Economics

This course focuses on developing understanding of contemporary global issues, including economic well-being, sustainable growth, emerging economies, world trade and globalization. 

This course examines global economic history from 1500 to 1900 through a “polycentric” and “connected histories” framework, moving beyond traditional Eurocentric narratives. Rather than portraying Europe as the sole driver of economic change, the course highlights the role of Asian, African, and American actors in shaping the global economic order. The course is organized in four parts: (1) The polycentric world before European expansion; (2) Early connections that modified but did not destroy existing systems; (3) The multiple paths of the Great Divergence, and (4) The consolidation of an unequal world system. The course also integrates environmental and gender perspectives as essential analytical lenses. Key topics include Asian maritime trading systems, global silver flows, plantation economies, the industrial revolution, the Great Divergence debate, and systems of coerced and contractual labor.

This course explores Chinese economic reforms and development since the end of the 1970s, and introduces many of the elements of China's emergence and its potential role in the world economy. It uses China as a case study placing Chinese economic development in a historical and comparative context, exploring the contradiction between the unprecedented economic growth of the past century and the persistence of poverty in rich countries. The course begins with theories of economic growth and poverty and studies economic and social institutions and public policy debates on ways to achieve rising incomes while improving living standards and promoting equality. The first part is on economic development and the most commonly used models of development. The second part covers contracts and development. 

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