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Ravi
Kanbur AEM
735/ECON735 Spring 2008. Prerequisite: Basic first-year graduate courses in AEM or ECON, or equivalent with Instructor's permission. Class meets: Thursdays 7-10 pm. Location: Warren Hall 361. This course is targeted to second-year and third-year graduate students who have done the basic first year courses and are now looking to develop Doctoral or Masters thesis topics. It is not a standard "lectures plus written test" course. The core of the course is independent reading and research leading to a term paper. All those registered for the course will be required to do the term paper. In close interaction with me, each student will define and develop a specific topic, do a literature search and critical review, highlight some open questions for research and, hopefully, make some headway on one or more of these questions. The term paper is expected to be around 30 pages double space, all-inclusive, in length. There will be a presentation of the term paper to the class towards the end of the semester. The overall plan for the semester is as follows. During the first three weeks I will lecture on topics of interest to me, suggesting ideas for research and literatures for review. Students will present papers from the literature. During the last three weeks of the semester students will make presentations based on the term papers. In between, students will work independently on the papers, with frequent and structured interaction with me, requiring the submission of different drafts of the term paper. Office hours, during which students will come and discuss their work with me, form an important part of this course. Students are asked to contact my assistant Sue Snyder (sms237@cornell.edu, x48856) to fix up appointments. The topics on which term papers are invited this semester are those suggested by papers in the special issue of Journal of Public Economics, Volume 91, No. 9, September 2007, edited by James Andreoni and Ravi Kanbur, on The Private Provision of Public Goods. As will become clear, the "private provision of public goods" is a metaphor for a wider range of issues in public economics. I am also willing to discuss with students topics for term papers that might fall outside this spread. Students are invited to look at this special issue before coming to the class, to get an idea of the content and coverage of this course. Papers will be allocated from the special issue for students to present to class during the first three weeks of the course. The
Time Table for the semester is as follows. 1/30
Office Hours 10am-6pm 2/6
Office Hours 10am-6pm 2/13
Office Hours 10am-6pm 2/18 Deadline for submission of 10 page outline 2/20
Office Hours 10am-6pm 3/5
Office Hours 10am-6pm 3/10 Deadline for Submission of 20 page draft 3/12
Office Hours 10am-6pm 3/26
Office Hours 10am-6pm 4/2
Office Hours 10am-6pm 4/14 Deadline for submission of 30 page draft. NO EXCEPTIONS. 4/16
Office Hours 10am-6pm 4/23
Office Hours 10am-6pm 4/30
Office Hours 10am-6pm 5/2
6pm. Deadline for final submission of term paper. NO EXCEPTIONS. HALF
GRADE PENALTY FOR EACH DAY OF DELAY.
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