English

This course provides an introduction to the economics of money, banking, and financial markets. It presents a general overview of key monetary and financial market phenomena, of how key financial and money market institutions operate and the basic workings of financial and money markets. The course is designed to provide students with a general understanding of how financial markets work and the impact of financial markets on the domestic and international economic system.

This course covers: introduction to actuarial modelling; the application of compound interest techniques to financial transactions; generalized cash-models to describe financial transactions such as zero-coupon bonds, fixed interest securities, cash on deposit, equities, interest only loans, repayment loans, annuities certain and others; introduction to R programming for Actuarial Science, and introduction to life insurance. 

This course examines such issues as the ways in which the early recording industry transformed jazz, the blues and country music, how the presentation of music on radio and television changed the ways the music industry created new musical celebrities, and the challenges the music industry faces as digital technology transforms the creation, distribution and consumption of music.

Visibility is commonly thought to be a positive attribute that plays a crucial role in influencing public opinion, prompting social change, and advancing individual and collective goals. But is this true, and how is visibility actually practiced? This course explores visibility as a meaningful social dimension of everyday life. Situated at the intersection of social theory, political science, organization studies, and urban research, it engages with key debates around visibility, including its relationship to recognition, stigma, power, surveillance, and socio-spatial politics in urban settings. The course discuss how visibility is practiced by individuals, groups, and organizations, and interrogates its implications across diverse contexts, with reference to discriminated minorities, the gig-economy and totalitarian regimes. The course equips students with foundational knowledge in the emerging field of visibility studies and introduce the “visibility lens” as a critical tool for analyzing contemporary debates and everyday phenomena.

This course teaches essential concepts in law and economics in a dynamic setting. It introduces rationality theory and explores specific areas of law, such as Tort, Contract, or Criminal Law, focusing on current topics. Students apply analytical skills to analyze legal situations, culminating in a legal memo addressing a current legal issue or public consultation.

This course examines the interrelationship between gender, sexuality and families in New Zealand and other Western societies. Through an examination of important moments in the life course of families – for example, partnering and parenting – it explores changes and continuities in the gendered norms, identities, practices and patterns that characterize contemporary family life.

This course focuses on the evolutions of domestic politics and foreign policy in Russia since the collapse of the USSR. After a brief introduction to the nature of the Soviet political system, the course is divided into three parts. The first part deals with the period of political transition following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the genesis of the political system in contemporary Russia. Contrary to hopes of liberalization, Russian society was plunged into a financial, economic, political and social crisis, which favored a rapid return to authoritarianism. The second part looks at the genesis of Putinism and how the ruling elite came to dominate society. Finally, the third part focuses on post-Soviet Russia's foreign policy and the implementation of its ambitions on the international stage.

This is a survey of a century of Anglophone literature from the mid 19th to the mid-20th century. Since this period covers a challenging range of texts and authors from various backgrounds and nationalities, a central focus is on writers who, until a few decades ago, were hardly considered to be part of the canon: female or queer-identifying authors, writers of color, outsiders, exiles. In the case of the well-established authors, the focus is on texts that frame the impact of industrialization and mechanization; that represent landscapes of war, imagined or real; that explore technologies of time, that problematize gender and sexuality; and on less explored themes, such as the occult and the surreal. The course considers the distinctive characteristics of a range of literary genres; identify the historical and cultural movements specific to each period; and read the themes and formal elements of poetry, prose and essays against the social and political backgrounds that compose the ‘Brave New Worlds’ of the era.

This course focuses on data about connections, forming structures known as networks. Networks and network data describe an increasingly vast part of the modern world, through connections on social media, communications, financial transactions, and other ties. This course covers the fundamentals of network structures, network data structures, and the analysis and presentation of network data. Students work directly with network data, and structure and analyze these data using the R statistical programming language. This course develops the theory and methodological tools needed to model and predict social networks and use them in social sciences as diverse as sociology, political science, economics, health, psychology, history, or business. The core of the course comprises the essential tools of network analysis, from centrality, homophily, and community detection, to random graphs, network formation, and information flow. 

The course teaches students on modelling, analysis, and design methods in relation to continuous and discrete control systems. Introduction to state variable analysis is also provided. It is assumed that students have some knowledge of classical control theory, including frequency response methods and complex frequency methods. A level of understanding of linear algebra is also assumed. The coursework assignments are designed to give the student an opportunity to develop skills in carrying out realistic control designs using modern simulation and analysis tools.