Economics

The first part of the course focuses on historical development to illustrate how history matters to understand economic development by examining the forces that kept economies in a long period of slow growth during pre-modern and pre-industrial times, and the mechanisms that enabled some economies to exit stagnation and ultimately embark on a path of sustained economic development. The second part covers fundamental determinants of differences in economic performance. It considers in more detail how and why history matters for economic development, going beyond answers at a proximate level, and studying reasons and mechanisms that explain differences in economic performance at a deeper level. For this, the course relies on the most recent research literature on the impact of historical events on comparative development, and on the economic impact of differences in fundamental characteristics across countries and subnational regions. For example, it examines whether specific dimensions of climate and geography, certain characteristics of culture and institutions, or the coevolution and interdependence between these different types of fundamental determinants, can explain why some economies have been able to build larger stocks of human and physical capital, innovate and adopt new technologies faster, and maintain a trajectory of sustained development more effectively than others; and whether this type of analysis can also illuminate on the reasons behind underdevelopment. The final part of the course explores recent policy debates, including the effectiveness of development policy tools such as foreign aid, the role of industrial policies and active state interventions to promote economic development, and the causes, consequences, and policy demands to address different types of inequality.

This course explores the relationship between workers and firms. It begins by examining the issue of worker motivation from a traditional perspective. Assuming a rational, self-interested, forward-looking, utility-maximizing agent, the course studies the best way to structure that worker’s monetary incentives. It then moves beyond purely financial motives, considering the role of psychological motives like social preferences, self-control issues, loss aversion, belief biases, as well as team dynamics and information frictions. Finally, the course shifts to the firm’s perspective, focusing on worker recruitment and the design of compensation structures within a firm. Throughout the course, students engage with insights from labor economics, personnel economics, and behavioral economics and delve into the empirical methods used to address research questions in these fields, including microeconometric techniques, as well as lab and field experiments.

This course explores the broad, societal implications of capitalism. It explores three main topics—colonialism, gender, and ecology—to investigate how we can view capitalism as extending beyond the market economy, mode of production, and class relations. Furthermore, these three topics allow us to connect critiques of capitalism to major societal issues and core themes in contemporary economics, namely inequality and ecological crises and policies. The course critically examines both the foundations of capitalism theories and key critiques, encouraging students to assess the relevance of these perspectives in understanding contemporary economic challenges. The course specifically deals with economics but takes an interdisciplinary approach. Large parts of the curriculum come from other disciplines, mainly sociology, political theory, human geography, and philosophy. At its core, the course equips students with the tools to critically engage with these critiques, examine their strengths and limitations, and relate them to mainstream economic theory and research.

This course reflects on the impact of the environment on the economy, particulary the economic impacts of natural disasters in Japan. The course also discusses how Japanese society has mitigated and prepared against the effects of natural disasters since the mid-19th century.  

This course explores macroeconomic principles and their implications for the European Union and individual member states. Topics include: GDP; inflation; unemployment; fiscal policy; monetary policy; international trade; economic evolution of the EU; role of the Eurozone; the European Central Bank; challenges and opportunities posed by a common currency.

This course covers the basic theories of behavioral economics and discusses papers published in major journals in recent years in a group-reading style. Utilizing behavioral economics, it analyzes recent trends in development econmics research.

Course prerequisites: Advanced undergraduate or graduate-level microeconomics and econometrics.

The course teaches the implementation of basic data management and statistical/econometric analysis methods using Stata. 

Course Prerequisite: Completion of Introductory Econometrics or a more advanced course in econometrics.

This course teaches background knowledge in Resource and Environmental Economics as well as the basic principles of Agricultural Economics, Farm Management Science, Remote Sensing and Life Cycle Assessment of Goods.

This course covers literature on innovation and entrepreneurship and reviews policy options for the government from a comparative perspective. Innovation and entrepreneurship have been regarded as sources of economic vitality and growth. Recent successes of Silicon Valley and Korea are good examples. Students deepen their understanding of literature in innovation and entrepreneurship; learn to understand the effects and limits of various policies adopted by different countries; and examine the changes in the global supply chain, investigating the proper adoption of the changes.

Topics include Why Science, Technology, and Innovation Matter?, Models for R&D Policy: Technology Push & Demand Pull, Systems of Innovation, Theory of Firm Innovation, : Economic Growth and Social Capital, Innovative Region and City, Strategy for Catch-up: Korean Case, Democratizing Innovation, Role of Scientists in the S&T policy making process, How Economics Shapes Science, and Open Innovation.