Economics

This course explores the conceptual and theoretical framework surrounding valuation issues and the practical tools to address such topics in real-life situations. The methodologies for corporate valuation are analyzed and the approaches commonly used by practitioners (financial analysts, investment and merchant banks, consulting firms) are discussed with particular regard to the context and to the purposes of the valuation. Valuation of intangibles assets is analyzed with a focus on brands and copyrights. Students discuss topics including theoretical framework and fundamental skills in company valuation, an overview of valuation methodologies, net asset approach, intangible assets valuation, estimating the cost of capital, relationships between leverage and discount rates, discounted cash flow analysis and APV, comparative valuation: stock market and deal multiples approach, income approach, acquisition value, exchange ratios in mergers, and premiums and discounts in company valuation. Knowledge of basic financial accounting and basic corporate finance is encouraged, but not required, as a prerequisite. 

This course studies how economic globalization and technological change interact in shaping development at the level of regions and countries. Peter Dicken's GLOBAL SHIFT is the main text used. The first part of the course defines economic globalization as growing functional interdependencies between countries and regions in the world economy. It proceeds to map contemporary trends, including the entry of countries such as China and India as major players. Current debates over "slowbalization" and "deglobalization" are also introduced. The second part is more theoretical, discussing specifically the role of multinational companies and more generally the question of industry localization in light of modern space-shrinking transportation and communication technologies. The role of the state in regulating and facilitating economic globalization is thoroughly discussed. Critical questions concerning who are the winners and losers in ongoing global shifts are reflected upon, with emphasis on how the policies, industrial structures, and institutional conditions of regions and countries determine whether they benefit or not. Finally, economic globalization is discussed in the context of social and environmental sustainability challenges.

"Marxism" has played an enormous role in the shape of 20th-century history. But what did Marx really believe, and how can his "critique of political economy" help us to understand the historical development of capitalism, and its modern dynamics? What are the main challenges Marxian political economy faces? In this course, students examine Marx's materialist theory of human history, his critique of capitalism, and the extent to which his conceptual tools offer us a useful framework for understanding global socioeconomic change and continuity today, compared to other social scientific methods.

This course provides an overview of working in the United Kingdom and of the current economic situation in the country. It further discusses how the economic situation affects the workplace, how students can integrate into British working life, and how they can make the most of their internship placements. Topics include current political and economic climate, national legal framework, structure and workflow, integration of immigrants into the workforce, discrimination in the workplace, and comparison between U.K. and U.S. work experiences.

This course examines how China has achieved rapid economic growth in the past four decades in the absence of Western-style legal and democratic systems, both of which are conventionally viewed to be essential to economic development. It covers how China’s economic reform can be understood in the historical and comparative context, specifically the relevance of the East Asian developmental states model; what role China’s legal system as well as the relationship between law and politics has played in the country’s economic development; whether China’s experience can be called “growth without rule of law,” and whether it presents viable alternative that may inform other developing economies in their pursuit of prosperity. Topics include: legitimacy building, decentralization as a constitutional system, courts, governance of state-owned enterprises, formal and informal financing, property rights protection, environmental protection, labor regulation, China’s global economic engagements, and cyber governance.