This spring term, there are two new classes for the Business Economics specialization of the Economics major: Gender and Politics (ECON 14530, PBPL 24520, GNSE 20109), taught by Yana Gallen, and Business Ethics (BUSN 20940), taught by Brian Barry.
The Gender and Politics course, which crosses over with the Public Policy and Gender and Sexuality Studies departments, will examine gender differences in career outcomes and family life as well as the effectiveness of policy interventions targeting gender inequality. It will fulfill the economics elective requirement of the business economics specialization.
“There’s a bunch of questions that we’re going to talk about in this – what is the role of norms, what is the role of politics, what is the role of potential preferences and how do you separate societal norms from individual differences in this you want to do,” Gallen said. “There have been some good studies based on what we talk about in the course, but all of these programs also have a lot of unintended consequences, and we’ll talk about that. pay between the sexes is not straightforward.
Gallen, who is an assistant professor at the Harris School of Public Policy, said this will be her first time teaching an undergraduate class. She said she encouraged students interested in policy-making or “the economic forces at play” to take it.
“I taught a course that was tangentially related to my research interest in MPs [Masters in Public Policy students], and I thought the parts that were good were when I was talking about gender-related topics,” Gallen said. “It was pretty clear that it would be good for me and the students to have a course on this, so I created the course.”
The Business Ethics course will be taught at the Booth School of Business by Barry. It will be offered for the first time to undergraduate students as part of the “Strategy and business environment” package of the specialization in business economics. Students will discuss ethics and the role of business as well as the various difficult choices that the business environment creates.
The course will focus on “Chicago’s spirit of inquiry and curiosity about complicated business issues,” Barry said. “It turns out that there are always differences in the play that we can think about critically.”
Barry, a clinical professor of economics and executive director of Chicago Booth’s Global Markets Initiative, said he’s looking forward to teaching a course for UChicago undergraduates for the first time.
