Course Syllabus

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Harvard College/GSAS: 108892
Fall 2019-2020

Prof Claudia Goldin (office hours Wed 2-3:30p, Litt 229, 9/4-12/4. Prof. Goldin invites you to OH (but please make an appointment). Contact Liz Thach for an appointment: elizabeth_thach@fas.harvard. 

Ayushi Narayan (office hours Fri 2-3, Boylston 103); email ayushi_narayan@g.harvard.edu.

Meeting Time & Place: Monday 12:45pm - 2:45pm, Littauer M-15 (note 12:45p not 12noon starting time)

Course Description: How are the most personal choices and life transitions decided? When and whom do you marry, how many children do you have, how much education should you obtain, and which careers or jobs will you pursue? Much will be explored in terms of change over time, particularly concerning the economic emergence of women and the growing role of government. Readings draw on economic theory, empirical analyses, history, and literature from the 19th century to the present.

2019 Syllabus and Readings.

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COURSE INFORMATION FOR FALL 2019. 

The full syllabus and readings are here. Check "Pages" each week for the assignment.

Goals of the Course:

  • To explore—empirically, historically, comparatively, and theoretically—the changing significance, timing, and meaning of work, career, dating, marriage, family, and other “personal” decisions.
  • To involve students in the creative process of researching, writing, and presenting an original piece of work using a variety of primary sources (e.g., mainly large-scale cross-section data sets, but also smaller data sets on particular groups).
  • To discuss and understand policy relevant issues concerning Personal Economics using current print and on-line media.

Readings: 

All readings are hyperlinked on the syllabus. If a link does not work, bring it to our attention. Many of the readings are also under Files/Ec980X_Readings and can be accessed from there. 

Course Requirements: 

    1. Create a Research Paper (there is no page requirement but 20 to 25 pages is the usual length). The teaching staff will work closely with each of you to find a topic and provide direction. You will begin with a Proposal. You will then formulate a Prospectus, write a Draft, deliver a 15-minute presentation in class and then produce the final Research Paper. Each of these stages is covered in the Assignments (see below). Also see Great Paper Writing as a general guide to writing research papers and Data Sets for an annotated list of the most-important large micro-data sets.
    2. Short assignments: Write and post comments (about two to three pages) on two of the assigned readings. About half of the weeks will have a starred (*) reading or two for the prepared comments. Comments must posted by 3pm the Sunday before class to the Discussions page by replying to the relevant pinned discussion (use the authors of the reading in the title your comment) and upload as an attachment. Advice on writing the comments can be found here. All students must read the comments of other students. Weeks without a starred reading will have questions, problems, news articles, or debate statements on the Assignments page for that week.
    3. Post two Topical Articles (with pithy comments) to the Discussion page of the Ec980x website during the semester and provide comments on two of the Topical Articles posted by others. A few examples have been provided.

Grades:

Your grade will be approximately 65% research paper, 35% critical summaries and class discussions.

Course Organization: 

The course is organized as a lecture and discussion seminar. 

Course Summary:

Date Details Due