ECON 431 - Health: Economic, Psychological, and Anthropological Perspectives

Prerequisite, MATH 203 or MGSC 209 or PSY 203. This course will introduce students to economic, psychological, and anthropological perspectives explaining variation in health, wealth, and wellbeing - both within societies and across societies. Students will explore a variety of health related research questions from three perspectives of quantitative inquiry: the first uses macroeconomics, demography, and cross-cultural comparison (comparing phenomena at levels of aggregate levels of populations, countries, and socioeconomic strata), the second uses behavioral economics (i.e., the study of how psychological, social, cognitive, and emotional factors affect the economic decisions of individuals), and the third uses anthropological studies to understand human-environment health interactions from an evolutionarily informed behavioral ecology perspective. The course will be comprised of lecture and discussion, homework problems, and final presentations in class. Some sections of this course may be taught with ECON 531. Letter grade. (Offered as needed.) 3 credits