Economics

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.

This course explores how to design matching markets, based on the contents taught in Intermediate Microeconomics 1A. Students are expected to know the differentiation of functions of one variable.  

Prerequisite: Intermediate Microeconomics 1A. 

This course covers the economic history of postwar Japan as well as a wide range of current issues. The course discusses the history and structure of Japanese economy as well as its role in the international economy. The course also addresses future challenges and the activities of Japanese multinational firms.

The course explores economic policy in the global economy. Students study the causes and consequences of international economic integration, focusing on how globalization affects the trade-offs that shape policy. Both theoretical and empirical analyses are considered. Key topics include international trade, capital flows, migration, technology diffusion, taxation in the global economy, and the relationship between globalization and national sovereignty.