Gizem Saka

Current Courses (Fall 2024)

• BEPP1000 - Introductory Economics

  Microeconomics is the study of the behavior of households and firms, whose collective decisions determine how resources are allocated in a free market economy. We will study when markets are likely to produce "efficient" outcomes, and when government intervention may improve on or harm the competitive market outcome. We will use economic theory to analyze issues like a gas tax to change reliance on oil, minimum wages to increase salaries of the working poor, and government subsidies to increase education. Macroeconomics is the study of the economy as a whole. We will understand how the size of the US economy is determined, how unemployment is measured, how inflation affects life. We will look at policy options that the government and the Federal Reserve Bank face, and discuss pros and cons of their actions. Economic arguments are often used in debates about government policies, discussion of business strategies, and many of life's other arenas. The goal of the course is to teach you to "think like an economist," which I hope will help you to understand the world around you, make better economic decisions in your own life, and be a more informed citizen and voter.

  BEPP1000001 ( Syllabus )

  BEPP1000002 ( Syllabus )

  BEPP1000201 ( Syllabus )

  BEPP1000202 ( Syllabus )

  BEPP1000203 ( Syllabus )

  BEPP1000204 ( Syllabus )

  BEPP1000205 ( Syllabus )

  BEPP1000206 ( Syllabus )

  BEPP1000207 ( Syllabus )

  BEPP1000208 ( Syllabus )

  BEPP1000209 ( Syllabus )

  BEPP1000210 ( Syllabus )

  BEPP1000211 ( Syllabus )

  BEPP1000212 ( Syllabus )

All Courses

• BEPP1000 - Introductory Economics

  Microeconomics is the study of the behavior of households and firms, whose collective decisions determine how resources are allocated in a free market economy. We will study when markets are likely to produce "efficient" outcomes, and when government intervention may improve on or harm the competitive market outcome. We will use economic theory to analyze issues like a gas tax to change reliance on oil, minimum wages to increase salaries of the working poor, and government subsidies to increase education. Macroeconomics is the study of the economy as a whole. We will understand how the size of the US economy is determined, how unemployment is measured, how inflation affects life. We will look at policy options that the government and the Federal Reserve Bank face, and discuss pros and cons of their actions. Economic arguments are often used in debates about government policies, discussion of business strategies, and many of life's other arenas. The goal of the course is to teach you to "think like an economist," which I hope will help you to understand the world around you, make better economic decisions in your own life, and be a more informed citizen and voter.

• BEPP2500 - Managerial Economics

  This course will introduce you to "managerial economics" which is the application of microeconomic theory to managerial decision-making. Microeconomic theory is a remarkably useful body of ideas for understanding and analyzing the behavior of individuals and firms in a variety of economic settings. The goal of the course is for you to understand this body of theory well enough so that you can effectively analyze managerial (and other) problems in an economic framework. While this is a "tools" course, we will cover many real-world applications, particularly business applications, so that you can witness the usefulness of these tools and acquire the skills to use them yourself. We will depart from the usual microeconomic theory course by giving more emphasis to prescription: What should a manager do in order to achieve some objective? That course deliverable is to compare with description: Why do firms and consumers act the way they do? The latter will still be quite prominent in this course because only by understanding how other firms and customers behave can a manager determine what is beswt for him or her to do. Strategic interaction is explored both in product markets and auctions. Finally, the challenges created by asymmetric information - both in the market and within the firm - are investigated.

• BEPP9500 - Managerial Economics

  Public goods, externalities, uncertainty, and income redistribution as sources of market failures; private market and collective choice models as possible correcting mechanisms. Microeconomic theories of taxation and public sector expenditures. The administration and organization of the public sector.

• ECON0110 - Intro to Econ for Bus

  The first part of the course covers basic microeconomic concepts such as opportunity cost, comparative advantage, supply and demand, importance of costs and revenues under perfect competition vs. monopoly, externalities and public goods. The second part of the course introduces macroeconomic data, two models of the labor market, a model of the aggregate household, and the standard AD-AS model. The course concludes with an introduction to fiscal policy, banking, and the role of the Central Bank.

• ECON4999 - Independent Study

  Individual study and research under the direction of a member of the Economics Department faculty. At a minimum, the student must write a major paper summarizing, unifying, and interpreting the results of the study. This is a one semester, one c.u. course.

• FNCE0001 - Fin Markets and Economy

  This course aims to provide a timely framework to understand economic recessions and expansions and the financial markets' response to world events. The Covid recession reduced the size of the world's economies and output. What does this mean? How is output connected to employment? How are exchange rates determined in global capital markets? We will introduce the policy options of government spending. We will discuss, as data become available, the continuing impact of the coronavirus on the domestic and the global economy.

• FNCE1010 - Monetary Econ & Glob Eco

  This is an intermediate-level course in macroeconomics and the global economy, including topics in monetary and international economics. The goal is to provide a unified framework for understanding macroeconomic events and policy, which govern the global economic environment of business. The course analyzes the determinants and behavior of employment, production, demand and profits; inflation, interest rates, asset prices, and wages; exchange rates and international flows of goods and assets; including the interaction of the real economy with monetary policy and the financial system. The analysis is applied to current events, both in the US and abroad. Students cannot receive credit for taking both FNCE 1010 and ECON 2200. Wharton students are required to take FNCE 1010.

• MGEC6110 - Microeconomics For Manag

  This course establishes the micro-economic foundations for understanding business decision-making. The course will cover consumer theory and market demand under full information, market equilibrium and government intervention, production theory and cost optimization, producing in perfectly competitive and monopoly markets, vertical relations, and game theory, including simultaneous, sequential, and infinitely repeated games. Students are expected to have mastered these materials before enrolling in the second quarter course: Microeconomics for Managers: Advanced Applications.

• MGEC6120 - Microecon For Mgr - Adv.

  This course will cover the economic foundations of business strategy and decision-making in market environments with other strategic actors and less than full information, as well as advanced pricing strategies. Topics include oligopoly models of market competition, creation, and protection, sophisticated pricing strategies for consumers with different valuations or consumers who buy multiple units (e.g. price discrimination, bundling, two-part tariffs), strategies for managing risk and making decisions under uncertainty, asymmetric information and its consequences for markets, and finally moral hazard and principle-agent theory with application to incentive contacts.