be covered include individual hand concepts underlying market success, market failure with particular focus on public goods and externalities, benefit-cost analysis and non-market valuation, incentive-based policies for controlling pollution, and economic aspects of renewable and non-renewable resources.
Medicine as practiced today is no longer just a profession. It has become a multi trillion dollar business. The purpose of this lecture series is to present the changes that have occurred in medical practice through the eyes of someone who has lived and practiced medicine during these tumultuous times. Students will gain a better understanding of how third-party payers, the government and other regulatory agencies, new technology, and entrepreneurship have impacted the medical profession and healthcare in general. Upon completion of the course, students will have the capacity to asses their future career paths not only from a scientific, but a business perspective.
AEM 2000Contemporary Controversies in the Global Economy3
This course aims to stimulate critical thinking, economic reasoning, and cogent writing about contemporary controversies that attract regular attention in the international press and among key private and public sector decision-makers. Students read and discuss competing arguments about current issues such as morally questionable market exchange among willing buyers and sellers, immigration policy, foreign aid, sovereign debt forgiveness, regulating genetically modified foods, etc. Students write, edit, and rewrite short briefing papers which are evaluated for quality of communication as well as subject matter content.
AEM 2010Spreadsheet Modeling for Management and Economics3
This course emphasizes applied decision making in the business world using Excel as a business analytics tool. The course covers theory behind decision-making and teaches students to apply tools and methods to various business scenarios throughout the semester. Understanding the value of such skills, this course will introduce students to navigating tools and applications, and typical business scenarios where such capabilities can be leveraged in business. Students dedicated to success in this course can expect to achieve a beginner to intermediate knowledge of spreadsheet modeling skills in an Excel platform. Students will enjoy a thorough exposure to real world applications and learn to demonstrate these new capabilities in a business environment. AEM 2010 will help students understand the dynamics of using Excel modeling to solve optimization problems, forecast future outcomes using assumptions and projections, and evaluate problems that involve uncertainty in order to inform business strategy and quantitative decision-making. In business analytic vernacular, students will learn to leverage descriptive, predictive and prescriptive analytic methods using data.
AEM 2011Spreadsheet Modeling for Non-Dyson Majors3
This Excel based course will emphasize applied decision making in the business world. This introductory course covers the theory behind decision making and applying analytic tools like Excel to various business scenarios. Understanding the value of such skills, this course will introduce students to methods used to navigate tools and applications, or typical business scenarios where such capabilities can be leveraged in business. Students dedicated to success in this course can expect to achieve a basic to intermediate understanding of many features available in Excel. Students will enjoy a thorough exposure to real world applications related to leveraging the tool and learn to demonstrate new analytic capabilities in a business environment. AEM2011 will help students understand the dynamics of using Excel to solve optimization problems, forecast future outcomes using assumptions and projections, and evaluate problems that involve uncertainty in order to inform business strategy and quantitative decision-making.
AEM 2015The Business Case for Diversity and Inclusion3
Diversity is everywhere. But research and experience show diversity alone does not produce better results. To reap the benefits of diversity, organizational leaders must understand and be prepared to address the challenges of our diverse, interconnected world. One academically proven way to maximize the benefits differences bring to organizations is to combine diversity with cultural intelligence (CQ), the capability to relate and work effectively in culturally diverse situations. This course is designed to cultivate a theoretical and practical understanding and application of the business case for diversity and inclusion, and help develop cultural intelligence for working successfully in today's diverse, globalized reality. This course combines conceptual and experiential approaches to diversity and inclusion in organizations through exercises, case studies, discussions, readings, videos, guest speakers, and group work.
AEM 2020Better Decisions for Life, Love and Money3
Effective judgments and decisions are critical to success in every avenue of life. This course will explore research on the principles of sound judgment and decision making, and on the ways in which people's judgments and decisions are prone to bias and error. The course aims to improve students' critical thinking skills and to enable them to make better judgments and decisions in an increasingly complicated world. The course is taught by a team of psychologists and economists who draw on recent research in psychology and behavioral economics that can benefit the lives of students.
What is the good life? Is it more than personal achievement, excellent health, and contentment? This course examines well-being in the context of work, with a focus on a sometimes-neglected aspect of the good life: doing good by contributing to the well-being of others and the planet. In this class, students will discover frameworks from social and moral psychology that help them identify their own ethical beacons, or what really matters (e.g., sustainability; reducing inequality), and develop a crucial skill in management: self-awareness. Through a combination of reflection and critical analysis of theory and research findings, students will build a practical understanding of a range of topics related to well-being at work, including meaning, authenticity, workplace culture, stress and burn-out, and organizational and personal values. At the same time, students will have the opportunity to envision a blueprint for their own future work as ethical leaders.
Introductory course which provides an overview of principles and practices of agricultural and development finance, from the perspectives of the business owner, lender, and policymaker. Topics include sources of capital, financing entry into agriculture, financial analysis, capital management, financial statements, credit instruments, loan analysis, and financial risk. Applications in farm investments, the Farm Credit System, crop insurance, and risk management.
Introduces statistical methods. Topics include the descriptive analysis of data, probability concepts and distributions, estimation and hypothesis testing, regression, and correlation analysis. Includes an introduction to Minitab, a statistical software package.
In an increasingly complex world, creative problem solving has become a critical tool for business and community leaders to drive innovation and transformation across different industries. This hands-on, collaborative course serves as an initial introduction to a design toolkit, strategies and mindset. Topics covered include: opportunity finding and innovation; the design thinking cycle of inspiration-interpretation-ideation-implementation; and creative leadership. This course requires openness to new ways of thinking and the ability to embrace ambiguity.
Foundational course, meant to familiarize students with the use of core concepts in marketing, accounting, organizational design and management, entrepreneurship and strategy, teamwork, leadership, and ethics; as well as with the Dyson/AEM major and the business careers that may follow it. Significant writing and analytical components (both individual and team based case study analysis, evaluation of a U.S. publicly traded corporation).
This is an introductory course on financial accounting intended for non-business majors. The course examines the format and creation of the four main financial statements prepared by organizations: income statement, balance sheet, statement of shareholders' equity, and statement of cash flows.
This is a required course for the campus-wide Entrepreneurship Minor as well as the Entrepreneurship Concentration in the Dyson School. The purpose of the course is to examine a series of decision points, or dilemmas, faced by founders in the process of starting and growing new ventures. These include dilemmas of a) whether and when to start a company; b) whether to be a solo founder vs. recruiting co-founders; c) which co-founders to recruit, and how to allocate potential rewards among co-founders; d) how to go to market, either independently or partnering with incumbents; e) whether to “bootstrap” by reinvesting revenues vs. raise outside financing; f) whether to relinquish control in order to accelerate growth; and g) whether and when to exit.
Comprehensive introduction to financial accounting concepts and applications. Focuses primarily on recording and communicating financial information for use by external users such as investors, creditors and regulators, and is intended to provide a basic understanding of the accounting cycle, elements of financial statements, Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, and financial statement interpretation. Topics include accounting for inventory, receivables, depreciation, bonds, equity, and cash flows.
Focuses on the mathematics of finance, valuation, and the economics of managerial decisions, corporate financial policy, risk management, and investments. Topics include the time value of money, bond and stock valuation, capital-budgeting decisions, financing alternatives, the cost of capital and the capital-structure decision, distribution policy, mergers and acquisitions and restructuring, options, forward and futures contracts, market efficiency and market anomalies, strategies of successful investors, and personal finance.
The course is a survey of topics in finance. It focuses on the mathematics of finance, valuation, the economics of managerial decisions, corporate financial policy, and risk management. It also provides insight into investment management and personal finance issues, such as the analysis of mortgages and various types of loans. Key concepts include the time value of money; the mathematics of various types of annuities, loans, bonds stocks; net present value and internal rate of return; project analysis in relation to corporate decision-making; expected return as a function of risk; the security market line; as well as elements of financial modeling and the application of financial models to real-life problems.
Introduction to international economic principles and issues. Begins by surveying key topics such as the elements of comparative advantage, tariff and nontariff barriers, and multilateral institutions. The second part of the course treats selected topics in international finance, including exchange rates, balance of payments, and capital markets. Discusses current issues such as the effects of trade liberalization, trade and economic growth, and instability in international capital markets. Designed as a less technical introduction to concepts developed at a more advanced level in AEM 4300 and ECON 4510-ECON 4520.
This course will examine the food system from an economic and business perspective. In the first part of the course, students will study the key economic and regulatory elements that affect the production of food. The second section will focus on the business aspects of food and beverage processing, distribution and retailing, and the material in the final section will focus on a range of contemporary business and economic issues that are relevant to consumers of food and beverages.
AEM 2350Introduction To The Economics Of Development3
This course is intended as an introduction to the economics of low income countries. It focuses on the policies and constraints to promoting growth and development.
Provides a broad introduction to the fundamentals of marketing. Explores the components of an organization's strategic marketing program, including targeting and positioning, and how to price, promote, and distribute goods and services. Marketing applications from various companies are presented and analyzed via multiple case discussions and field projects.
Provides a broad introduction to the fundamentals of marketing. Explores the components of an organization's strategic marketing program, including targeting and positioning, and how to price, promote, and distribute goods and services. Marketing applications from various companies are presented and analyzed via multiple case discussions and field projects.
AEM 2480Food and Consumer Packaged Goods Industry Dynamics3
Covers merchandising principles and practices as they apply to food industry situations. Examines the various elements of merchandising such as buying, pricing, advertising, promotion, display, store layout, profit planning and control, and merchandising strategy. Considers the consequences of food industry trends and initiatives for other industry members, public policy makers, and consumers.
This course uses microeconomics to understand the causes and how to devise solutions to environmental and natural resource problems. Subjects include valuation, benefit-cost analysis, policy design and property rights. The course relies on these concepts to explore major current policy issues such as economic incentives in environmental policy, air and water pollution, depletion of renewable and nonrenewable resources, and global warming. Students are evaluated based on problems sets, short essays, 3 quizzes and 3 prelims.
This course provides an overview of the area of corporate sustainability, with particular emphasis on the finance industry. The focus will be on understanding how a growing recognition of the importance of sustainability affects corporate behavior. Through a combination of classroom presentations, assigned readings, in-class discussions, and individual writing assignments, students will develop critical thinking and writing skills while they learn about the most important themes in corporate sustainability.The impacts of business activity, both positive and negativeEnvironmental and social risk managementSustainability initiatives and self-regulation in the corporate sectorStakeholder engagement and managementThe growth of sustainable business, including environmental finance and impact investing
This course covers microeconomic principles that inform managerial decisions in firms and organizations. The course will touch on how these principles apply to the Dyson School research foci of management, agribusiness, environmental sustainability, and emerging markets.
This course analyzes the sources of firms' competitive advantage and develops the knowledge and skills necessary to be an effective strategy analyst. The course is grounded in microeconomic concepts taught in AEM 2600 in terms of discipline, and draws from corporate finance, marketing, human resource management and organization science. This course uses both lecture, discussion and case studies to encourage students to develop skills in formulating strategy in a practical context.
Management Communication is intended to help you think strategically about communication and aid you in improving your writing, presentation, and interpersonal communication skills as a future manager. We will look at a set of best practices or guidelines that have been derived from both research and experience, give you the opportunity to put those guidelines into practice, and provide you with feedback on your work to help you strengthen your abilities. More often than not, we will be using a workshop format that will rely heavily on discussion and in-class exercises.
Mastering interpersonal influence is crucial for personal and professional success. This course focuses on navigating interpersonal communications to build credibility, inspire trust, and ethically create the desired impacts personally and professionally. You will practice your communication and leadership skills through a variety of immersive exercises and simulations designed to help you learn to manage conflict, navigate office politics, inspire others, and advocate for your ideas. Theory from empirical research and business press will complement practical learning, allowing you to apply insights directly to your professional life. You will gain a deeper understanding of interpersonal communication dynamics and enhance your ability to influence others effectively in various situations to create the impact you desire.
AEM 2770Excursions in Computational Sustainability3
Balancing environmental, economic, and societal needs for a sustainable future encompasses problems of unprecedented size and complexity. Computing and information science can play an important role in addressing critical sustainability challenges faced by present and future generations. The goal of the course is to introduce students to a range of sustainability challenges and to computational methods that can help address such challenges. Sustainability topics include sustainable development, biodiversity and wildlife conservation, poverty mitigation, food security, renewable resources, energy, transportation, and climate change. In the context of these sustainability topics, the course will introduce students to mathematical and computational modeling techniques, algorithms, and statistical methods. The course is at the introductory undergraduate level. Students are expected to have basic knowledge of probability theory and calculus.
AEM 2805Strategic Responses to Poverty and Hunger in Developing Countries3
As a writing course, AEM 2805 provides students with an opportunity to understand the problems of poverty and hunger in developing countries. An important focus of the course will be to explore strategies that United Nations agencies, governmental bodies, and international non-governmental organizations employ to meet challenges of poverty and hunger.
This writing course is designed to explore the important but largely undocumented role of vice and corruption in modern economies. A particular focus of the course will be learning how to identify activities, such as corruption and creating, that are designed to avoid detection. Techniques to uncover nefarious behavior are an important tool to understand the nature and extent of bad behavior and to prescribe policy treatment to minimize it. Students will write essays reflecting critically on weekly readings of recent literature on vice and deception.
This course examines strategic business innovations in climate-smart agriculture, centered on the challenge of transforming global food systems with low carbon land-use practices. Students will use insights from economics to analyze the environmental impacts of farming and identify opportunities for transformative actions in agribusiness management. Our focus will be on four important economic sectors (rice, livestock, aquaculture, and agroforestry) in the context of three climate change mitigation strategies: (1) Sustainably increasing agricultural productivity and incomes; (2) Adapting and building resilience to climate change; and (3) Reducing and/or removing greenhouse gas emissions.
In Fall of 2015 the United Nations' General Assembly adopted a resolution titled, Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This 35-page resolution includes an elaborate vision statement, a list of principles and commitments, and a list of 17 goals, among many other items. In 2022, the resolution is still very much in effect and having an impact on our world. Upon analyzing or reflecting on the text of the UN resolution and exploring its related goals and topics, we can quickly begin to identify the issues people, organizations, and governments are likely to argue over, or are already arguing over. Thus, UN goal and topic is up for argument, including facts (e.g., climate change) will be contested in one way or another, by someone or some group or another, and arguments of all kinds, formal and informal, will proliferate. It is amid these arguments about our sustainable future that this course will take place. Sustainable Arguments will focus on making and understanding data driven, logical, and rhetorically focused arguments about sustainability that connect to the UN's Agenda for Sustainable Development.
AEM 2820Introduction to Database Management Systems3
Introduces the principals and functions of relational database management systems (DBMS) and their business application. Students will explore both logical and physical database designs and develop a clear understanding of the concepts and terminology related to DBMS. A small relational database will be designed and students will learn to run SQL queries. Students will learn a set of skills to describe what happened in the past using queries, descriptive statistics, data visualization, and some data mining techniques. Excel add-ins and other DBMS software may also be employed.
AEM 2830VBA for Data Analysis and Business Modeling3
This course is an introduction to programming with Excel Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) for students aiming to enter the world of business analytics. Using business applied cases students will increase decision making efficiency and productivity through a detailed understanding of VBA programming languages.
This course is an introduction to programming with Excel Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) for students aiming to enter the world of business analytics. Using business applied cases students will increase decision making efficiency and productivity through a detailed understanding of VBA programming languages.
AEM 2840Python Programming for Data Analysis and Business Modeling3
This course is an introduction to programming with Python for students aiming to enter the world of business analytics. Using business applied cases students will increase decision making efficiency and productivity through a detailed understanding of Python programming languages. Students will also learn how to use a range of Python libraries for data analytics such as NumPy, MatPlotLib, Seaborn, Pandas, and Scikit.
AEM 2841Python Programming for Data Analysis and Business Modeling - Non-Dyson Majors3
Data-driven decision making and the use of analytical approaches are critical skills for success in business. Analytics skills are increasing in demand and in many cases, are required for business professionals. The new technologies and development such as personal electrical devices, social media, online shopping,...resulted in exponential growth in the amount of data we generate and collect on a daily basis. Companies are highly interested in extracting knowledge from these sources. To be able to manipulate and analyze a large structured and unstructured dataset, you need to learn how to code. In this course, by learning Python, one of the most popular programming languages, you are taking a significant step in data analysis. You will learn how to design and code an algorithm and manipulate datasets.
AEM 2850R Programming for Business Analytics and Data Visualization3
This course provides business students with an introduction to the most important tools in R for programming and data visualization. Students will learn the basics of R syntax, data structures, data wrangling, and data visualization using the grammar of graphics. After taking this course, students will have the tools to complete basic tasks in R and interface effectively with statisticians and data scientists in business settings. This course also provides a foundation for future coursework to implement more advanced statistical methods in R.
Part of the Grand Challenges program, the Pre-Project Immersion prepares students to work with a team during their senior year to solve a societal problem. The Immersion is an intensive learning experience with reinforcements throughout the semester. Students will build skills in working as part of a team, presenting to a client, reflecting on their experience, and demonstrating cultural humility.
AEM 3005Skills and Strategies for Executive Management1
This class is designed for 3rd and 4th year students in the Dyson School. The class will be open to students in other majors depending on available space. The class will describe some of the key strategies and skills required to be an executive manager/CEO/owner of a company. The course will also detail the executive challenges of starting your own company.
How do we understand the diverse and significant role of human factors in creating business performance and success? Business leaders espouse in generalities that 'people make the difference' but what human factors are the most significant and why? What strategies, processes, and commitments harness the best possible human capital outcomes? There is a critical difference between merely espousing a policy of harnessing the best possible human capital and executing one. This course is designed to help you understand these questions, using time-tested ideas along with research currently being undertaken by SC Johnson College of Business faculty.
This course explores the management of farm and food enterprises, with a focus on topics, policies, and issues relevant to New York State agriculture. This course will cover management issues related to organization and context, farm and food policy, marketing, finances, operations, and human resources. To practice applying the concepts and tools learned in class, as well as to support NYS farm and food businesses, this course includes an engaged learning project. In working with your client business you will learn to appropriately use economic and business principles, as well as to employ clear communication strategies.
This course is a survey of topics related to: 1) the structure and performance of U.S. dairy markets; and 2) federal and state policies that regulate market activities. This is not a course in how to market or sell farm milk or dairy products, although we will discuss some topics related to marketing and dairy demand analysis. Policy sections emphasize understanding why regulations were created and how they impact market activity, as well as describing what they do.
Negotiation is the art and science of securing agreements between two or more interdependent parties. To reach agreements, it is necessary to understand the behavior and relationships of individuals, groups and organizations in the context of cooperative and competitive situations. This course is designed to help you build a negotiation skillset that can be used in a broad set of organizational situations, as well as in your personal life. A basic premise of the course is that while you need analytic skills to discover or create optimal solutions to problems, you need a broader array of skills for these solutions to be accepted and implemented. During the course, you will develop these skills experientially and learn to apply relevant analytic frameworks.
AEM 3060Practitioner's Overview of Securities Markets and Asset Management1
A broad overview of various aspects of the Fixed Income and Equities Markets and the role of Investment Banks. Topics, amongst others, will include: Securities Sales and Trading, Fiscal and Monetary Policy effects on Markets, Asset Management, Private Equity and Leveraged Buyouts, Mergers and Acquisitions, and Risk Management. Course will focus on real life practices and may include guest speakers, role playing and trading simulations.
This distance learning course will introduce students to the opportunities and market potential, as well as the challenges and risks of operating in emerging markets such as China, India, Brazil, Russia, Mexico, South Africa and many others. Students will learn about the various types of risk that businesses face when operating in these markets, and the major approaches to risk assessment and management. Through a combination of readings, lectures and case discussions students will gain practical skills in evaluating and assessing risk, and in developing business models and strategies that are suitable for success in emerging markets.
AEM 3105Designing and Conducting Experiments in Firms3
Firms are increasingly drawing on data and experimental methods to serve customers and drive profits. This course will teach managers and business leaders how to design and conduct robust experiments, generate impactful interventions, select appropriate outcomes, and implement proper randomization. Focused primarily on conceptual understanding rather than technical implementation, the course utilizes discussion-based lectures and culminates in a group project in which teams will design and present on an experiment addressing a real business challenge. While students will gain hands-on experience with data via problem sets which solidify course concepts, no advanced software skills are required; the focus is on being able to work closely with data analysts and data scientists.
This course introduces students to a design toolkit and mindset for creative problem solving that enables a shift from a 20th century, market-based perspective to a more sustainable, human-centered approach appropriate to this century's systemic challenges. Topics covered include: opportunity finding and innovation; the design thinking cycle of inspiration-interpretation-ideation-implementation; and visual communication. Students will learn to apply design strategies to their work to make it more integrated and collaborative. This course will require openness to new ways of (divergent) thinking.
AEM 3111Introduction to Generative AI in Business3
Generative AI is reshaping how businesses operate, yet most enterprise AI projects produce no measurable return—failing at deployment, not at prototype. This hands-on, project-based course teaches undergraduates to use generative AI as builders and deployers in business contexts, on the premise that success in AI deployment is 95% domain knowledge and 5% AI knowledge. Module 1 builds technical fluency in how large language models work—pretraining, alignment, prompting, tool use, and agents—as students build working AI agents on a no-code workflow platform. Module 2 pivots to deployment: operations strategy, evaluation discipline, change management, and stakeholder analysis. Students complete a written conceptual prelim and a capstone project in which they design, build, and pitch an AI-enabled business application.
AEM 3115Evaluation of Green Energy Strategies and Markets3
After an overview of the trends in renewable energy and the multitude of public policies and private initiatives, a conceptual framework to analyze the social costs and benefits will be developed and each policy compared in terms of achieving social goals. The perverse effects of combining policies like subsidies and mandates at both the state and federal levels will be emphasized, along with the interaction of renewable policies with regional cap and trade regimes, and regulations like fuel economy standards and EPA environmental regulations. The specific economic and technology issues facing renewable electricity versus biofuel markets will be addressed, providing students a detailed understanding of each market and the effects of public policies. The effects of biofuel policies on food commodity prices will be emphasized.
Branding has become one of the most important aspects of business strategy. A strong understanding of branding is essential for the success of a business. This course provides an opportunity to internalize the concepts, principles and tools important in successful branding. The course covers the building blocks and principles of branding and strategy, importance of brand equity and how to build and manage brand equity. What is a brand? How can a brand stay relevant? What is brand strategy? How are meaningful brands created? Why do some brands have greater longevity and loyalty? How to reach the target audience? This course will provide opportunities to understand the building blocks of a strong brand and apply strategies and techniques. Students will develop acumen and confidence in their strategic and analytical ability working with discussions, assignments, readings and problem solving. Students will develop enhanced strategic skills, conceptual, analytical and decision-making skills.
Examines legal problems of particular interest to persons who expect to engage in business. Emphasizes the law of contracts, sales, agency, and property.
This course will survey ethical problems that arise in business and other organizational contexts, and develop theoretical resources to help address them.
As digital innovations revolutionize industries, many companies struggle to figure out the changing terms of competition. We will examine earlier digital transformations of industries such as books, music, software, telecommunications, and newspapers to assess the potential impact of Internet of Things, 5G networks, and the fourth industrial revolution. Students will critically evaluate the nature of data and information as economic goods; the role of communication networks in the economy; the industrial impact of digitization, including data, analytics, and AI; the platformization of markets; and new business models and business opportunities.
This course provides an introduction to the basic concepts, analyses, uses, and procedures of accounting and control used by internal company managers when they are faced with planning, directing, controlling, and decision-making activities in their organization. Topics covered focus on the relationship between strategy and decision-making and include product and service costing, budget setting, decision-making, profitability analysis, pricing, investment analysis, management control systems, and performance measurement.
This course examines evidence-based principles of individual and group behavior in relation to leadership and management. Topics include the nature and design of groups, the factors that improve team performance, and the importance of skills including dispute resolution, persuasion, and negotiations, assignments provide opportunities for the engagement and application of analytical skills relating to real-world organizations.
The course is focused on the tools and frameworks that assist a startup entrepreneur in exploring the feasibility of a new idea. After establishing an understanding of the funding process for new ventures, students will learn about and practice market research techniques involving both formal (in person interviews) and informal (expert interviews, social media) ways to understand the adoption behavior and urgent needs/wants of prospective customers. In addition, participants will learn how to take findings from market research to formulate business models and strategies.
AEM 3251The Business Laboratory and New Venture Management3
This course is a team oriented approach to allow students to understand through a simulation what happens when a new business is launched with funding in place. During the course of the implementation they will be presented with obstacles that often occur in real-life situations and learn how to develop creative ways to solve and overcome those obstacles. By the end of the term, it is expected that each team will have experienced (through simulation) managing a new venture.
AEM 3255Creativity Sprint: An Entrepreneurship Hackathon1.5
The ability to shepherd an idea from ideation to development to implementation is an essential skill in today's business environment for entrepreneurs, innovators, and organizational change agents. To this end, this course aims to develop students' abilities to identify problems and generate solutions to real world business and societal challenges. The course focuses on problem identification (understanding the core elements of a presenting problem), idea generation (developing solutions to those problems), and implementation (putting those solutions into practice). The course includes lecture-based content and activities around these topics and features participation in a weekend-long hackathon event that serves as a practicum experience where students will generate, develop, and pitch an idea related to a societal or business challenge.
An evaluation of the fundamental principles, structure, finance, management, and governance associated with cooperatively structured businesses, with an emphasis on agricultural cooperatives. Analyses of the cooperative business organization within the modern economy are emphasized through a mix of lectures, case study discussions, and engaged learning projects with cooperative industry clients.
AEM 3270Supply Chain Strategy and Supermarket Simulation3
In Wisconsin and Ohio, farmers are dumping thousands of gallons of fresh milk into ponds and manure pits. In California, farmers are plowing under thousands of acres of lettuce and perfectly ripe strawberries. Months after concerns about shortages in grocery stores shoppers are still scrambling to find the last box of pasta or roll of toilet paper. It is Cyber Monday every day at retailers like Amazon.com, Walmart, Target, and Kroger as they struggle to meet the surge in demand. Could CoVID-19 be the black swan event that finally forces many companies, and entire industries, to rethink and transform their global supply chain model? The main objective of this course is to introduce students to the important concepts in supply chain management that any student of business (regardless of their current interests) should know to be an effective business manager in the future, and what students with interests other than business can benefit from knowing. Topics include design, planning, execution, control, and monitoring of supply-chain activities with the objective of creating net value, building a competitive infrastructure, leveraging worldwide logistics, synchronizing supply with demand, and measuring performance globally. Effective supply chain management can enable companies to increase market shares, reduce costs, and improve customer service.Student teams will compete to affect a turnaround of an underperforming retail company. This competition allows students to use and practice skills, tools and knowledge acquired in other classes in a dynamic simulation of a company's operations in a competitive marketplace. Instruction will include review of concepts important to the simulation and the coaching of student teams as they management decisions and interpret the financial results of their (and competitors') decisions.
AEM 3275Introduction to Machine Learning in Business3
This course aims to provide business majors with essential machine learning concepts and practical skills. Through a blend of theory and hands-on experiences, you'll learn how to utilize data-driven insights in the business world. The focus is on analyzing data effectively, improving prediction performance, and extracting valuable information for managerial decision-making. We'll apply machine learning to diverse business contexts, including predicting customer behavior, forecasting prices, and natural language processing. Each application involves specific machine learning tasks like classification, numeric prediction, and clustering. We'll tackle these tasks using various models, such as logistic regressions, support vector machines, decision-trees, ensemble learning (e.g., random forests and boosting), and neural networks.
The purpose of this course is to help and guide business and policy students in understanding and recognizing the multiple motivations of society to control certain business activities, the several general approaches to regulation and what is understood of the outcomes, and to provide an appreciation through case studies of how different sectors manage in a regulated environment. The treatment is to include an evaluation of the concept of 'regulatory risk', the uncertainly about regulatory outcomes/changes which constitute a risk, the major risk in some industries, so that understanding and managing that risk is a significant aspect of profitability for many firms, and a consideration for policy makers. Specific emphasis will be placed on the healthcare, biotechnology, energy, and technology business sectors.
This course draws upon the study of sports for the purpose of understanding and studying evidence-based principles of individual and organizational behavior. Topics include the nature of motivation, momentum, and coaching as well as the challenges of talent identification, team-level coordination, and strategy development. Assignments provide opportunities for the development and application of analytic skills relating to leadership and management.
AEM 3330The Startup and Venture Capital Experience3
This course is designed to introduce undergraduate students to the startup ecosystem from the critical legal and young venture capitalist perspectives. We will cover corporate structures, boards of directors, startup capitalization and ownership structure, preferred stock financing (including in-depth analysis of economic and control terms), employee stock options, convertible debt and SAFE notes, fundraising legal frameworks, startup founder evaluation and relationships, the venture capital due diligence process (both qualitative and quantitative), the internal deal approval and selling process (particularly for the young venture capitalist), post investment portfolio company support, and navigating follow-on investment opportunities. Students who take this course are encouraged to enroll in HADM 4195 (also taught by Professor Shulman), which is a 3.5-day NYC VC Trek early in the spring semester.
Why do competing gas stations sometimes charge different prices for identical fuel? Why do airlines use pricing algorithms that leave seats empty? Why do some incentive schemes motivate workers while others backfire? Most behavioral economics research focuses on consumer biases or individual decision-making. Firms, in contrast, are often assumed to behave optimally because they’re guided by groups of decision makers and face market pressures to perform well. This course explores a different question: how do behavioral biases shape the decisions of even very large firms in both outward-facing decisions like pricing and inward-facing decisions like incentive design? Drawing on behavioral economics and evidence from real firms (gas stations, airlines, retailers, and warehouses), we’ll investigate how psychological factors like overconfidence, anchoring, and misspecified mental models affect firm behavior.
AEM 3360 is the first of a series of two courses in intermediate accounting. This is a one-semester course for students in the accounting and finance concentrations. This course is an important prerequisite for students intending to pursue a graduate degree in accounting. The course focuses on 1) the accounting process, 2) the conceptual framework underlying financial accounting, 3) the primary financial statements, and 4) the measurement and reporting of assets, liabilities, and shareholders' equity. Specific topics include an overview of generally accepted accounting principles, financial statements and ratios, cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable, inventories, operating assets, current and long-term liabilities, and stockholders' equity.
Continuation from AEM 3360 of the in-depth study of accounting theory, generally accepted accounting principles, and the techniques involved in measuring, recording, summarizing, and reporting financial data for business organizations, considering both the perspective of preparers of financial statements and users who need to extract information from financial statements. Coverage includes accounting for revenue, investments, pensions, taxes, accounting changes, stock-based compensation, earnings per share and the statement of cash flows. Course objectives will be achieved by a combination of lectures and cases that are based on actual financial statements.
AEM 3385 is a hands-on learning experience that serves as an entry point for new Anabel's Grocery team members, introducing them to social entrepreneurship, food justice, systems thinking, collaborative leadership practices, and the day-to-day operations of Anabel's. No prerequisites and no previous experience with Anabel's required. The course is open to students regardless of major. We are looking for students with diverse interests who are passionate about making healthy food accessible to everyone through practical actions that further racial, economic, and ecological justice. This experiential-based course meets once a week. It includes small group discussion sessions and a practicum commitment of about 4 hours per week.
AEM 3388The Asian Century: The Rise of China and India3
The course will be thoroughly comparative in order to highlight both the specificity of each country as well as more generalizable dynamics of 21st century development. It will be divided into a number of inter-related modules. After a framing lecture, we will briefly cover the two countries' distinct experiences with colonialism and centralized planning. Then we will move on to dynamics of growth, which will seek to explain the relative success of China in the era of market reforms. In analyzing political consequences, we will assess how new forms of cooperation and conflict have emerged. This will involve attention to both internal dynamics as well as how rapid development has seen an increasing accumulation of political power in the East. It goes without saying that accelerating growth has led to huge social change, resulting in profound reorganizations of Chinese and Indian society. Finally, the course will conclude by returning to our original question - is this indeed The Asian Century? What does the rise of China and India mean for the rest of the world, and how are these two giant nations likely to develop in the future? (ASIAN-SC)
Develops a useful, conceptual understanding of the problem and strategies associated with the psychology behind consumer behavior. In doing so, the course provides frameworks that enable students to address these issues responsibly, systematically, and creatively.
The course will focus on developing a framework for analyzing financial statements to make business decisions. The framework is intended to enhance the ability to qualitatively and quantitatively assess financial information. Goals of the course include learning to read financial statements for relevant information, understanding the impact of a business' accounting choices and estimates, analyzing financial ratios and cash flow measures and methods for valuation of a business. Cases are incorporated in class discussions and assignments in order to illustrate concepts and allow students to put into practice the tools presented.
AEM 3547WIM: America, Business and International Political Economy4
Do you want to learn the discussion-based case method as taught at the Harvard Business School? Do you want to learn how to write a long research paper? Do you not want to take a final examination? If you answer these questions affirmatively, this course may be for you. We are told often that American primacy is in decline and that other powers are rising. What does this mean when we examine the experience of Government and Business in different countries around the world? Is the international political economy a hydraulic system in which some units rise and others fall? Are the dynamics of the international political economy all pointing in one direction? Or are they marked by cross-currents? This course seeks answers to these questions by teaching the basics of macro-economics, examining a range of powerful states (among others China, India, Russia and Japan) and persisting issues (financial globalization and foreign investment; oil and OPEC; trade and aid) as they play themselves out in different countries (such as Malaysia, Korea; Saudi Arabia, Nigeria; Mexico, Brazil, Uganda, Indonesia). (GOVT-AM, GOVT-CP, GOVT-IR)
AEM 3557Exceptionalism Questioned: America and Europe4
Do you want to learn the discussion-based case method as taught at the Harvard Business School? Do you want to learn how to write a long research paper? Do you not want to take a final examination? If so this course may be for you. Since the beginning of the republic, American intellectuals, politicians and businessmen have extolled the exceptionalism of America. In a world of diverse forms of capitalism, can this view be sustained? Is America a shining city on the hill or a darkened city in the valley? Comparison is an effective way to discern and assess what is unique and what is general in the distinctive form of America's capitalist democracy. In this course the liberal market economy of the United States with its distinctive strengths and weaknesses is put side-by-side with different forms of liberal, corporatist and statist market economies that characterize different European countries in the emerging European polity. The diversity of capitalism points to one overarching conclusion: all of these countries are arguably capitalist, democratic market economies belonging to the West; and each of them has distinctive strengths and weaknesses. Like all other countries, America is ordinary in mobilizing its formidable capacities and displaying its glaring weaknesses as it copes with change. (GOVT-AM, GOVT-CP, GOVT-IR)
Operations Management (OM) is the design and management of processes that transform inputs of materials, labor, capital, and information into finished goods or services that customers want and are willing to pay for. All organizations have operations that directly affect their ability to execute on their specified strategies. These operations processes can be managed well or poorly. This course provides a general introduction to operations management, and trains students to see the world with operations eyes, through which they can identify operational inefficiencies and improvement levers.
In today's globalized and interconnected world, more and more companies are going abroad to pursue their major business objectives. How can they take advantage of the global marketplace and create economic value through their multimarket activities? This distance learning course gives students a basic grounding in global business, so they can become capable of understanding and analyzing events and trends in the global business environment and their impact on managerial decision making. Through a series of case discussions and an internationalization project for a local company, students develop practical skills in applying the tools of global strategic analysis in concrete business situations. Students registered for NBA 5991 will be required to analyze a current-event situation based on the theoretical and methodological framework developed in this course.
Part of the Grand Challenges program, the Project Course is a capstone, team-based learning experience. Students work with a faculty member and a client or community partner to tackle a societal problem. Projects span the entire semester and, for larger projects, may extend to student cohorts over several semesters.
The final course in the Grand Challenges program is the semester-long team project. This is the culmination of Grand Challenges courses and your entire Dyson experience. Through your engaged-learning project, you will apply everything you learned about yourself, about working as part of a team, about business, and about the world around you. You will engage with a client or community partner, manage a project, and contribute to solving a societal problem.
The final course in the Grand Challenges program is the semester-long team project. This is the culmination of Grand Challenges courses and your entire Dyson experience. Through your engaged-learning project, you will apply everything you learned about yourself, about working as part of a team, about business, and about the world around you. You will engage with a client or community partner, manage a project, and contribute to solving a societal problem.
The final course in the Grand Challenges program is the semester-long team project. This is the culmination of Grand Challenges courses and your entire Dyson experience. Through your engaged-learning project, you will apply everything you learned about yourself, about working as part of a team, about business, and about the world around you. You will engage with a client or community partner, manage a project, and contribute to solving a societal problem.
The final course in the Grand Challenges program is the semester-long team project. This is the culmination of Grand Challenges courses and your entire Dyson experience. Through your engaged-learning project, you will apply everything you learned about yourself, about working as part of a team, about business, and about the world around you. You will engage with a client or community partner, manage a project, and contribute to solving a societal problem.
AEM 4005Rating Nations: Economic Performance and Other Indicators1.5
There are various ways in which nations are rated and ranked. Rating agencies like S&P ranks nations on the basis of how good and safe they are in terms of investment returns. The World Bank's Doing Business report ranks nations in terms of how easy it is to do business in a nation. The UNDP ranks countries in terms of their level of human development. This half semester course will introduce students to the theory and practice of rating and ranking nations in different ways. The students will be encouraged to develop their own ideas of new ways to rate and rank nations. One particular fledgling idea that will be discussed is how easy it is for citizens in different nations to interact with their government. We can call it the Living Life index, to chime with the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business index. It is hoped that by the end of the course we will have two or three concrete ideas for new ways of rating nations.
AEM 4006 is an engaged, project-based course that includes a short domestic travel component during Fall or Spring Break. Students work in teams with a U.S.-based client or community partner to address a real organizational or societal challenge. Through field immersion, including site visits, stakeholder interviews, cultural/historical excursions, and professional engagements, students deepen their understanding of how business shapes communities and how community context shapes business.
Aimed at students who are interested in pursuing activities in customer strategy and analytics built around the notion of customer centricity. The primary objective of this course is to provide students with how customer relationship management (CRM) can help accomplish strategic initiatives, improve firm profitability and build lasting competitive advantage. Students will be exposed to the practical side of CRM through case studies and hands-on exercises. This course is particularly relevant for students interested in careers in consulting, strategy, marketing and retailing, as well as for entrepreneurs.
This is a computer-based course that deals with the concepts of randomness and risk in financial management, capital budgeting, stock valuations, derivatives, and investment portfolios. The focus of the course is on applying realistic probability using Monte Carlo simulation to solve a variety of problems in finance.
In a rapidly changing business environment where product life cycles are shortening and competition is intensifying, creating new products has become the most significant and most risky activity within a firm. This course aims to develop an understanding of the state of the art strategies, processes and methods used in developing new products. This course focuses on key new product issues including generation and assessment of ideas, value creation in competitive markets, the impact of disruptive technologies on mainstream industries, and the diffusion of innovative new products and services. This is a case based course, where students participate in a dynamic and interactive group environment to develop the capacity to use the information learned to make informed new product decisions.
This course provides an overview of environmental finance and markets, with particular emphasis on the development and use of financial instruments and investment strategies that seek to further the long-term sustainability of ecosystems. The course will explore the uses of such products as debt-for-nature swaps, environmental impact bonds, structured notes, and green bonds, and seek to illustrate both their potential and their limitations through a review of market transactions. The course will also explore how investment decisions can influence environmental outcomes, and the role that sustainable asset management strategies can have in achieving desired conservation objectives.
The purpose of this class is to introduce you to fundamental concepts in digital marketing and prepare you for roles as a marketer, entrepreneur or product manager. Students will be exposed to an overview of the major players in the advertising and digital industries, as well as a variety of tools commonly found in start-ups and technology firms. I will cover this using a mixture of case studies, lectures, and guest speakers. My hope is that you will leave this course with the skills and a plan that you could refer to when you interview for established firms or starting your technology venture. Each year I will also use an emerging digital technology as an anchor for the speakers and the assignments, such as the interaction of AI and digital marketing.
AEM 4100Microeconomics for Management and Consulting3
Many managerial decisions, as well as recommendations provided by consulting firms, are based on economic analyses. The goal of this course is to go beyond basic microeconomics and cover more advanced microeconomic frameworks and analyses most useful for management and consulting. The course is divided into four parts. Part I starts by reviewing the basic analyses of supply and demand, profit maximization concerning production and pricing, and competitive equilibrium. It then covers a number of advanced issues concerning the costs of production. Part II focuses on advanced issues concerning pricing including price discrimination, two-part pricing, and pricing a product line. Part III focuses on other firm-consumer strategies including issues that arise when selling a durable good, as well as basic concepts concerning asymmetric information. Part IV focuses on firm-firm strategies including contracting/agency analysis and oligopoly interaction.
In this course, we examine the economic causes, dynamics, and consequences of crises affecting organizations, societies, and the global economy. Drawing on past experiences with Ponzi schemes, price wars, strikes, famines, currency crises, and trade wars, the course explores the sources of market failures, the behavioral rationales that precipitate crises, and the role of institutions in crisis prevention and recovery. This class will introduce students to concepts and tools of game theory, behavioral economics, bargaining theory, and information economics to understand individual and business behavior, as well as models of currency prices and international trade to analyze country-level and transnational economic crises. The course is designed to be hands-on. Each module is supplemented with group activities such as class experiments, data analysis, model simulations, etc.
This course is an introduction to basic econometric principles and the use of statistical techniques to estimate empirical economic models. Multiple regression is introduced and procedures to accommodate data issues and limitations are presented. Topics discussed include simultaneous equations, panel models and limited dependent variable models. Time series approaches are introduced. Students are required to estimate econometric models using provided data sets.
AEM 4140Behavioral Economics and Managerial Decisions3
Behavioral economics integrates psychology and economics by identifying systematic anomalies in decision making. These are now recognized to be an important source of error in business decisions, and they provide the foundation for both behavioral marketing and finance. The course compares rational choice theory with behavior both in lecture and through a series of economics experiments in which students face situations that are likely to lead to anomalies such as the winner's curse, the status quo bias, hyperbolic discounting, and bias in assessing risks. Students have the opportunity to evaluate their own decision making.
Focuses on the analysis of supply and demand characteristics of commodities with particular attention to agricultural products. Pays special attention to empirical analysis. Includes institutional aspects of pricing, temporal and spatial price relationships, price forecasting, and the economic consequences of pricing decisions.
This quantitative course explores various pricing strategies by taking into consideration the role of consumer behavior, economics, statistics, and management science. Topics include: product tying and bundling, peak load pricing, price matching, warranty pricing, advanced booking, and the 99-cent pricing perceptions.
The art of thinking strategically puts outdoing one's adversary at the core of the decision-making process, while anticipating that the adversary is doing exactly the same thing. Businesses make investment decisions and innovate products in anticipation of the reaction of their rivals; managers make pay contingent on peer performance, taking into account the reaction of their subordinates and superiors; national trade policies are formulated based on whether trading partners are committed to make credible concessions. This course introduces and explores the use of game theory to understand these interactions; students are expected to work with a balanced dose of both theory and relevant case studies. The objective of the course is to facilitate students' ability to think strategically on firm level issues (e.g., pricing, advertising wars, product differentiation, and entry deterrence) and strategic policy interaction in international economic relations (e.g., trade wars and the arms race).
AEM 4210Futures, Options and Financial Derivatives3
Covers the pricing of derivatives and how derivatives can be used for the purpose of risk management and speculation. A portion of this course involves the use of spreadsheet or other computer programs.
An investigation of the systems and software that capture and store accounting and economic information, and of the tools and techniques that support a robust use of that data for the benefit of individual enterprises and greater society. Topics include Big Data, Data Visualization, Optimization Tools and Accounting Support Systems and Databases. Students taking this course at the graduate level will have a semester project related to the extension of the utility of large data sets beyond their initial purposes.
The traditional framework for thinking about financial markets assumes that all market participants are fully rational. The past four decades have seen the emergence of an important new paradigm, behavioral finance, which argues that many financial phenomena are the result of less than fully rational thinking and which draws on psychology to understand the ways in which people are not fully rational. This course provides an introduction to the field. We revisit basic topics in finance from a behavioral finance perspective: topics related to markets (stock market fluctuations, popular investment strategies, bubbles); topics related to investor behavior (poor investment decisions by households); and topics related to corporate finance (security issuance, mergers and acquisitions). A running theme in the course is that knowledge of behavioral finance is essential for anyone who seeks a full understanding of modern financial markets.
The traditional framework for thinking about financial markets assumes that all market participants are fully rational. The past four decades have seen the emergence of an important new paradigm, behavioral finance, which argues that many financial phenomena are the result of less than fully rational thinking. This course provides a comprehensive discussion of the field. We revisit basic topics in finance from a behavioral finance perspective: topics related to markets (e.g. stock market fluctuations, popular investment strategies, bubbles); topics related to investor behavior (e.g. poor investment decisions by households); and topics related to corporate finance and managerial behavior (e.g. security issuance, mergers and acquisitions). We discuss the lessons of behavioral finance for how investors and managers should behave. A running theme in the course is that knowledge of behavioral finance is essential for anyone who seeks a full understanding of modern financial markets.
The traditional framework for thinking about financial markets assumes that all market participants are fully rational. The past four decades have seen the emergence of an important new paradigm, behavioral finance, which argues that many financial phenomena are the result of less than fully rational thinking. Behavioral Finance Part I and Part II collectively provide a comprehensive discussion of the field. Specifically, we organize our discussion along two dimensions: a “column” approach and a “row” approach. The column approach focuses on discussing market phenomena that cannot be explained by the traditional framework; for each phenomenon, we discuss potential psychological biases that can make sense of it. The row approach focuses on discussing psychological biases that humans exhibit; for each bias, we discuss a range of market phenomena that it can explain.
Focuses on fixed-income securities including corporate bonds, default-free bonds, and floating rate notes. Other topics include related financial instruments such as forwards and futures on fixed-income securities, interest rate swaps, bond options, and mortgage-backed securities. In addition to the analysis of specific types of fixed-income securities, there is an examination of the tools used in bond portfolio management.
This course is about the analysis of financial information for making decisions to invest in businesses. The primary focus is on quantitative stock selection and equity (share) valuation. Various valuation models will be examined in detail and applied in cases and projects involving listed companies. First, the issue of market efficiency will be explored. Second, important quantitative stock selection methods will be examined. Third, discounted cash flow models will be examined. This include models of shareholder value, the analysis of profitability, growth and valuation generation in a firm, forecasting earnings and cash flows, pro-forma analysis for strategy and planning, analysis of risk, and the determination of price/earnings and market-to-book ratios. Advanced topics on valuation including valuation by multiples and earnings management will then be discussed.
This course applies principles of finance to the international setting. International finance is different in two basic respects. First, the existence of multiple currencies adds risk to cross-border transactions, investments, and financing decisions. Second, when corporations and portfolio investors cross international borders both problems and opportunities arise. We will focus on these issues and highlight how finance theory can be extended to address them. We will start with basic principles of international finance, then apply those principles to several problems. The course will help you to understand the ideas and research results of international finance and to adapt what you learn to the practical problems of the business world beyond the classroom.
Examines the economic principles underlying international trade and monetary policy, and the policies, practices, and institutions that influence trade and foreign exchange markets. Also emphasizes applications to current topics in international trade policy, to trade in primary commodities, and to both developed and developing countries.
The goal of this course is to expand students' understanding of the economics of developing countries. We will address questions like: why do some countries grow quickly and others slowly? What factors prevent countries, households, and individuals from escaping the cycle of poverty? How do policymakers balance economic growth and environmental sustainability? Why don't financial markets work well in most developing countries, and do informal institutions fill the gap? How do we analyze the challenges facing small-scale farming households, and how do decisions by those households influence migration, labor markets, and the growth of industry? How do we evaluate policies and programs in order to understand what works for development? The approach in this course will be primarily microeconomic, although a basic understanding of macroeconomics is important for some topics. Emphasis will be on theory, real-world examples, and reading and interpreting research and policy papers.
The politics of the WTO and trade policy are explored. Examines what the WTO is, how it operates, how much power it really has, why it was created, and incentives for governments to cooperate. Also explores how WTO rules affect domestic politics and foreign policy goals and how WTO rules and agreements are enforced. Students also debate the effect of trade on growth and poverty.
AEM 4355Healthcare Entrepreneurship: Perspectives and Controversies1.5
The course will introduce students to various perspectives and controversies regarding entrepreneurship in a unique market segment, healthcare. Utilizing a case based approach; students will gain an understanding of how healthcare differs from other business sectors, how opportunities are identified within different sectors of healthcare, and other issues including cost control and regulation. The course will assist students from multiple disciplines in determining whether healthcare entrepreneurship may be a suitable choice in their career future.
This engaged learning course applies design strategies to real-world problems in a business context; in other words, we take a human-centered approach to innovation. Students act as business design consultants working directly with a social enterprise client on a sustainability-related challenge throughout the semester. Working in multidisciplinary teams, students apply a design toolkit and mindset for creative problem solving to a project that results in a portfolio-ready deliverable. This collaboration allows students to immerse themselves in a professional setting in which they explore business opportunities; develop innovative concepts; and propose and prototype entrepreneurial solutions, particularly around the theme of circular economy. Past clients include the City of Ithaca Economic Development and Finger Lakes ReUse. Satisfies the Dyson Grand Challenges project requirement.
Welcome to the jungle of retail strategy, where the stakes are high, and the competition is fierce. This advanced-level course is your ticket to mastering the art and science of retail. We'll dive deep into the nitty-gritty of consumer behavior, market research, branding, pricing, promotion, merchandising, supply chain management, e-commerce, and retail analytics. Expect a mix of hard-hitting lectures, real-world case studies, and hands-on workshops challenging you to think like a retail mogul. From food to fashion, mass to niche, online to international, we've got it all covered. You'll be required to complete a project that showcases your strategic prowess, and you'll get the chance to learn from some of the sharpest minds in the industry: selected retail executives who know the game inside out.
This course provides a fundamental understanding of marketing research methods typically employed by firms. It is primarily aimed towards the manager who must decide the direction of research activities and focuses on how one should design research, construct questionnaires, and collect and analyze data. The course will primarily focus on the interpretation and use of results rather than mathematical derivations. Students will be exposed to the practical side of marketing research through problem sets and projects.
AEM 4415Pre-Engagement with Social Enterprises in Emerging Markets1.5
This course prepares students for engaged-learning opportunities that include working with diverse community partners e.g., small and medium enterprises [organizations], NGOs, universities, and public agencies in emerging markets. This course comprises two sections: 1. Field research methods, which provide students with a strong theoretical grounding on how to collect and report primary data in publishable works (e.g., case studies). 2. Development of field safety, research protocols and client pre-engagement opportunities for students who have successfully been selected to participate in the Student Multidisciplinary Applied Research Teams (SMART) projects. For information on SMART, visit the Student Multidisciplinary Applied Research Teams (SMART) Program website.
Provides a framework for examining the effectiveness of marketing strategies in economies in transition and identifying the challenges and opportunities for firms in low-income economies to access industrial markets. Appraises the risk of entering markets in low-income economies and assesses the political, legal, cultural, and economic forces. Analyzes and discusses case studies of companies.
AEM 4421Research and Strategy in Emerging Markets3
This course complements the Student Multidisciplinary Applied Research Teams (SMART) Program and is only open to students participating in the SMART Program. This course offers students unique research and strategy development opportunities with small and medium enterprises (SMEs), non-profit organizations, public agencies, and other disadvantaged communities in emerging markets. To achieve this, the course is divided into two parts: stakeholder engagement and field research, which takes place during the winter intermission (students travel to the field for data collection and client engagement) and in-class instruction and project development, which takes place during the spring semester. In this second phase, students analyze and report their collected field data through the development of case studies, policy briefs, technical reports, and research papers.
This course deals with the use of data to make marketing decisions. It introduces concepts, methods, and applications of analytics to products, markets, and marketing actions. Unlike marketing courses that focus on conceptual material, this course will provide skills to translate conceptual understanding into specific operational plans - a skill in increasing demand in organizations today.
AEM 4450Toward a Sustainable Global Food System: Food Policy for Developing Countries3
Comprehensive presentation and discussion of policy options for a sustainable global food system, with focus on developing countries. Topics include economic policy related to nutrition, health, consumption, production, natural resource management, trade, markets, gender roles, armed conflict, and ethics. A social entrepreneurship approach based on case studies and active participation by students will be used.
The course focuses on current topics in food marketing and may be supplemented by field trips to food industry firms and other exposure to food industry activities and practitioners. In addition, the course includes preparation for a field study trip during the winter break period.
Retail and Supply Chain Strategy is an advanced college course that integrates consumer-driven retail strategy with end-to-end supply chain design and execution. It prepares you to align brand, assortment, pricing, and channel choices with sourcing, logistics, and fulfillment in a world of volatility, global interdependence, and rapid digital change. From food to fashion, mass to niche, online to international, we have it all covered.
This course focused on the economics of food and malnutrition from the perspective of individuals and households; that is, a micro-economic approach. Topics include characteristics and constraints associated with food production in both developed and developing countries; the determinants of household food security; the social and economic causes and consequences of undernutrition; the social and economic causes and consequences of obesity; intervention design to reduce food insecurity, undernutrition and obesity.
This course provides a broad overview of the financial markets, including the structure and function of these markets, the financial products that are transacted on them, and the institutions that operate within them, while addressing how financial markets are evolving in response to the challenges of sustainability. Through the use of case studies, lectures, readings, and project work, students learn how the leading actors in the financial services industry operate, what motivates them, and how they facilitate the flow of capital between those who can provide financing and those who need it. In parallel with this, the course explores how the tools of finance can be used to generate social and environmental returns in addition to financial returns.
AEM 4500 / ECON 3860 introduces students to the economics of renewable and nonrenewable natural resources. Topics covered include the valuation and use of land; water economics, management, and conservation; the extraction and management of nonrenewable resources such as minerals, rare earth elements, and energy resources; renewable and nonrenewable sources of energy; forest management; fishery economics; groundwater; natural resource markets, demand, supply, and scarcity; and sustainability. Students will learn how to use dynamic models to analyze decision-making over time, and to solve dynamic optimization problems analytically and numerically. Students will also learn tools in numerical analysis, data analytics, graphical analysis, computational techniques, regression analysis, and econometric modeling. Students will apply the methods, quantitative tools, and concepts to analyze natural resource issues at global and local levels; to introspectively reflect on their own lives and future aspirations; and to draw lessons and implications for leadership, management, and policy. A solid background in calculus is required.
This class will focus on the role of the environment in the theory and practice of economics. It will make use of microeconomic analysis at the intermediate level and will incorporate real-world examples. It examines market failure, externalities, benefit-cost analysis, nonmarket valuation techniques, and cost-effective policy instruments.
This course provides an in-depth exploration of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) principles and methodologies with a focus on environmental sustainability. Cost-benefit analysis is an important and widely used method for assessing whether regulatory policies and other market interventions provide net benefits to society. Many of these interventions also have direct implications for profitability of products sold in traditional markets (e.g., energy markets, housing markets, and industrial products that are heavily dependent on environmental resources). In this course, students will develop a fundamental understanding of the history and purpose of cost benefit analysis, its theoretical grounding in neoclassical economics, and its important basis for rational government spending.
Detailed analytical study of special issues and situations in financial accounting. Continuous emphasis is placed on the relationship between theory and practice to reflect the latest professional pronouncements. Highly technical topics related to corporation, partnership, government, and not-for-profit organizations, with a focus on business combinations and the particular accounting challenges that they present.
Cost Accounting and Management Control is a senior seminar focused on managerial decision making and uses of internal accounting data (i.e., revenue and costs; incentive contracts; forecasts; etc.). You will integrate knowledge acquired in your undergraduate accounting courses with that from other courses, readings from current academic and professional literature, and related articles to sharpen skills related to cost assessment, performance evaluation, and managerial control. This course is designed to explicitly consider the role of uncertainty and other statistical issues when making corporate decisions. For the most part, this course is a selected topics course; focusing on topics intimately related with managerial decision making.
Theory and practice of independent examination of financial statements. Discussion of relationships with clients; working papers, assurance procedures, including evaluations of internal controls, accounting principles, risk assessment, liability, and professional ethics.
Introductory course in federal income taxation covering structure of present tax law; basis for income tax computations; concepts of gross income, adjusted gross income, deductions, exemptions and credits. The emphasis is on tax questions and problems relating to individuals. Students enrolled in the graduate-level section will be required to do additional tax problems.
Fraud Examination is a senior seminar designed to allow you access to theories of fraud examination, to develop an understanding of the fraud examination process, and to provide a background in fraud-related issues.
AEM 4533Federal Income Taxation of Low Income Taxpayers2
This course covers the present structure of tax law in the United States, including the measurement of taxable income, tax compliance fundamentals, and other related Federal and state tax issues facing low-income taxpayers, with some emphasis on immigrant taxpayers. Participants also discuss various tax research and compliance tools that may be used by practitioners and/or volunteer low-income taxpayer assistance programs. Guest lecturers will focus on specific topics such as the rules surrounding ITIN preparation and other tax issues unique to low-income taxpayers.
AEM 4534Federal Income Taxation of Real Estate Ventures3
This course presents the tax skills necessary to make business, and personal, decisions as it relates to real estate ventures. Emphasis is placed on such areas as acquiring ownership of real property, the various entity structures that a real estate venture can create, and the operational rules surrounding a real estate venture, including the sale and/or exchange of real estate. In addition, securitized real estate investments, such as limited/master limited partnerships and real estate investment trusts (REITS), will be introduced in the later part of course. Practical application of the tax law will be emphasized with proper consideration placed on the historical, economic and political perspectives of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC). The content and design of this course is, only, suitable for advanced undergraduate students and graduate students.
This course will provide an overview of new financial technologies (Fintech), cryptocurrencies, central bank digital currencies, and decentralized finance (DeFi). The implications of these novel technologies for the future of financial markets, central banking, and international finance will be examined. The course will also cover basic analytical models in open economy macroeconomics and international finance, focusing on capital flows and exchange rate dynamics.
AEM 4550Attention Markets and Advertising Strategy3
Advertising is the main engine behind today’s largest digital platforms and a central force shaping what people see, click, buy, and believe. This course treats attention as a scarce resource and studies advertising as a three-sided market connecting consumers, advertisers, and platforms. The course is designed for anyone interested in platforms, media, tech, strategy, policy, or data, not only future marketers.
AEM 4560Federal Income Taxation of Business Entities, Estates and Trusts3
This course presents the tax skills necessary to make business decisions regarding Corporations, Partnerships, Estates and Trusts. Emphasis is placed on such areas as organization and capital structure, earnings and profits, dividend distribution, redemptions, liquidations and reorganization of corporations. In addition, flow through entities such as partnerships and S Corporations will be studied along with estates, trusts, family tax planning and exempt entities. Practical application of the tax law will be emphasized with proper consideration placed on the historical, economic and political perspectives of the Internal Revenue.
This course is designed to advance the understanding of corporate financial decision making. The class will further the corporate finance topics taught in AEM 2240 such cost of capital, capital structure, mergers and acquisitions, and dividend policy. Some topics in international corporate finance topics will also be discussed.
AEM 4572Entrepreneurial Finance and Private Equity3
This course studies entrepreneurial finance and, more broadly, private equity finance. Private equity (PE) includes primarily venture capital (VC), growth equity, and buyouts. The course is motivated by a substantial increase in supply and demand for private equity. The course's primary objective is to provide an understanding of the concepts and institutions involved in entrepreneurial finance and PE markets. We will explore these two markets: 1) Venture Capital 2) Buyout (narrow definition of Private Equity) from the perspective of three players: 1) Entrepreneurs and startup employees, buyout-backed company's management and employees 2) Venture capital and buyout fund managers (i.e., General Partners or GPs) 3) Investors in venture capital and buyout funds (i.e., Limited Partners or LPs).
This course provides a survey of the rapidly evolving area of corporate sustainability for graduate students and advanced undergraduates. The focus of the course will be on understanding the ways in which growing concerns about human health and wellbeing and the environment may (or may not) affect corporate behavior. Through a combination of classroom presentations, discussion of case studies, assigned readings, and independent research, students will learn about the most important themes in corporate sustainability, including environmental and social risk management, sustainability initiatives and self-regulation in the corporate sector, stakeholder engagement and management, and the growth of sustainable finance and business, including green entrepreneurship and ESG investing.
This course examines financial markets and institutions from an asset owner's perspective. In particular, we study asset markets in stocks, bonds, real assets, illiquid assets, and impact investing. We discuss the roles of key financial institutions such as delegated investing intermediaries, mutual funds, hedge funds, private equity firms, and the Federal Reserve.
AEM 4600Predictive Analytics for Business Strategy3
This course teaches students how data analysis informs business strategy, using a framework of logical reasoning and practical communication. We will develop analytical skills and gather hands-on experience with data to understand how strategic decisions affect firm performance, for example in the context of economic consulting. The material will focus on a subdivision of predictive analytics called active prediction, and students will learn the basics of identification to determine what data are most useful when answering a given empirical question.
Business platforms are a set of business and technology building blocks that serve to facilitate the creation of complementary products and services. They are an essential feature of modern economies, particularly among products and services created by software. The emphasis of this course is on how to create, grow, gain value and capture market share from platforms. Course content will draw concepts from network effects, information asymmetry, pricing, and game theory. Students will apply these concepts to make decisions on how to manage platforms in case studies drawing from social media, entrepreneurship, enterprise software, and mobile services, among others. The course will be useful for students interested in founding new businesses, managing technology ventures and investing.
AEM 4620Digital Innovation in Media Markets & Creative Industries3
In this course we will examine the market dynamics and technological innovations that have challenged the traditional foundations and created opportunities for content producers in media and creative industries. The goal of the course is to develop strategies to identify and exploit new opportunities arising from technological changes, and to motivate regulatory solutions to address emerging market failures. To integrate a market-based approach with practical implications for firms and entrepreneurs, the course will consist of three components: theoretical frameworks, insights from academic literature, and basic data analysis.
AEM 4650Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation3
This is a foundational strategy course for students who will work for firms where innovation and technology is important to the competitive advantage of the firm. This includes tech firms like Google, Facebook, and Amazon as well as traditional technology firms like GE, IBM, and Corning. Innovation is also increasingly important to financial firms such as Capital One, Citibank and Jane Street (a quantitative trading firm). This year we will have guest speakers from Jane Street, Capital One labs and Apple. This course is important for students interested in consulting because innovation is a common topic that consultants have to address. It is also relevant to students with interests in entrepreneurship and corporate venturing.
Course is required for completing the Dyson Business Minor for Engineers, but is open to all majors. By participating in a business simulation, students get experience applying key business principles, such as finance, accounting, marketing, economics and management in dynamic marketing settings. Participants make team-based and individual decisions based on imperfect information and aggressive time constraints. Through analysis, coaching and facilitation, the experience leads to learning the ways specific business decisions influence firm performance in a dynamic marketplace.
AEM 4661Business Simulation Capstone for Business Minors in Life Sciences1.5
This course is a business simulation course in which each student works as part of a team to manage a multidisciplinary healthcare clinic. Each team is responsible for making semi-annual decisions in four broad areas: revenues, payer mix, employees, and services. Teams will start in the same position, competing with one another to gain market share, generate revenue, and increase profitability.
The Business Management Simulation (BMS) is a course in which each student works as part of a team to manage a simulated manufacturing company. Each team is responsible for making yearly decisions in four broad areas: sales, marketing, operations, and finance. Depending on class size, there will be one or two different industries, each operating in its own competitive space, and there will be four or five companies in each industry. Your competition, therefore, is limited to the other three or four teams in your industry. You will all start in the same position, competing with one another to gain market share, generate revenue, and increase profitability. Performance is measured by the relative success of each firm in creating shareholder value by paying dividends and increasing share price.
This course discusses a wide range of investments-related topics, both conceptually and analytically. We first study basic frameworks that provide investors guidance on how to value securities and make investment decisions; topics include basic concepts of return, risk, and prices, asset allocations, the capital asset pricing model, and performance evaluation. We then study empirical patterns of asset prices and discuss the implications of these patterns for investors' trading strategies; here, we introduce the important concept of market efficiency. Next, we discuss bond market investing and the yield curve, as well as derivative contracts such as futures and options. Finally, we discuss selected topics in behavioral finance, an active subfield within finance that tries to improve our understanding of financial markets and investor behavior using frameworks that are psychologically realistic; here, topics include a set of systematic mistakes real-world investors make, the underlying mechanisms that cause these mistakes, and ways to improve financial decision making.
This course provides a detailed study on multiple financial markets including bonds, forwards, futures, swaps, and options and their role in addressing major issues facing humanity. In particular, we plan to study specific topics on the role of financial markets in addressing important issues like funding cancer cure, tackling climate change, and financing educational needs for the underserved. Relative to a traditional finance class, we take a broad approach and think of finance as a way to get things done and financial instruments as a way to solve problems. We explore topics related to diversification and purpose investing, including a highly innovative idea of a mega-fund developing cancer treatment. We examine how financial instruments can help solve or hedge some societal issues, particularly on climate change. As an example, we will be studying a financial solution to deal with California forest fire. We also examine the potential for social impact bonds for educating pre-school children and reducing prisoners' recidivism.
AEM 4875Low-Income Taxpayer Law & Accounting Practicum3
This is a one-semester experiential course where students learn about low-income taxpayer issues as well as prepare individual income tax returns and offer tax advice for low-income taxpayers in the Tompkins County community. In addition to providing a valuable service to the community, students develop their professional skills and client service skills as well as proficiency with a professional tax preparation software product and a deeper understanding of technical tax issues.
AEM 4880Global Food, Energy, and Water Nexus – Engage the US, China, and India for Sustainable Future3-4
This course is offered by six Departments at Cornell, in collaboration with five Universities in China and India. Video conferencing will be used to connect classrooms in the three countries in real time. Important issues related to the food, energy, and water nexus and its implications for nutrition security, one health, environmental sustainability,climate change, and economic development in the US, China, India, and other countries will be described. Challenges associated with these issues will be evaluated and strategies to address them will be proposed. Engagement of these countries with each other and the rest of the world will be explored. The course serves as a platform for students from Cornell, China, and India to learn from and interact with each other in the same class, and to share their thinking, creativity, and perspectives on these issues.
AEM 4940Undergraduate Special Topics in Applied Economics and Management1-4
The department teaches trial courses under this number. Offerings vary by semester and are advertised by the department before the beginning of the semester.
AEM 4960Applied Economics and Management Internship1-2
Evaluation of internship experience requiring the following written submission at the end of the term. 1) Internship job description and copies of training materials provided. 2) Weekly diary including descriptions of job responsibilities and reflections/insights on those experiences. 3) Three to five page paper reflecting on how the internship related to the academic program. All internships must be approved by the internship coordinator before the work experience segment.
A variety of speakers present seminars on international development topics relating to sustainable development throughout the world. Students attend each seminar and submit a five-page essay at the end of the semester reflecting on the speakers' presentations and analyzing connections between topics.
AEM 4975Undergraduate Experience in Entrepreneurship0.5-1.5
Business Minors Office by August 15 (Fall Enrollment) or January 15 (Spring Enrollment) (iv) Upon preliminary petition approval, received agreement from one of instructors above to work with them. Students interested in taking this course should discuss practical experience ideas with one of the undergraduate experience faculty advisors the semester prior to the proposed work, to inform the writing of the petition.
Designed to give qualified undergraduates experience through actual involvement in planning and teaching courses under the supervision of department faculty. Students cannot receive both pay and credit for the same hours of preparation and teaching.
Permits outstanding undergraduates to carry out independent study of suitable problems under appropriate supervision. Students cannot receive both pay and credit for the same hours of work.
AEM 4992Undergraduate Accounting and Tax Research1-4
Permits outstanding undergraduates to carry out independent study of suitable problems under appropriate supervision. Students cannot receive both pay and credit for the same hours of work. This course meets one of the educational components of the New York state CPA exam.
AEM 4993UG Directed Research in Intl Markets & Development1-3
In this course, students work directly with a faculty advisor and experience the process of research starting from proposal writing to completing a deliverable (e.g. final paper / report).
This course is a survey of topics related to: 1) the structure and performance of U.S. dairy markets; and 2) federal and state policies that regulate market activities. This is not a course in how to market or sell farm milk or dairy products, although we will discuss some topics related to marketing and dairy demand analysis. Policy sections emphasize understanding why regulations were created and how they impact market activity, as well as describing what they do.
AEM 5105Designing and Conducting Experiments in Firms3
Firms are increasingly drawing on data and experimental methods to serve customers and drive profits. This course will teach managers and business leaders how to design and conduct robust experiments, generate impactful interventions, select appropriate outcomes, and implement proper randomization. Focused primarily on conceptual understanding rather than technical implementation, the course utilizes discussion-based lectures and culminates in a group project in which teams will design and present on an experiment addressing a real business challenge. While students will gain hands-on experience with data via problem sets which solidify course concepts, no advanced software skills are required; the focus is on being able to work closely with data analysts and data scientists.
This course introduces students to a design toolkit and mindset for creative problem solving that enables a shift from a 20th century, market-based perspective to a more sustainable, human-centered approach appropriate to this century's systemic challenges. Topics covered include: opportunity finding and innovation; the design thinking cycle of inspiration-interpretation-ideation-implementation; and visual communication. Students will learn to apply design strategies to their work to make it more integrated and collaborative. This course will require openness to new ways of (divergent) thinking.
The course objective is to provide students with a solid introductory understanding of econometric theory and applications. Students completing this course willbe able to integrate economic theory with econometric methods to solve research problems ineconomics, business, finance or other social sciences. The course covers least squares estimation, inference, forecasting,and various estimation problems and topicsin econometrics. The course emphasizes application rather than theory, although proper application requires knowledge of the underlying theory.
AEM 5115Evaluation of Green Energy Strategies and Markets3
After an overview of the trends in renewable energy and the multitude of public policies and private initiatives, a conceptual framework to analyze the social costs and benefits will be developed and each policy compared in terms of achieving social goals. The perverse effects of combining policies like subsidies and mandates at both the state and federal levels will be emphasized, along with the interaction of renewable policies with regional cap and trade regimes, and regulations like fuel economy standards and EPA environmental regulations. The specific economic and technology issues facing renewable electricity versus biofuel markets will be addressed, providing students a detailed understanding of each market and the effects of public policies. The effects of biofuel policies on food commodity prices will be emphasized.
Focuses on the analysis of supply and demand characteristics of commodities with particular attention to agricultural products. Pays special attention to empirical analysis. Includes institutional aspects of pricing, temporal and spatial price relationships, price forecasting, and the economic consequences of pricing decisions.
This course will examine the food system from an economic and business perspective. In the first part of the course, students will study the key economic and regulatory elements that affect the production of food. The second section will focus on the business aspects of food and beverage processing, distribution and retailing, and the material in the final section will focus on a range of contemporary business and economic issues that are relevant to consumers of food and beverages.
As digital innovations revolutionize industries, many companies struggle to figure out the changing terms of competition. We will examine earlier digital transformations of industries such as books, music, software, telecommunications, and newspapers to assess the potential impact of Internet of Things, 5G networks, and the fourth industrial revolution. Students will critically evaluate the nature of data and information as economic goods; the role of communication networks in the economy; the industrial impact of digitization, including data, analytics, and AI; the platformization of markets; and new business models and business opportunities.
An investigation of the systems and software that capture and store accounting and economic information, and of the tools and techniques that support a robust use of that data for the benefit of individual enterprises and greater society. Topics include Big Data, Data Visualization, Optimization Tools and Accounting Support Systems and Databases. Students taking this course at the graduate level will have a semester project related to the extension of the utility of large data sets beyond their initial purposes.
The traditional framework for thinking about financial markets assumes that all market participants are fully rational. The past four decades have seen the emergence of an important new paradigm, behavioral finance, which argues that many financial phenomena are the result of less than fully rational thinking and which draws on psychology to understand the ways in which people are not fully rational. This course provides an introduction to the field. We revisit basic topics in finance from a behavioral finance perspective: topics related to markets (stock market fluctuations, popular investment strategies, bubbles); topics related to investor behavior (poor investment decisions by households); and topics related to corporate finance (security issuance, mergers and acquisitions). A running theme in the course is that knowledge of behavioral finance is essential for anyone who seeks a full understanding of modern financial markets.
The traditional framework for thinking about financial markets assumes that all market participants are fully rational. The past four decades have seen the emergence of an important new paradigm, behavioral finance, which argues that many financial phenomena are the result of less than fully rational thinking. This course provides a comprehensive discussion of the field. We revisit basic topics in finance from a behavioral finance perspective: topics related to markets (e.g. stock market fluctuations, popular investment strategies, bubbles); topics related to investor behavior (e.g. poor investment decisions by households); and topics related to corporate finance and managerial behavior (e.g. security issuance, mergers and acquisitions). We discuss the lessons of behavioral finance for how investors and managers should behave. A running theme in the course is that knowledge of behavioral finance is essential for anyone who seeks a full understanding of modern financial markets.
The traditional framework for thinking about financial markets assumes that all market participants are fully rational. The past four decades have seen the emergence of an important new paradigm, behavioral finance, which argues that many financial phenomena are the result of less than fully rational thinking. Behavioral Finance Part I and Part II collectively provide a comprehensive discussion of the field. Specifically, we organize our discussion along two dimensions: a “column” approach and a “row” approach. The column approach focuses on discussing market phenomena that cannot be explained by the traditional framework; for each phenomenon, we discuss potential psychological biases that can make sense of it. The row approach focuses on discussing psychological biases that humans exhibit; for each bias, we discuss a range of market phenomena that it can explain.
This course is a survey of topics in finance. It focuses on the mathematics of finance, valuation, the economics of managerial decisions, corporate financial policy, risk management, investments, and personal finance. (MPA-TPA)
An evaluation of the fundamental principles, structure, finance, management, and governance associated with cooperatively structured businesses, with an emphasis on agricultural cooperatives. Analyses of the cooperative business organization within the modern economy are emphasized through a mix of lectures, case study discussions, and engaged learning projects. Additional industry engagement is expected of graduate students by developing cooperative business educational curricula and delivering to relevant stakeholder audiences in collaboration with Cornell's Cooperative Enterprise Program.
AEM 5270Supply Chain Strategy and Supermarket Simulation3
In Wisconsin and Ohio, farmers are dumping thousands of gallons of fresh milk into ponds and manure pits. In California, farmers are plowing under thousands of acres of lettuce and perfectly ripe strawberries. Months after concerns about shortages in grocery stores shoppers are still scrambling to find the last box of pasta or roll of toilet paper. It is Cyber Monday every day at retailers like Amazon.com, Walmart, Target, and Kroger as they struggle to meet the surge in demand. Could CoVID-19 be the black swan event that finally forces many companies, and entire industries, to rethink and transform their global supply chain model? The main objective of this course is to introduce students to the important concepts in supply chain management that any student of business (regardless of their current interests) should know to be an effective business manager in the future, and what students with interests other than business can benefit from knowing. Topics include design, planning, execution, control, and monitoring of supply-chain activities with the objective of creating net value, building a competitive infrastructure, leveraging worldwide logistics, synchronizing supply with demand, and measuring performance globally. Effective supply chain management can enable companies to increase market shares, reduce costs, and improve customer service.Student teams will compete to affect a turnaround of an underperforming retail company. This competition allows students to use and practice skills, tools and knowledge acquired in other classes in a dynamic simulation of a company's operations in a competitive marketplace. Instruction will include review of concepts important to the simulation and the coaching of student teams as they management decisions and interpret the financial results of their (and competitors') decisions.
AEM 5275Introduction to Machine Learning in Business3
This course aims to provide business majors with essential machine learning concepts and practical skills. Through a blend of theory and hands-on experiences, you'll learn how to utilize data-driven insights in the business world. The focus is on analyzing data effectively, improving prediction performance, and extracting valuable information for managerial decision-making. We'll apply machine learning to diverse business contexts, including predicting customer behavior, forecasting prices, and natural language processing. Each application involves specific machine learning tasks like classification, numeric prediction, and clustering. We'll tackle these tasks using various models, such as logistic regressions, support vector machines, decision-trees, ensemble learning (e.g., random forests and boosting), and neural networks.
This course is about the analysis of financial information for making decisions to invest in businesses. The primary focus is on quantitative stock selection and equity (share) valuation. Various valuation models will be examined in detail and applied in cases and projects involving listed companies. First, the issue of market efficiency will be explored. Second, important quantitative stock selection methods will be examined. Third, discounted cash flow models will be examined. This include models of shareholder value, the analysis of profitability, growth and valuation generation in a firm, forecasting earnings and cash flows, pro-forma analysis for strategy and planning, analysis of risk, and the determination of price/earnings and market-to-book ratios. Advanced topics on valuation including valuation by multiples and earnings management will then be discussed.
Intensive, one-week, full-time immersion course in the area of sustainable business and finance, combining lectures, case study discussions, guest lectures, and team and individual exercises and presentations on the topic.
Through this two-day immersion seminar as part of the broader CEMS curriculum, students will learn and gain skills related to participating in (and leading) teams of diverse individuals. The seminar-and our classroom time-will be approached as a partnership. Questions will be posed regularly and frequently throughout the course to support learning from each other. The main themes for the two-day sessions are: What is leadership? How do organizations (mis)identify leaders? What is the difference between ascribed and achieved leadership? What are the benefits of teamwork (and why is it increasing in the workplace? How do effective teams operate? What skills are most helpful for successful team participation?
This course analyzes the international business environment, defined as the economic, political, and social factors that shape firms' global strategies. We seek to explain the ways in which - and the reasons why - countries differ in policies and institutions relevant to the firm. The course places special emphasis on the political and institutional economy facing the business, which means we study how international and domestic politics as well as institutions influence continuity and change in the rules governing international economic transactions.
AEM 5315Leadership and Management in Global Environments and Organizations3
Business firms with global operations and activities present unique layers of managerial and leadership challenges on top of those already associated with running a successful business. This course identifies those challenges at the industry, organizational, team and individual levels and indicates available solutions and implementations of solutions to those challenges. The course emphasizes the organic nature of the growth of the global enterprise and the challenges it presents to organizational citizens and leaders; the difficulties associated with creating coherent organizational structures and cultures across national and regional borders; the potential and actual differences in institutional and cultural practices across national and regional borders; and finally the ethical challenges posed by both the large institutional and cultural distances across organizational units in a multinational enterprise as well as by the nature of cross-cultural and cross-institutional business contacts in an environment of global firms.
This course, designed for those poised to embark on their professional journeys, offers an exploration into the intersections of career development, decision-making, and dimensions of leadership pertaining to teams and dynamic environments. Over the span of seven intensive three-hour sessions, students will engage in a combination of discussions and group activities that foster collaborative learning and holistic personal growth. The curriculum covers a diverse range of topics, from aligning individual passions with career trajectories to delving into dynamic management considerations (such as those involving adaptation and emergent strategies). By its conclusion, participants will have acquired a broader worldview and a set of practical tools to effectively navigate the complexities of both their career and personal endeavors in dynamic situations.
Welcome to the jungle of retail strategy, where the stakes are high, and the competition is fierce. This advanced-level course is your ticket to mastering the art and science of retail. We will dive deep into the nitty-gritty of consumer behavior, market research, branding, pricing, promotion, merchandising, supply chain management, e-commerce, and retail analytics. Expect a mix of hard-hitting lectures, real-world case studies, and hands-on workshops that will challenge you to think like a retail mogul.
This course provides a fundamental understanding of marketing research methods typically employed by firms. It is primarily aimed towards the manager who must decide the direction of research activities and focuses on how one should design research, construct questionnaires, and collect and analyze data. The course will primarily focus on the interpretation and use of results rather than mathematical derivations. Students will be exposed to the practical side of marketing research through problem sets and projects.
AEM 5415Pre-Engagement with Social Enterprises in Emerging Markets1.5
This course prepares students for engaged-learning opportunities that include working with diverse community partners e.g., small and medium enterprises [organizations], NGOs, universities, and public agencies in emerging markets. This course comprises two sections: 1. Field research methods, which provide students with a strong theoretical grounding on how to collect and report primary data in publishable works (e.g., case studies). 2. Development of field safety, research protocols and client pre-engagement opportunities for students who have successfully been selected to participate in the Student Multidisciplinary Applied Research Teams (SMART) projects. For information on SMART, visit the Student Multidisciplinary Applied Research Teams (SMART) Program website. (MPA-TPA)
Provides a framework for examining the effectiveness of marketing strategies in economies in transition and identifying the challenges and opportunities for firms in low-income economies to access industrial markets. Appraises the risk of entering markets in low-income economies and assesses the political, legal, cultural, and economic forces. Analyzes and discusses case studies of companies. (MPA-TPA)
AEM 5421Research and Strategy in Emerging Markets3
This course complements the Student Multidisciplinary Applied Research Teams (SMART) Program and is only open to students participating in the SMART Program. This course offers students unique research and strategy development opportunities with small and medium enterprises (SMEs), non-profit organizations, public agencies, and other disadvantaged communities in emerging markets. To achieve this, the course is divided into two parts: stakeholder engagement and field research, which takes place during the winter intermission (students travel to the field for data collection and client engagement) and in-class instruction and project development, which takes place during the spring semester. In this second phase, students analyze and report their collected field data through the development of case studies, policy briefs, technical reports, and research papers. (MPA-TPA)
This course deals with the use of data to make marketing decisions. It introduces concepts, methods, and applications of analytics to products, markets, and marketing actions. Unlike marketing courses that focus on conceptual material, this course will provide skills to translate conceptual understanding into specific operational plans - a skill in increasing demand in organizations today.
Retail and Supply Chain Strategy is an advanced college course that integrates consumer-driven retail strategy with end-to-end supply chain design and execution. It prepares you to align brand, assortment, pricing, and channel choices with sourcing, logistics, and fulfillment in a world of volatility, global interdependence, and rapid digital change. From food to fashion, mass to niche, online to international, we have it all covered.
AEM 5480From Labels to Lab-Grown Meat: Consumer Behavior and the Food Industry1.5
Through reading, writing, and discussion students will broaden their understanding of the food market and its components. The course will introduce students to current research on consumer perceptions and behavior with regard to food. Topics will be covered with an eye toward understanding the landscape of the food industry and how consumer behavior shapes opportunities within this space. Students will write short case studies relating to each of the course modules exploring the current trends in the industry. This will include assessing the market potential for novel and controversial foods or food services. It may also include researching food companies that have either successfully or unsuccessfully attempted to innovate, or policies that have attempted to change food behavior.
AEM 5500 introduces students to the economics of renewable and nonrenewable natural resources. Topics covered include the valuation and use of land; water economics, management, and conservation; the extraction and management of nonrenewable resources such as minerals, rare earth elements, and energy resources; renewable and nonrenewable sources of energy; forest management; fishery economics; groundwater; natural resource markets, demand, supply, and scarcity; and sustainability. Students will learn how to use dynamic models to analyze decision-making over time, and to solve dynamic optimization problems analytically and numerically. Students will also learn tools in numerical analysis, data analytics, graphical analysis, computational techniques, regression analysis, and econometric modeling. Students will apply the methods, quantitative tools, and concepts to analyze natural resource issues at global and local levels; to introspectively reflect on their own lives and future aspirations; to draw lessons and implications for leadership, management, and policy; and to communicate, describe, and explain quantitative analyses through writing, speech, visual information, slides, and video. A solid background in calculus is required.
This class will focus on the role of the environment in the theory and practice of economics. It will make use of microeconomic analysis at the intermediate level and will incorporate real-world examples. It examines market failures, externalities, benefit-cost analysis, non-market valuation techniques, cost-effective policy instruments, and recent applied work on the economics of the environment.
This course will investigate energy issues from an economic and business perspective using a quantitative approach. In the first part of the course, students will learn how to think about energy through an economic and business lens. The second part of the course will focus on topical energy market issues such as imperfect competition, bidding in electricity markets, markets for oil and gas, and environmental regulation.
This course provides an in-depth exploration of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) principles and methodologies with a focus on environmental sustainability. Cost-benefit analysis is an important and widely used method for assessing whether regulatory policies and other market interventions provide net benefits to society. Many of these interventions also have direct implications for profitability of products sold in traditional markets (e.g., energy markets, housing markets, and industrial products that are heavily dependent on environmental resources). In this course, students will develop a fundamental understanding of the history and purpose of cost benefit analysis, its theoretical grounding in neoclassical economics, and its important basis for rational government spending.
AEM 5550 Marketing Strategy is a 7-week course that emphasizes the foundational principles of developing effective marketing approaches, grounded in key economic concepts. We will explore core ideas that help businesses establish and maintain competitive advantages, such as understanding price sensitivities of customers, economies of scale, network effects, switching costs, branding, etc. These concepts will serve as a guiding framework for our analysis of marketing decisions, particularly in pricing and advertising.
This course provides a rigorous treatment of the core concepts of corporate finance for finance majors. Topics studied in this course include, but are not limited to, capital budgeting, corporate governance, capital structure, payout policy, valuation, raising capital, risk management, and mergers and acquisitions.
This course provides a survey of the rapidly evolving area of corporate sustainability for graduate students and advanced undergraduates. The focus of the course will be on understanding the ways in which growing concerns about human health and wellbeing and the environment may (or may not) affect corporate behavior. Through a combination of classroom presentations, discussion of case studies, assigned readings, and independent research, students will learn about the most important themes in corporate sustainability, including environmental and social risk management, sustainability initiatives and self-regulation in the corporate sector, stakeholder engagement and management, and the growth of sustainable finance and business, including green entrepreneurship and ESG investing.
This course covers topics in microeconomics that inform managerial decisions, including intermediate principles of microeconomics. Examples will be drawn from recent business cases.
AEM 5605Predictive Analytics for Business Strategy3
This course teaches students how data analysis informs business strategy, using a framework of logical reasoning and practical communication. We will develop analytical skills and gather hands-on experience with data to understand how strategic decisions affect firm performance, for example in the context of economic consulting. The material will focus on a subdivision of predictive analytics called active prediction, and students will learn the basics of identification to determine what data are most useful when answering a given empirical question.
Business platforms are a set of business and technology building blocks that serve to facilitate the creation of complementary products and services. They are an essential feature of modern economies, particularly among products and services created by software. The emphasis of this course is on how to create, grow, gain value, and capture market share from platforms. Course content will draw concepts from network effects, information asymmetry, pricing, and game theory. Students will apply these concepts to make decisions on how to manage platforms in case studies drawing from social media, entrepreneurship, enterprise software, and mobile services, among others. The course will be useful for students interested in founding new businesses, managing technology ventures, and investing. (MHA-EL)
AEM 5620Digital Innovation in Media Markets & Creative Industries3
In this course we will examine the market dynamics and technological innovations that have challenged the traditional foundations and created opportunities for content producers in media and creative industries. The goal of the course is to develop strategies to identify and exploit new opportunities arising from technological changes, and to motivate regulatory solutions to address emerging market failures. To integrate a market-based approach with practical implications for firms and entrepreneurs, the course will consist of three components: theoretical frameworks, insights from academic literature, and basic data analysis.
AEM 5650Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation3
This is a foundational strategy course for students who will work for firms where innovation and technology is important to the competitive advantage of the firm. This includes tech firms like Google, Facebook, and Amazon as well as traditional technology firms like GE, IBM, and Corning. Innovation is also increasingly important to financial firms such as Capital One, Citibank and Jane Street (a quantitative trading firm). This year we will have guest speakers from Jane Street, Capital One labs and Apple. This course is important for students interested in consulting because innovation is a common topic that consultants have to address. It is also relevant to students with interests in entrepreneurship and corporate venturing.
The course provides a broad overview of investment management, focusing on the application of finance theory to the issues faced by portfolio managers and investors in general. Topics include asset allocation, asset pricing models such as the capital asset pricing model and arbitrage pricing theory, active portfolio management, and performance evaluation. These tools provide a disciplined way of thinking about investment decisions, while simultaneously framing how we think about the historical performance of markets. While particular attention will be given to equity markets, we will also touch on implications for fixed income and derivative securities. Finally, we will spend time looking at alternative asset classes such as hedge funds and private equity. (MHA-EL)
Communication is perhaps the most complex thing humans do. It is arguably the most critical skill for thriving and surviving in almost any situation in the business world. This course is designed to improve your oral communication and presentation skills in the business environment. Course content includes hands-on lessons in effective design along with individual team, and virtual presentations. Public speaking, interpersonal skills, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills are emphasized. Development of these skills is integrated with the use of technology. (MHA-EL)
Mastering interpersonal influence is crucial for personal and professional success. This course focuses on navigating interpersonal communications to build credibility, inspire trust, and ethically create the desired impacts personally and professionally. You will practice your communication and leadership skills through a variety of immersive exercises and simulations designed to help you learn to manage conflict, navigate office politics, inspire others, and advocate for your ideas. Theory from empirical research and business press will complement practical learning, allowing you to apply insights directly to your professional life. You will gain a deeper understanding of interpersonal communication dynamics and enhance your ability to influence others effectively in various situations to create the impact you desire.
AEM 5840Python Programming for Data Analysis and Business Modeling3
Data-driven decision making and the use of analytical approaches are critical skills for success in business. Analytics skills are increasing in demand and in many cases, are required for business professionals. The new technologies and development such as personal electrical devices, social media, online shopping, ... resulted in exponential growth in the amount of data we generate and collect on a daily basis. Companies are highly interested in extracting knowledge from these sources. To be able to manipulate and analyze a large structured and unstructured dataset, you need to learn how to code. In this course, by learning Python, one of the most popular programming languages, you are taking a significant step in data analysis. You will learn how to design and code an algorithm and manipulate datasets. (MHA-EL)
AEM 5850R Programming for Business Analytics and Data Visualization3
This course provides business students with an introduction to the most important tools in R for programming and data visualization. Students will learn the basics of R syntax, data structures, data wrangling, and data visualization using the grammar of graphics. After taking this course, students will have the tools to complete basic tasks in R and interface effectively with statisticians and data scientists in business settings. This course also provides a foundation for future coursework to implement more advanced statistical methods in R.
AEM 6030Contemporary Issues in Agricultural Finance1.5
This course is a half-semester course course in mathematical programming designed to deepen an understanding of the role of risk in a portfolio choice framework. As a complement to AEM 6050, Agricultural Finance and Development, this course should be of particular interest to students in, agricultural finance, agricultural economics, development economics, financial economics, or any other related discipline. The focus of the course is in the design and structure of mathematical programming models that include risk. Core to this is the understanding of primal and dual structures and the importance of Kuhn-Tucker conditions in the economic interpretation of mathematical programming solutions. Topics may include, but are not limited to 1. An introduction to linear programming and model structure 2. Portfolio choice and quadratic programming in investments and agriculture. 3. Direct Expected Utility Maximization 4. Semi-variance and non-convex models of risk.
This course is a seminar course dedicated to understanding the role of agricultural finance in developed and developing economies. Weekly instruction will include lectures on key issues as needed and discussion of scholarly research. Topics may include, but are not limited to: the role of credit in agricultural productivity, financial inclusion and rural transformation, the role of microcredit in agricultural development, agricultural credit policies, risk and credit. (MPA-TPA)
Risk Simulation and Monte Carlo Methods deals with the concepts of randomness and risk in financial management, project analysis, capital budgeting, stock valuations, derivatives, and investment portfolios. The focus of the course is on applying realistic probability models through Monte Carlo simulation and optimization to a wide variety of relevant problems in investment, agriculture and other applications. In a addition to lectures, weekly seminars will This seminar will explore the development of Monte Carlo simulation from a historical point of view, examine in greater detail stochastic processes, and understand the basic structure of Ito processes and the stochastic calculus and how to employ these techniques in Monte Carlo simulations.
Studies the theory of production economics with emphasis on applications to agriculture and natural resources. Topics include the derivation, estimation, and use of production, cost, profit, revenue, demand, and supply functions. Discusses the concepts of efficiency and productivity. Introduces production response over time and under risk.
This course provides an overview of environmental finance and markets, with particular emphasis on the development and use of financial instruments and investment strategies that seek to further the long-term sustainability of ecosystems. The course will explore the uses of such products as debt-for-nature swaps, environmental impact bonds, structured notes, and green bonds, and seek to illustrate both their potential and their limitations through a review of market transactions. The course will also explore how investment decisions can influence environmental outcomes, and the role that sustainable asset management strategies can have in achieving desired conservation objectives.
The objective is to provide students with a set of theoretical, econometric, and practical skills to test predictions from economic theory in data and to estimate the causal impacts of a policy or program. Modules 1-5 of the course will cover underlying tools and concepts, including mathematical statistics, linear models for cross-sectional and panel data, non-linear models, and hypothesis testing. In modules 6-7 we cover topics related to causal inference, instrumental variables, coefficient stability, and difference-in-difference estimators. Throughout the course, students will be evaluated on both theoretical and empirical applications.
The goal of the course is to provide graduate students with frontier econometric tools for conducting empirical research. We will cover prominent methods for causal inference, including randomized experiments, difference-in-difference, regression discontinuity, synthetic control, shift-share, matching, and statistical sensitivity tests. The course will also cover machine learning for prediction and variable selection, and selected topics in time series econometrics.
AEM 6125Impact Evaluation in Developing Countries3
Significant resources are regularly dedicated to programs and policies aimed at improving the well-being of the world's poor. With what degree of confidence can observed changes in an outcome be attributed to a given intervention, program or policy? What are the characteristics of evaluation designs, quantitative and qualitative data collection methods, and analyses that allow plausible cause and effect attributions to be made? The purpose of the class in impact evaluation is to explore how questions of this kind are framed and empirically investigated. Students will learn about impact evaluation by examining evaluation designs and causal modeling techniques and by performing fundamental evaluation tasks. As an application activity, the class will work directly with individuals in agencies who administer and evaluate programs in developing countries.
AEM 6140Behavioral Economics and Managerial Decisions3
Behavioral economics integrates psychology and economics by identifying systematic anomalies in decision making. These are now recognized to be an important source of error in business decisions, and they provide the foundation for both behavioral marketing and finance. The course compares rational choice theory with behavior both in lecture and through a series of economics experiments in which students face situations that are likely to lead to anomalies such as the winner's curse, the status quo bias, hyperbolic discounting, and bias in assessing risks. Students have the opportunity to evaluate their own decision making.
AEM 6145Business and Management Fundamentals for STEM Graduate Students1.5
Basic business and management skills are necessary to advance your career no matter what area of STEM discipline you plan to pursue. The purpose of this course is to provide the skills necessary to present a strong business case for any new biomedical or life science technology. Like any foreign language, business eeze has its own vocabulary, grammar principles and culture. The course will be presented in a similar fashion utilizing STEM case studies to emphasize and immerse the student in business and managerial principles.
AEM 6150Applied Behavioral Economics in Finance and Marketing1.5
Behavioral economics has been popularized in people's mindsets through books like Nudge (Thaler and Sunstein, 2008) and Thinking, Fast and Slow (Kahneman, 2013). However, it is only more recently that businesses have started to apply behavioral economics in business applications and corporate initiatives. This proposed course will focus on developing students' knowledge and abilities in applying behavioral economics to consumer financial decision making and marketing contexts within companies. The course will be designed to be interactive with cases (e.g., in-class discussion) and project assignments (e.g., behavioral audits, A/B test design, behavioral solution proposals).
This course examines evidence-based principles of individual and group behavior in relation to leadership and management. Topics include the nature and design of groups, the factors that improve team performance, and the importance of skills including dispute resolution, persuasion, and negotiations, Assignments provide opportunities for the engagement and application of analytical skills relating to real-world organizations. Graduate students are required to complete more detailed written assignments (e.g., more pages, deeper analyses; and integration of more research) in addition to all assignments required of the undergraduates.
AEM 6300Policy Analysis: Welfare Theory, Agriculture, and Trade3
The first half of the course surveys the theory of welfare economics as a foundation for public policy analysis. Major issues addressed include the problem of social welfare measurement, the choice of welfare criteria, and the choice of market or nonmarket allocation. Basic concepts covered include measurement of welfare change, including the compensation principle, consumer and producer surplus, willingness-to-pay measures, externalities, and the general theory of second-best optima. The second half focuses on public policy analysis as applied to domestic agricultural policy and international trade. The domestic policy component examines major U.S. farm commodity programs and related food and macroeconomic policies and analyzes their effects on producers, consumers, and other groups. The international trade component examines the structure of world agricultural trade, analytical concepts of trade policy analysis, and the principal trade policies employed by countries in international markets.
This course draws upon the study of sports for the purpose of understanding and studying evidence-based principles of individual and organizational behavior. Topics include the nature of motivation, momentum, and coaching as well as the challenges of talent identification, team-level coordination, and strategy development. Assignments provide opportunities for the development and application of analytic skills relating to leadership and management.
Focuses on the unique features of agricultural commodity markets. Emphasizes government and private institutions that affect these markets, as well as on models of price behavior including marketing margins and imperfect competition. Also covers empirical tools to evaluate market characteristics.
This course focuses on markets for agricultural futures and options contracts. Lectures address hedging and risk management with futures and options as well as the structure of risk and random walks.
Develops a useful, conceptual understanding of the problem and strategies associated with the psychology behind consumer behavior. In doing so, the course provides frameworks that enable students to address these issues responsibly, systematically, and creatively.
AEM 6455Toward a Sustainable Global Food System: Food Policy for Developing Countries3
Comprehensive presentation and discussion of policy options for a sustainable global food system, with focus on developing countries. Topics include: economic policy related to nutrition, health, consumption, production, natural resource management, trade, markets, gender roles, armed conflict, and ethics. A social entrepreneurship approach based on case studies and active participation by students will be used.
AEM 6480Food and Consumer Packaged Goods Industry Dynamics3
Covers merchandising principles and practices as they apply to food industry situations. Examines the various elements of merchandising such as buying, pricing, advertising, promotion, display, store layout, profit planning and control, and merchandising strategy. Considers the consequences of food industry trends and initiatives for other industry members, public policy makers, and consumers. A 3-4 page (max) report on each of the Guest Speaker presentations focusing on identifying links to behavioral economics principles and solutions to problems/issues raised by the speaker is required. Students will also meet outside class to discuss guest speaker presentations in the context of their own ongoing projects.
This course focused on the economics of food and malnutrition from the perspective of individuals and households; that is, a micro-economic approach. Topics include characteristics and constraints associated with food production in both developed and developing countries; the determinants of household food security; the social and economic causes and consequences of undernutrition; the social and economic causes and consequences of obesity; intervention design to reduce food insecurity, undernutrition and obesity.
This course provides a broad overview of the financial markets, including the structure and function of these markets, the financial products that are transacted on them, and the institutions that operate within them, while addressing how financial markets are evolving in response to the challenges of sustainability. Through the use of case studies, lectures, readings, and project work, students learn how the leading actors in the financial services industry operate, what motivates them, and how they facilitate the flow of capital between those who can provide financing and those who need it. In parallel with this, the course explores how the tools of finance can be used to generate social and environmental returns in addition to financial returns.
Review of welfare economics, environmental externalities, and common property resources, and a survey of current environmental and natural resource policy. Covers techniques for measuring benefits and costs-including property value and wage hedonic approaches, travel cost models, and contingent evaluation. Describes survey/data collection methods in detail. Explores innovative market mechanisms for resolving public good, common property, and externality problems. Students are required to complete a paper describing their own formal economic analysis of a natural resource or environmental problem.
This course provides a graduate level introduction to food and agricultural economics. This is a required course for Applied Economics and Management MS and PhD students concentrating in food and agricultural economics. The course provides an overview of related policy in the US, food and agricultural markets, agricultural labor markets, and food and consumer choice.
AEM 6533Federal Income Taxation of Low Income Taxpayers2
This course covers the present structure of tax law in the United States, including the measurement of taxable income, tax compliance fundamentals, and other related Federal and state tax issues facing low-income taxpayers, with some emphasis on immigrant taxpayers. Participants also discuss various tax research and compliance tools that may be used by practitioners and/or volunteer low-income taxpayer assistance programs. Guest lecturers will focus on specific topics such as the rules surrounding ITIN preparation and other tax issues unique to low-income taxpayers.
This course provides a detailed study on multiple financial markets including bonds, forwards, futures, swaps, and options and their role in addressing major issues facing humanity. In particular, we plan to study specific topics on the role of financial markets in addressing important issues like funding cancer cure, tackling climate change, and financing educational needs for the underserved. Relative to a traditional finance class, we take a broad approach and think of finance as a way to get things done and financial instruments as a way to solve problems. We explore topics related to diversification and purpose investing, including a highly innovative idea of a mega-fund developing cancer treatment. We examine how financial instruments can help solve or hedge some societal issues, particularly on climate change. As an example, we will be studying a financial solution to deal with California forest fire. We also examine the potential for social impact bonds for educating pre-school children and reducing prisoners' recidivism. (MPA-TPA)
This is a course based in economic theory and its empirical applications, focusing on consumer demand. We will study the core of consumer theory and essential mathematical economics to understand how researchers, private businesses and policymakers use models of consumer behavior and demand response to support decision-making. We will identify relevant consumer demand related problems/issues; analyze how economic theory can help us shed light on these problems/issues; employ basic quantitative models to understand how to use and analyze data to understand consumer demand and behavior; and discuss how theory and empirical models can support decision-making in the real world.
The course introduces students to a practical toolkit to enhance empirical economic research in a data-rich, AI-assisted world. The format is hands-on. Students learn in R, building a versioned, reproducible research portfolio on GitHub. The course teaches workflows and tools that are becoming essential to modern empirical research without covering inference. Grading is based on (1) participation, (2) weekly empirical exercises, and (3) a final project. Topics covered include: (1) programming foundations in R; (2) version control, project structure, and reproducibility (git, GitHub, renv, Quarto); (3) responsible use of AI coding tools, verification practices, and disclosure standards; (4) data acquisition (APIs, web scraping, databases); (5) data wrangling and visualization; (6) basic spatial data analysis; and (7) research workflow and communication.
AEM 6851Monte Carlo Methods for Applied Econometrics3
AEM 6851 teaches Monte Carlo simulation as the tool researchers use to investigate their own estimators rather than defer to published recipes. The course is organized around the data-generating process: for each topic, we specify a DGP that describes a problem applied researchers commonly face, derive what an estimator should do under it, simulate, and compare outcomes against ground truth. The aim is to build the intuition and computational skill needed to diagnose when an estimator works, when it fails, and when the estimator you need has not been studied under the conditions you face. The goal is to be able to design a Monte Carlo experiment that produces an evidence-based answer.
AEM 6880Global Food, Energy, and Water Nexus – Engage the US, China, and India for Sustainable Future3-4
This course is offered by six Departments at Cornell, in collaboration with five Universities in China and one India. Video conferencing will be used to connect classrooms in the three countries in real time. Important issues related to the food, energy, and water nexus and its implications for nutrition security, one health, environmental sustainability, climate change, and economic development in the US and these two countries will be described. Challenges associated with these issues will be evaluated and strategies to address them will be proposed. Engagement of these countries with each other and the rest of the world will be explored. The course serves as a platform for students from Cornell, China, and India to learn from and interact with each other in the same class, and to share their thinking, creativity, and perspectives on these issues.
AEM 6940Graduate Special Topics in Applied Economics and Management1-4
The department teaches trial courses under this number. Offerings vary by semester and are advertised by the department before the beginning of the semester.
A variety of speakers present seminars on international development topics relating to sustainable development throughout the world. Students attend each seminar and submit a five-page essay at the end of the semester reflecting on the speakers' presentations and analyzing connections between topics. (MHA-EL)
Designed to give graduate students teaching experience through involvement in planning and teaching courses under the supervision of departmental faculty members. The experience may include leading discussion sections, preparing, assisting in, or teaching lectures and laboratories, and tutoring. Students are expected to actually teach at least one hour per week for each credit awarded. Students may not receive both pay and credit for the same hours of preparation and teaching.
This is a core course for Master of Professional Studies (MPS) in Applied Economics and Management. It provides students with the opportunity to explore strategies for behavioral, quantitative, and qualitative problem-solving projects. We consider the conceptual challenges associated with identifying and defining a project topic and examine the practical tasks of selecting or collecting data, analyzing data, and reporting the results, including visualization and writing. The objective of the course is for students to understand how problems associated with different kinds of projects can be addressed with empirical methods. Many course activities will be structured as teamwork, and team leadership and management skills are a major component of the course. The course topics are introduced through readings, class discussion, and independent team-based research.
Applying economic concepts to managerial decisions addressing substantive issues requires operationalization of concepts, finding appropriate samples of a population from which to generalize, and determining the causal inferences that can be draw from any relationships observed. This core course for MPS students mentors students through the execution of practical research projects. Students will work in teams and focus will be given to effective research strategies and effective communication of results and progress.
AEM 6993CEMS Masters in International Management Project6
The CEMS Masters in International Management Project requires students to work in culturally and functionally diverse teams to solve real international business strategy and management problems for actual organizations engaged in activities that span national borders. Student teams are matched with corporate and social partners and given a consulting assignment, which the teams resolve with interaction with their corporate and social partners and supervision from the professor. In addition to the actual consulting work, the course includes a set of skill building and debriefing meetings referring to information acquisition and analysis, critical thinking in an organizational environment, consulting practice, project management, and processes of team formation and management. The result of the project is a comprehensive report and formal presentation to the corporate or social partner.
AEM 7000Individual Study in Applied Economics and Management0.5-9
Used for special projects designed by faculty members. More than one topic may be given each semester in different sections. Student must register in section appropriate to topic being covered; section number is provided by instructor.
This course explores links between urbanization and real estate markets. High downtown rents reflect the benefits of proximity to other companies and natural features like port facilities. High housing costs reflect proximity to jobs and the lure of urban amenities. At the same time, segregation and congestion are often exacerbated by urbanization, the costs of which are seen in inequality, crime, pollution, and traffic jams. Urban real estate markets are also affected by local government policy, including enforcement of property rights, zoning, tax and subsidy programs. Shrinking rust belt cities and work from home threaten to undermine urban real estate markets, while volatility and uncertainty contributes to mispricing. These and related ideas will be explored drawing on context from countries around the world.
This course provides exposure to a wide variety of basic skills necessary for conducting high-quality research in applied economics. This includes defining a research question, primary and secondary data collection, principles of academic writing and presentation, research ethics, basic coding and data management, as well as project management. This course is meant to help students transition from coursework to the independent research they undertake starting at the end of the first year of the Ph.D. program. Some of the topics (e.g., coding) are only covered at an overview level with the expectation that those requiring a deeper knowledge will take further coursework.
AEM 7020Applied Microeconomics I: Applied Game Theory3
This course teaches the fundamentals of non-cooperative game theory and classic applications used in applied work in economics and related fields such as finance, marketing, operations, and accounting. The course begins with a brief primer on non-cooperative game theory that covers pure versus mixed strategies, Nash equilibrium, and various equilibrium refinements. Coverage then turns to basic frameworks that utilize game theory to model a wide range of settings in economics and related fields. These include agency analysis, classic asymmetric information models such as adverse selection and signaling, time inconsistency, and repeated games and reputation.
AEM 7021Applied Microeconomics II: General Equilibrium3
This is a semester-long course on general equilibrium theory and its applications, in- tended for doctoral students who plan to conduct research using the tools of microe- conomics and general equilibrium. The objectives of this course are three-fold: (i) to provide students with a systematic grounding in the fundamentals of general equilibrium modeling, (ii) to prepare students to use these tools in their own research, and (iii) to expose students to a broad (though necessarily selective) array of topical areas in which general equilibrium modeling is at the research frontier.
Students are exposed to the cutting edge research by visiting lecturers in applied economics and management. Additional lectures cover important skills for success in graduate study in applied economics and management.
This is an applied econometrics course with an extensive hands-on approach. Covers linear and discrete choice models and estimation methods such as GMM and MLE. Programming using Stata or Matlab is expected.
This is an applied course in computation for economists. The course covers an introduction to coding, version control, rootfinding, optimization, function approximation, high dimensional estimation problems, and methods for approximating and estimating dynamic models. Programming in Julia, Python, or R is expected.
AEM 7350Public Finance: Resource Allocation and Fiscal Policy3
Develops a mathematical and highly analytical understanding of the role of government in market economies and the fundamentals of public economics and related issues. Topics include generalizations and extensions of the fundamental theorems of welfare economics, in-depth analysis of social choice theory and the theory on implementation in economic environments, public goods and externalities and other forms of market failure associated with asymmetric information. The theoretical foundation for optimal direct and indirect taxation is also introduced along with the development of various consumer surplus measures and an application to benefit cost analysis. Topics of an applied nature vary from semester to semester depending on faculty research interests.
AEM 7500 covers analytic and numerical methods for solving dynamic programming problems; numerical methods for solving stochastic dynamic programming problems; structural econometric models of static games of incomplete information; structural econometric models of single-agent dynamic optimization problems; structural econometric models of multi-agent dynamic games; and advanced topics in dynamic structural econometric modeling including unobserved heterogeneity, identification, partial identification, and machine learning. The course also covers economic applications of these methods that are relevant to the environment, energy, natural resources, agriculture, development, management, finance, marketing, industrial organization, and business economics. These applications include firm investment, nonrenewable resource extraction, optimal economic growth, fisheries, subsistence agriculture, investment under uncertainty, optimal stopping, (S,s) policies, petroleum production, water management, environmental policy, engine replacement, nuclear energy, wind energy, land use, rural labor supply, incentive schemes, health, and education. The methods covered in the course enable one to analyze the strategic and dynamic decision-making behavior of individuals, households, organizations, firms, and countries; to analyze how different institutions and policies (and changes in these institutions and policies) affect this behavior and its outcome; and to design institutions and policies so that the decision-making behavior and outcome that are realized increase net benefits to society.
The objective of this course is to provide a graduate-level survey of energy and environmental economics to prepare students to conduct original empirical research in the field. The course surveys two prevailing contemporary themes in environmental economics: (1) the design of incentive-based, cost-effective policy instruments to address environmental externalities; and (2) the measurement of the demand for environmental amenities as input into policy design. The course format combines lectures to learn theoretical and methodological concepts with discussion of papers to understand how these concepts are applied in empirical research. (MHA-EL)
AEM 7620Microeconomics of International Development1.5
This course introduces students to the key theories, canonical papers, and current frontiers in the microeconomics of international development. We cover topics related to agricultural household models, consumption smoothing, labor markets, trade and search, relational contracts, and public finance. Paired with AEM 7621 to form a graduate sequence in development economics.
AEM 7621Microeconomics of International Development II3
This course is an extension of AEM 7620/ECON 7660 and will cover current microeconomic issues of developing countries including but not limited to factors influencing human capital accumulation (e.g. health, education), contracting and firm structure, credit and saving, and behavioral economics and development. Most lectures will begin with applied theory and then discuss leading papers on that topic. The course is also designed with a focus on empirical methods and testing theories with data. Finally, the course contains classes on how to prepare for field work in order to provide a foundation for many of the practical skills needed to move a project forward.
This course will provide a selective overview of topics at the cutting-edge of academic research and policy debates about the international monetary and financial system. Main areas will include the effects of financial globalization on growth, volatility, and the transmission of business cycles, as well as the determinants of capital flows and exchange rates. The course will cover topics at the intersection of international finance and macroeconomics, with particular emphasis on the implications for monetary policy and financial regulation. New research related to Fintech, cryptocurrencies, and central bank digital currencies will also be covered. This course is intended for advanced Ph.D. students, especially those in search of thesis topics, and will require extensive student involvement in preparing research proposals and critiques of existing literature. Students will develop their own research ideas during the course and are required to write a substantive research paper.
AEM 7852Sustainable Environment, Energy and Resource Economics Research Seminar1.5
The goal of this weekly seminar is to provide a formal and organized venue for PhD students and faculty to interact and discuss research on environmental, energy and resource economics and the economics of sustainability, and to be exposed to the frontier in the area.
