Economics

This course develops a rigorous understanding of core economic models and analysis, together with an ability to apply the analysis in a variety of contexts. It looks at the theory of the firm and market structure, factor markets, externalities, the role of government and general equilibrium, with applications to monopoly and oligopoly, stock markets, property rights and public goods. Along with two economics lectures each week, a third lecture focuses on mathematical techniques including constrained optimization. Students with a weak math background need to be prepared to work at developing their math skills.

This course covers fundamental microeconomics tools. The course is divided into five parts: (1) the theory of the consumer, (2) the theory of the firm, (3) partial equilibrium, (4) general equilibrium, and (5) market failures.

This course introduces students to the economics of globalization. It explores reasons why classical economists thought comparative advantage (or differences between countries) was the basis for international trade, when in the past few decades the bulk of international trade has been between very similar countries. Students study the effects of the growing importance of international trade, with a focus on recent trade agreements and their projected consequences. During the second part of the course, students study the causes and effects of migration, and data and policy analysis is conducted to investigate the immigration regimes of some popular migrant destinations.

The course familiarizes students, quantitatively and qualitatively, with important issues in environmental economics and environmental policy making such as anthropogenic global warming, the sustainable use of resources such as fish and forests, and environmental pollution. The course gives you hands-on experience in how to model complex economic and environmental systems, helps you understand the basic natural processes affecting the environment, introduces you to you the main tools and challenges involved in environmental valuation, shows you ways to determine the efficient level of pollution, and discusses the instruments available to policy makers to reach such targets.

The International Internship course develops vital business skills employers are actively seeking in job candidates. This course is comprised of two parts: an internship, and a hybrid academic seminar. Students are placed in an internship within a sector related to their professional ambitions. The hybrid academic seminar, conducted both online and in-person, analyzes and evaluates the workplace culture and the daily working environment students experience. The course is divided into eight career readiness competency modules as set out by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), which guide the course’s learning objectives. During the academic seminar, students reflect weekly on their internship experience within the context of their host culture by comparing and contrasting their experiences with their global internship placement with that of their home culture. Students reflect on their experiences in their internship, the role they have played in the evolution of their experience in their internship placement, and the experiences of their peers in their internship placements. Students develop a greater awareness of their strengths relative to the career readiness competencies, the subtleties and complexities of integrating into a cross-cultural work environment, and how to build and maintain a career search portfolio.

The objective of this course is to provide an introduction to modeling univariate and multivariate time series in economics. The topics covered include modeling non-stationary time series, Granger causality, co-integration, ARIMA, seasonality, ARCH, and Unit roots.