Economics

Standard economic theory assumes that individuals make choices to maximize their utility, using the information available, and acting in their own self-interest. However, experiments in both the psychology and economics literature show that individuals are time-inconsistent, care about others, form “irrational” expectations, and use heuristics to solve complex problems. These deviations can be systematic, mathematically modelled, empirically tested, and incorporated into economics. This course explores the implications of these new assumptions for economic analysis and understanding.

This course introduces the basic concepts of statistics to systematically analyze the essential characteristics and interrelationships of economic data. 

The main goal of this course is to understand statistical analysis of data and to apply to various issues using Excel. The topics include the basic concept of probability and statistics with the application of practical cases 

Several Excel homework assignments will be assigned during the semester that will involve qualitative discussions and working through quantitative analyses and computations.  Please be aware that to complete the homework, you will need to learn some Excel functions by yourself. 

This course explores how the historical rise of capitalism has been inextricably tied to the production of the very idea of "the economy," and how anthropologists have persistently challenged this separation, showing instead how economic life is entangled with religion, kinship, politics, and affect. Drawing on a broad range of ethnographic and theoretical work, students explore the radical possibilities of alternative social relations offered by communities historically constituted outside capitalist economies or incorporated on their own terms, such as the so-called "original affluent societies." The course critically examines the limits and potentials of contemporary global capitalism. How did the global economy emerge? What are its political, social, and cultural consequences? Why does it produce volatility, inequality, and, at times, accumulation and spectacular abundance? Is globalization unravelling in an era of "de-coupling" and populism, and what new futures might be imagined for capitalism? The course answers these questions through key themes including production, social reproduction, circulation, consumption, and the enduring significance of colonialism, empire, industrialization, neoliberalization, financialization, digital and platform economies

This course employs economic analysis to examine the interrelationships between three institutions: the state, law, and the economy. Topics covered include the nature and origin of the state, the differences between liberal and populist conceptions of the democratic state, and the dilemmas of political organization, conflict, and succession in autocratic states. The course also explores the rule of law, the relationship between political and economic order, and rent-seeking groups. Additionally, it delves into the distinctions between common law and civil law systems and the consequences of these differences. The course also investigates the modernization hypothesis, critical juncture theory, and the factors that contribute to the transition between dictatorships and democracies (and vice versa). Furthermore, it examines the role of economic, behavioral, and structural factors in these transitions, as well as the reasons why revolutions often come as surprises. The course also seeks to answer whether democracy promotes growth, the impact of inherited legal systems on growth, and the relationship between rulers, citizens, and interest groups in the pre-industrial world. Utilizing an analytic narratives approach, the course draws upon comparative case histories from various regions, including Europe, America, China, India, and the Middle East, to offer a comprehensive understanding of these topics.

Public Economics (also known as Public Finance) studies various issues related to governments. Governments collect taxes (revenue or taxation side) and spend them on a variety of areas in the economy (expenditure side). This course first discusses important issues in the expenditure side such as public goods and governments' intervention on markets with externalities.  

The course then examines the taxation side and tries to answer the following questions: what are the goals that governments want to or have to achieve in taxation and how they should tax in order to attain such goals. Additional  topics like government debts and pension systems are analyzed if time permits.  

Assessments: Midterm exam (40%), final exam (40%), quiz (15%). 

This course provides an introduction to economic history, exploring the intersection of economics and historical events. It emphasizes the importance of historical events in shaping economic growth and development while illustrating how economic theories and logic can offer deeper insights into these events. The availability of historical data allows students to apply state-of-the-art quantitative methods to analyze past events and draw connections to present-day economic issues.

This course focuses on the finance and macroeconomics of international financial flows. It covers the history of post-War financial arrangements, from Bretton Woods to the modern globalized financial system. Other topics covered include the determinants of the balance of payments, relationships between currency arrangements and capital flows and between trade and financial flows, the role played by capital inflows and outflows in financial crisis, the determinants and financing of foreign direct investment, the role of the IMF in the global economy and the case for a global tax on financial transactions.

The course covers the integration of European countries through the lens of economic theory and policy. It uses microeconomic and macroeconomic tools to examine the motivation for and development of core EU policies. First it examines the origins of economic and later European integration, through to the Single Market. The course covers core policies such as trade, agriculture, and competition with microeconomic tools, examining economic efficiency. Then it discusses fiscal and monetary policies of the EU, including the common currency. Two crises that highlight the triumphs and pitfalls of European integration are studied in-depth: Brexit and the Financial Crisis. Using the economic policy analysis tools developed in class, students pursue research, independently and with classmates, on other EU policies such as the environment and social protection.

Personnel Economics studies the economics of the workplace using simple but formal economic models. Models of employee motivation, compensation, and selection are melded with real-world examples and with field studies of actual workplaces. Personnel economics takes an economic approach to the two key problems of human resource management (HRM): employee selection and employee motivation. The course approach combines elements of microeconomic theory, behavioral economics, and evidence from lab, field, and natural experiments. Familiarity with intermediate microeconomic theory such as budget constraints and indifference curves is presupposed. Familiarity with basic probability and regression analysis is helpful but not essential. 

This course focuses on presenting and discussing a diverse range of game theory applications and conveying an understanding of how strategic players may navigate such scenarios. Game Theory is the standard tool for analyzing strategic situations and is widely used in many fields, including economics, finance, biology, and political science. It provides a way of thinking about such strategic situations, whether in economics, politics, relationships, evolution, sports, war, law, or everyday life. The first part of the course presents basic concepts such as Nash equilibrium, dominated strategies, or mixed strategies, and the most famous economic games (prisoner’s dilemma, battle of sexes, matching pennies, beauty contests, etc.). The second part delves deeper into the analysis of dynamic games and covers questions and applications such as: How to build up a reputation; How to bargain; Duels (when should you shoot?); Cooperation (how selfish players can use "stick and carrot"’ to cooperate and collude); Hold-up problems (why and when your employer will invest in your human capital); and First- and second-mover advantage in markets - Wars of attrition. The third part of the course presents further applications of game theory that have been particularly influential in the history of economic theory, such as: Signaling (how to signal your qualities to an employer?); Mechanism design (how to sell your old house? how Google and eBay use auctions. What is the winner’s curse?); and Information aggregation (is there a wisdom of the crowd?). Throughout the course, games are played with and against each other in class. Prerequisites: ECON1210 Introductory microeconomics; and MATH1009 Basic mathematics for business and economics or MATH1011 University mathematics I or MATH1013 University mathematics II.