Economics

This course combines economic theory with historical facts and examines the economic and social development of the East and the West. It covers the important historical content of all human economic and social activities from the origin of agricultural civilization to the present day, such as the origin of agricultural civilization, the great Geographical discovery, Columbus exchange, religious Reform, industrial Revolution, modern industrialization, the Great Depression, globalization and other related issues.

In many situations, economic actors need to make decisions while knowing that the final outcome also depends on the decisions of others. Such situations are called games, and the actors involved are called players. In order to reach a good decision, it is important for a player to reason about the decisions and motivations of their opponents. This course teaches how to reason about your opponents in game theoretic situations, and how to use this reasoning to make good decisions. The theory is applied to various economic situations of interest.

This course is about money and Central Banking: what money is; how it is created; how it moves around and what impact it may have on the economy. Students are introduced to the basics of money creation, the role of Central Banks, the theory of inflation and monetary policy. The following topics are analyzed: the impact of digital technologies on the forms and nature of money; the recent actions of major Central Banks to address the consequences of the Covid crisis and their long run implications; the relationships between money, the Governments, and the society in this new environment

This advanced course examines the political economy of East Asia. It treats East Asia as a political-economic space beyond the boundaries of individual countries, and pays equal attention to the past and the present. The course covers a wide range of topics, including the silk road, the tributary system, the circulation of money, the political economy of colonialism, migration and diaspora, the adoption of modern state system, the developmental state, regional production networks, East Asian regionalism, and the rise of China.

The course explores the international frontiers of international trade studies at the enterprise level, Topics include the development of international trade theory and empirical research from the perspective of enterprises; individual enterprises in a dynamic open economy; the motivations, mechanisms, and influences of internationalization choices (trade, investment, outsourcing, etc.) when pursuing their own development and maximizing profits.