Economics

This course provides theoretical foundations and conceptual tools for understanding optimal financial decisions of corporations in terms of economics. Topics include stylized facts in corporate financing; capital structure in the theoretical framework of economics; conceptual framework of capital structures; detailed implications of debt and equity instruments; financing decision of corporations; payout policy; how economic concepts of agency-principal issues and mechanism design can be applied in the field of optimal financial decisions of corporations; the economic implications of internal capital markets and the market for corporate control; and the issues associated with corporate ownership and governance.

This course provides the basic knowledge of econometrics that is essential equipment for any serious economist or social scientist, to a level where the participant would be competent to continue with the study of the subject in a graduate program. 

The course provides a comprehensive introduction to modern labor economics. After providing some basic information about characteristics and trends in actual labor markets, the course analyses in some detail the supply side and the demand side of the labor market. These building blocks enable further analysis of special topics such as human capital, labor market discrimination, and unemployment. Emphasis is also given to the empirical evidence on those topics. 

This course begins with the fundamentals of labor economics, such as the methodology, theory, and objectives. It discusses the economic aspects of the problems, insecurities, and institutional developments associated with labor. Subjects covered include labor sources; trade unions; legal regulations; social conventions; the labor market and its characteristics and functions; labor supply and the production theory; human capital and investments; division of labor in the labor market; labor supply curve and elasticity; business countermeasures; wage rate theory; minimum wage systems; income distribution; types of industries and occupations; and labor relations (U.S. and Korea). The course emphasizes neoclassical, institutional, and radical perspectives. 

Prerequisite: Microeconomics

This course provides an introduction to the principals that govern present and future values of cash-flow streams and the net present values of different real and financial investments. It examines financial market functions and the investment decisions that participating agents face, risk and return linked to asset flows, the different types of derivative assets, and risk management. Other topics include: mathematical financial tools; net present value (NPV); characterization of assets and financial portfolios; capital asset pricing model (CAPM); derivatives.

This course introduces the scale of action taken by local authorities in France, and the political nature of the financial choices that accompany these interventions. Explaining the constraints to which the territorial public sector is subject, both institutionally and financially, and analyzing the reforms undertaken by the State lead to reflection on what decentralization represents in France today and how it is evolving. Learning outcomes include understanding the prospects for the evolution of territorial action in France, comparing this situation with other international models of territorial organization, and reflecting on the present and future role of local authorities in environmental transition policies, and how their financial choices may or may not contribute to this.