This course is designed to help analysts make rational decisions when faced with allocating resources and managing tradeoffs in a resource-constrained setting. The ability to make informed decisions resting on an objective analysis of alternatives is a part of nearly every professional career. The course combines aspects of economics with methods in optimization and statistics. The concepts developed in the course are broadly applicable to decision making in many professional and personal settings, including making purchasing or hiring decisions, evaluating different personal or commercial investment options, and balancing environmental and social costs against economic costs. Course topics include the concepts of the time value of money and discounted cash flow, the mathematics of optimization as applied to resource allocation, decision making in the face of uncertainty, and consumer choice and demand estimation.
Course Prerequisite(s)
Multivariate calculus and introductory graduate-level statistics (e.g., EN.625.603). An introductory course in optimization (e.g., EN.625.615) is also recommend but not required.