Economics

This is a course in both theoretical and applied portfolio analysis. Topics covered include problems related to mean-variance theory, index models, equilibrium and arbitrage pricing models, theories about efficient markets, valuation and evaluation of portfolio management, and investment analysis. The course aims at training students in using software in order to identify optimal portfolios under different market conditions.

Full course description

The long-run economic development of countries, as well as inequality within countries are the major topics of this course. The long-run growth part deals with topics such as basic growth theories, including institutions, population, education, health, and migration. The inequality part relates to how the distribution of income, access to education, health services, or infrastructure can be highly uneven and become a major obstacle for economic development. Throuhout the course, policy implications and potential actions related to these topics are taken into consideration and discussed.

Course objectives

• To provide participants with an overview of major economic concepts and policies in development issues, such as growth and population dynamics, education, aid, trade and debt. 
• To deliver the skills needed to consider development problems and approach them in a rigorous and critical way, using both economic theories and policy analysis. 

Prerequisites

SSC1027 Principles of Economics. Knowledge of basic quantitative concepts such as reading and working with graphs and simple equations is also a prerequisite. 

Covid-19 is an infectious disease caused by a type of virus, manifesting itself in individual human beings; but the covid-19 pandemic is not just a health issue, but a social and economic phenomenon. This course explores the economics and politics of the covid-19 pandemic and the policy response (health-related, economic and social) in the UK and other countries. It does not cover specific medical or scientific aspects of covid-19 as a disease, but beyond that discusses a wide range of topics relating both to the direct and indirect impacts of the pandemic. There is a particular focus on how and why policy decisions were taken; and on the longer-term implications. 

This courses introduces students to the basic concepts of financial economics. Topics covered include how to value assets that generate a sequence of cash flows over time for their owners; guidelines for capital budgeting decisions by firms; how firms raise money from equity markets and bond markets; the trade-off between risk and return in financial assets; basic principles for investing wealth in a portfolio; and the theory and practice of corporate financial structure.

The purpose of this course is to provide learners with an overview of asset pricing and asset allocation—how economic actors (individuals, organizations) allocate their limited wealth or resources to diversified financial assets such as stocks, bonds, and derivatives, in order to obtain a reasonable cash flow and risk-return characteristics. The course is divided into four parts. The first part covers fundamentals of investment, which focuses on the research object, meaning, process, markets, and instruments of the investment. Part two covers the capital market equilibrium theory and includes the mean-variance theory, capital asset pricing model (CAPM), exponential model and the arbitrage pricing theory (APT), the efficient market hypothesis (EMH), and behavioral finance theory. Part three consists of the analysis and valuation of securities. This section introduces the valuation and analysis of three categories of financial instruments, fixed-income securities, equity securities, and derivative securities. Part four covers fund investment management and performance evaluation. After the valuation of investment instruments, the next procedures are assets allocation according to the risk appetite of different investors, investment funds management, portfolio management, and investment performance evaluation.