TEACHING
Courses
Managerial Economics (BSAD 8100/ECON8210 - MBA and MA - Master's level)
Course Description: Businesses face important decisions every day and it is the job of managers at all levels to choose among the options available to further the goals of the organization. Managerial economics is a collection of concepts and methods that help managers make these decisions. These methods are not foolproof. Success sometimes depends upon luck, but thinking like an economist will often allow you take full advantage of lucky opportunities that arise and allow you to minimize the impact of bad luck. Creative ideas are also a key to success; they are necessary but not sufficient. Again thinking like an economist will allow you to capitalize on creativity. By the end of this class you should be familiar with the basic tools of managerial economics and be able to apply them to any number of business situations. Syllabus
Outline:
1. Elements of Economic Decision-making
Introduction
Firm objective and issues
Constraints and LPs
Time value of Money
Uncertainty
Game Theory and Strategic Thinking
Marginal Analysis
The Big Picture – Supply and Demand
II. Demand
Elasticity
Empirical estimation
III. Production, cost, and Supply
Production
Short run
Long run
Principal-Agent model
Cost
Short run
Long run
Acquiring inputs
Spot market
Contracting
Vertical Integration
IV. Empirical analysis of Industries
Structure
Conduct
Performance
V. Industry Structure, competition, and firm behavior
Perfect Competition
Monopoly and linear pricing
Monopolistic Competition
Monopoly and nonlinear pricing
Principles of Microeconomics (ECON2200 - Undergraduate level)
Course Description: This course is designed to make you fluent in the language of microeconomics. Learning the principles of microeconomics is essential to understanding our economy. Ignorance in economic matters is frustrating and costly to people in a market-based economy like ours. Our economy largely operates under a system of signals (prices) given in the market place. Knowing how the system works will enable you to function more effectively within that syste Syllabus
Business Forecasting (Fall, 2007)
Course Description: This course is survey of forecasting methods and study of selected techniques commonly used in business environments. The techniques surveyed are statistical and quantitative in nature. The primary focus is in time-series analysis and time series econometrics. This is important to understand for a few reasons. First, in practice, some reasonable forecasts can be purely qualitative and subjective in nature. For instance, a sales manager might reasonably assert that experience as a sales representative leads to the belief that next year’s sales will be 3 percent lower than this year. Second, some forecasts (I would say the majority in fact) combine qualitative and quantitative applications. For instance, many companies have pre-existing econometric (other statistical) models in place (some models are extraordinarily poor by the way) whereby an analyst will generate somehow a model-driven forecast and then make adjustments (called add factors) to these results presumably based on qualitative information and experience. With all deference and due respect to these ways of forecasting, our focus here will be, by necessity, more systematic, and perhaps more “scientific” in nature. Consequently, we will need to rely heavily on our statistical backgrounds and quantitative skills to construct forecasting models and generate scientifically justifiable projections. Syllabus
Outline:
I. Introduction to Forecasting, Conditional and Unconditional Forecasting
II. Time Series Data Patterns, Autocorrelation Function, Random Walks, Differencing, Stationarity
III. Moving Averages and Smoothing Methods
IV. Time Series Decomposition, Seasonal Adjustment
V. Multiple Regression Analysis with Time Series Data
VI. a. Box Jenkins Models (i.e. univariate ARIMA models)
b. Estimating and Forecasting with Box Jenkins Models
c. Combining Regression Analysis with Time Series Analysis
VII. Multiple Equation Time Series Models, Simulation, Practical Application of Vector Autoregressive Models
VII. Input/Output Models and forecasting applications
IX. New Product Forecasting and Diffusion models
Sustainable Business Development (Fall, 2007)
Course Description: Students will learn about sustainability and related issues from both economic and business management perspectives through lectures, discussion and research. Sustainable businesses are defined here as those which consume resources and deliver products or services in a way that meets “the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” The course will prepare students to build the business case for why businesses should adopt sustainable practices. Lecture material will cover environmental economics and business case studies that illustrate the social and fiscal importance of sustainability. Students will write a case-study (suitable for publication) about sustainable business practices in a given company.
Course content includes:
1) traditional economic analysis applied to environmental issues and policy
2) a review of “voluntary” business practices designed to improve environmental performance. Syllabus
Applications in Economics – The Economics of Management for Executives (UNO’s Executive MBA program)
Selected independent studies in economics:
ECON 8920 with Jerome Bowens, MS Economics and MS Mathematics, Fall 2005, mathematical modeling in economics - reviewed ten research papers of varying topics from selected peer reviewed journals. Models were replicated completely and some extended.
ECON 8920 with Gohar Sargsyan, MS Economics, Fall 2004, researching the relationship between US anti-trust enforcement and the US business cycle.
ECON 8920, with Angela Kuhlmann, MA economics, Summer 2004: regional economics, industrial location, state level recession duration, and new firm formation.
BSAD 8900, David Kroll, MBA, Summer 2004: demand for wireless routers using data from eBay auctions (presented at the October 2004 Nebraska Business and Economics Association’s annual meeting in Kearney, Nebraska)
ECON 8920, with Hayk Ghlijyan, MA economics, Spring 2004, focused on understanding, forecasting with, and simulating Ray C. Fair’s (of Yale University) macro-econometric model of the US economy. With this background, Mr. Ghlijyan built a small macro-econometric model for the Armenian economy (his home country) for forecasting purposes.
Economic Strategy for the Global Environment
(a course in business behavior, public policy, and regulation required of all Kelley School of Business undergraduates), Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, Spring and Fall Semesters 2000.
Thesis Advising
Masters Thesis Dissertation (served as thesis advisor), Angela Kuhlmann: "Regional Economic Issues: Determinants of Recession Duration and Determinants of New Firm Formation," Fall, 2005. This thesis took second place in a large, university wide, competition for the best masters thesis in 2005.
Masters Thesis Dissertation (serving as thesis advisor), Brian Donnelly, "On military deployments and energy costs, and Department of Defense efforts to improve energy efficiency on military establishments" (in progress).
Masters Thesis Dissertation (thesis committee member), Magdalena Bastova: "Foreign Direct Investment Effects on Urban Economy: A Case of the City of Pilsen, Czech Republic" Fall, 2008
Masters Thesis Dissertation (thesis committee member), Zolinea Baumel, Spring, 2008
Masters Thesis Dissertation (thesis committee member), Christopher T. Fitch: "Effects of Positive and Negative Mood on Interpersonal and Intrapersonal Evaluations" (in progress)
Ph. D. Thesis Dissertation (thesis committee mamber), Dae-young Kim, “The Impact Of Globalization and Technological Innovations on Crime and Punishment in the United States” (in progress).
Teaching Awards
MBA Professor of the Year, University of Nebraska at Omaha,
2008
2007
2005
2003.
Outstanding Economics Graduate Professor,
2008.
University of Nebraska at Omaha Alumni Outstanding Teaching Award,
2005.
Dean’s Citation for Excellence in Teaching,
2007
2003.