University of Cambridge, Pembroke College

The course examines critical economic issues that influence contemporary societies, including income inequality, labor market discrimination, poverty, exploitation, migration, and feminism. Focusing on both theoretical frameworks and empirical evidence, the course provides a comprehensive understanding of how economic disparities emerge, persist, and may be addressed. Students explore global perspectives, with a focus on Europe, the US, China, and India, analyzing the role of race, gender, and social origin in shaping economic opportunities and outcomes. The course also explores how Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies shape income distribution, employment opportunities, and economic equity. As AI integrates into numerous industries, it influences wage structures, job availability, and productivity, often favouring those with access to specialised skills or technology. This course investigates whether AI reduces or exacerbates existing income gaps and examines if its benefits are distributed equitably across social and economic groups. The course also considers policies and regulatory frameworks that aim to ensure AI supports more inclusive economic outcomes.

This course provides an overview of how individual consumers and firms interact through the institution of competitive markets. The objectives of the course are for students to understand what a market is; describe the market behavior and be able to make precise predictions regarding the outcomes of market interactions; analyze the welfare properties of market outcomes; understand phenomena that lead to departures from efficiency, such as externalities, public goods, and asymmetric information; and investigate the role of uncertainty in making decisions.

This course introduces students to a variety of applicable mathematical methods for solving real-world problems. It is intended for students interested in how further mathematics can be used to solve hands-on problems. The economically-minded will be interested in optimizing based on constrained resources, and computer scientists will be interested in the various network algorithms explored. Physicists will find the material at the end of the course indispensable for solving classical problems. The game theory section of the course includes a discussion of the assumptions made about how rational agents act, which may interest psychologists and philosophy students.

A research project that assigns students to expert professors in their proposed research topic. The course takes the students' research capabilities to a more professional level. This can be most closely compared to what is called a supervised research project in the USA.