Frontiers of Applied Economics

As modern economies become increasingly digitized and socially complex, the ability to apply rigorous economic logic to public policy and market behavior has never been more vital. From addressing environmental externalities and designing equitable tax systems to navigating the nuances of digital retail and labor market disparities, today’s leaders must be equipped with a versatile analytical toolkit. To prepare for these multifaceted challenges, industry professionals and policymakers must understand the microeconomic foundations that drive individual decision-making and institutional outcomes.

In this course, you will engage with a diverse series of microeconomic applications led by six distinguished MIT faculty members. Through the lenses of public finance, industrial organization, market design, behavioral economics, and labor economics, you will explore foundational theories and their real-world implications. Specifically, you will analyze the optimal provision of public goods, the mechanics of tax incidence, and the evolving landscape of digital retail and price discrimination. You will also examine sophisticated market mechanisms, such as the Vickrey-Clarke-Groves (VCG) model and sponsored search auctions, alongside the psychological drivers of poverty and the persistent nature of gender gaps in the workforce. Overall, you will gain a systems-level understanding of how to leverage economic tools to design more efficient markets, evaluate social policies, and drive meaningful impact across the public and private sectors.

The course is free to audit. Learners can take a proctored exam and earn a course certificate by paying a fee, which varies by ability to pay. Please see our FAQ articles for more information on the certificate and audit track features as well as more information on the pricing structure. Enroll in this course by selecting the "enroll now" button at the top of the page.

This course can be completed by itself or as part of the MITx MicroMasters program in Data, Economics, and Design of Policy (DEDP), which provides a path toward the master’s in DEDP at MIT.