Teaching
Feinstein's Classes at SOM
The Practice and Management of Creativity & Innovation
(828b, taught
in the Spring, half course)
This is an elective course for SOM students and other interested Yale
students about the creative process and the management of this process.
We describe and discuss basic features of the creative process, both
short-term and over longer time periods, a number of different psychological
approaches to creativity, and important issues involved in managing creativity
effectively, including leadership, project management, incentives, and
response to change. Basic issues include: fostering our own creativity
and the creativity of those around us; paths of creative development
of individuals engaging in creative endeavors; obstacles to creativity;
brainstorming; and the nature of creativity in teams and organizations.
We study creativity in many domains, including business, science and
technology, the arts, and life in general, relying on a mixture of lectures,
readings, creativity exercises, cases, and general discussion.
Public Sector Economics (821b, taught in the Winter, half course)
This is an elective course for SOM and other interested Yale students. In this course we present basic economic principles and models for the public sector; the main objective is to help students understand public sector institutions and programs and gain expertise in analyzing proposed policies and building models to design and evaluate alternative policies. The basic framework is welfare economics, with a focus on the incentive effects of policies - using economics arguments to try to predict how agents will respond to policies and taking these responses into account in the design of optimal policies. Topics include: social welfare; cost-benefit analysis; public goods and public good provision; regulation and procurement, including regulation of externalities and peak-load pricing; taxation, including optimal tax theory and tax systems and administration; poverty and inequality; education, including evaluation of public and private educational choices; and policies for economic development. The essential prerequisites are basic microeconomics as taught at SOM in the core, and some simple decision and game theory, also as taught at SOM in the core.
Statistical Modeling (829b, taught in the Winter, half course)
This is an elective course for SOM and other interested Yale students that provides training in statistical modeling. We study a host of models, based in regression and maximum likelihood techniques, and cover applications of the models using STATA. Models we cover include: ordinary least squares and why and how it works; qualitative response models, including probit, logit, multinomial logit, and ordered probit; censoring and the tobit model; time series, including ARMA, ARCH/GARCH models, and the basis of random walk models; panel data; instrumental variables; and maximum likelihood modeling. Students assemble their own dataset and build and estimate models using their dataset in STATA. They also make presentation in class, honing their presentation skills and learning how to interrogate others presenting statistical models and results.
Math Boot Camp (taught in the Summer)
A minicourse for students who need/want an extra boost of math preparation heading into the SOM first year core curriculum.
In addition to these courses, Professor Feinstein designed and launched the Careers and Innovator’s Perspective core courses in the new integrative SOM curriculum.
Jonathan Feinstein
203-432-5975
© Copyright, 2010 Jonathan Feinstein