Instructor: Peter Gordon, PhD
Developers often complain that planners are taking away their ability to make a project “pencil out”. And in truth, most planners don’t have the economic background to understand what makes a complicated project financially viable. This course goes beyond supply and demand to give you a firm grounding in the economics of land use, including cost-benefit analysis, the economics of mortgages and lending, encouraging business incubators, and more.

Many people report that they have passed through one or more economics classes in their lives. Unfortunately, few remember anything useful. Many do recall graphs and/or formulas, which they barely know how to judge or apply. In contrast, the emphasis in this course will be on applications. The course will focus on economic thinking rather than on economic science.