Principles of Economics

Homa Zarghamee is a Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics at Barnard College. She covers our Supply & Demand, Elasticity, Consumer Behavior, and Production & Costs chapters within this course.

She earned both her Ph.D. and Master of Arts (M.A.) in Economics from Cornell University, as well as a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Mathematics and Economics.

Homa’s recent research focuses on (i) the impact of mood on economic behavior, (ii) determinants of social preferences, (iii) gender and competition, and (iv) determinants of subjective well-being. She has done consulting work for the World Bank, and her work has been published in the American Economic Review, Journal of Development Economics, and Journal of Public Economics, among other outlets.

Additionally, Homa is also a contributor to CORE (Curriculum Open-Access Resources for Economics), a group of scholars engaged in the production of high-quality resources for the teaching of economics.

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Ben Ho is an associate professor of economics at Vassar College and author of the book Why Trust Matters: An Economist's Guide to the Ties that Bind Us. Ho applies behavioral economics tools like game theory and experimental design on topics like apologies, identity, inequality and climate change.

Before Vassar, he taught MBA students at Cornell, served as lead energy economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers, and worked/consulted for Morgan Stanley and several tech startups.

Professor Ho also teaches at Columbia University where he is a faculty affiliate for the Center for Global Energy Policy. His research has appeared in outlets like Management Science and Nature: Human Behavior. Ho holds seven degrees from Stanford and MIT in economics, education, political science, math, computer science and electrical engineering.

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Peter Hans Matthews is the Charles A. Dana Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics at Middlebury College and Visiting Distinguished Professor at Aalto University and the Helsinki Graduate School of Economics. He is also a Fulbright Scholar Ambassador (2021-23).

An award-winning teacher, Peter teaches courses in both introductory and intermediate macroeconomics, poverty and inequality, public economics, and labor economics at Middlebury.

When not teaching or doing economics, Peter spends his time with his partner, Carolyn, a development economist and children’s book author, and their two cats in their old Vermont house, joined from time to time by one or both of their twin daughters.

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Simon D. Halliday is a Professor of Economics at the University of Bristol. He covers our Market Structures & Perfect Competition & Long Run Supply, Monopolistic Competition & Oligopoly, and Market Failure chapters within this course.

He earned his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Siena, Italy, as well as his Master of Arts (M.A.) in Creative Writing and Master of Commerce (M. Comm.) in Economics from the University of Cape Town, South Africa.

Simon does research in behavioral and experimental economics, with a focus on social preferences (reciprocity and social norms) and institutions (ratings, punishment, communication, and has a strong interest in research in economics education, particularly with respect to data literacy, data analysis, R and more. He is also the co-author (with Sam Bowles) of an intermediate microeconomics textbook Microeconomics: Competition, Conflict and Coordination.

Additionally, Simon is also a contributor to CORE (Curriculum Open-Access Resources for Economics), a group of scholars engaged in the production of high-quality resources for the teaching of economics.

Elham Saeidinezhad is a Term Assistant Professor of Economics at Barnard College, Columbia University. Previously, Elham taught at UCLA and served as a research economist in the International Finance and Macroeconomics research group at Milken Institute, Santa Monica, where she investigated the post-crisis structural changes in the capital market result of macroprudential regulations. Before that, she was a post-doctoral fellow at INET, working closely with Prof. Perry Mehrling and studying his "Money View." Elham obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Sheffield, UK, in empirical Macroeconomics in 2013.

Her recent research lies at the intersection of Monetary Economics and Finance. Her research design is to apply the "Money View" that synthesizes our monetary and financial system's modern features to examine the financial market's evolution and central banking. She also writes a weekly Money View Column for the Economic Questions website. She teaches Monetary Economics, Money and Banking, Financial Economics, Macroeconomics, and Statistics courses.

Suresh Naidu is a Professor of Economics and Public Affairs in the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He covers our Monopoly & Market Power, and Introduction to Labor Markets chapters within this course.

He earned his Master of Arts (M.A.) in Economics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley.

Suresh’s areas of research include: Economic effects of political transitions, the economic history of slavery and labor institutions, international migration, economic applications of natural language processing.

Additionally, Suresh is also a contributor to CORE (Curriculum Open-Access Resources for Economics), a group of scholars engaged in the production of high-quality resources for the teaching of economics.

Rajiv Sethi is a Professor of Economics at Barnard College, Columbia University and an External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute. He covers our Game Theory chapter within this course.

His research deals with information and beliefs. In collaboration with Brendan O’Flaherty, he has examined the manner in which stereotypes affect interactions among strangers, especially in relation to crime, policing, and the justice system. Their book, Shadows of Doubt: Stereotypes, Crime, and the Pursuit of Justice, was published by Harvard University Press in 2019. Rajiv is the 2020-21 Joy Foundation Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard, and has previously held visiting positions at Microsoft Research and the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. He has served on the editorial boards of several journals, including the American Economic Review and Economics and Philosophy.

Additionally, Rajiv is a contributor to CORE (Curriculum Open-Access Resources for Economics), an organization dedicated to the production of high-quality resources for the teaching of economics, distributed free of charge worldwide under a Creative Commons license.

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