This seminar is open to all Junior and Senior Economics concentrators. The theme of the class is applying economic theory or exploratory hypotheses to the empirical study of economic and social behavior of individuals and the families in which they reside. The course will utilize data from the world's most comprehensive archive ever collected on a human population. This archive is on the web and is based on the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), a national, on-going, longitudinal study covering the years 1968-2012, with a Child Development Supplement in 1997 and again in 2002 and a subsequent study, Transition to Adulthood, 2005-2012. The study is sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health and is extensively documented at the website: http://psidonline.isr.umich.edu/.

For 2012 we have finished rewriting the tutorials to match the improved Data Center functionality and there are new materials on how to study relationships across two and three generations-are the children with low birth weight more likely to have a mother or a grandmother who reported health problems in prior or subsequent years of the PSID? Do those who grew up in owner occupied housing have a much greater chance of owning rather than renting when they are young adults? Or for young adults, how highly correlated is their income with that of their parents in 2012?

The PSID has wealth and housing measures and is very central in assessing the economic events, 2007-2009, and subsequent adjustments.

Course materials will be handed out as we progress through the term. Most resources will be provided electronically.

Students interested in enrolling in ECON 495 must submit an application. The application is available online on ECON website.