Economics

Have financial crises become more frequent and more severe over time? What can early bubbles tell us about the state of different stock markets? Was fiscal policy as important as monetary policy in helping recovery in Britain and the US after the Great Depression? Exploring these topics informs our understanding of current global financial markets. During this course, students are asked to engage with these important topics and more, participating in lively discussion.

The undergraduate research program places students in research opportunites to conduct indpendent research under the supervision of a Chinese University of Hong Kong faculty. Students are expected to spend approximately 15 to 20 hours per week in independent research as well as attend lectures and labs.

The course examines some of the important recent developments in economics, focusing mainly, but not exclusively, on key contributions since 1950, especially those whose authors were awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Science. Through an examination of the original as well as more modern academic literature, it will look at analytical concepts and techniques that were once novel but are now widely accepted. The course also touches on the historical context in which economics evolved.

This course examines a systematic analysis of the theory of international trade and trade policy. Initially differences between countries are emphasized as the source of trade and the gains from trade. Models that are examined include the Classical-Ricardian model, the Heckscher-Ohlin model and the Specific-Factors model. Next economics of scale and imperfect competition are introduced as sources of trade and gains from trade. The course concludes with an examination of empirical studies aimed at testing trade theories. The analysis of trade policy begins with a discussion of the instruments of trade policy, in particular, tariffs and quotas and their effect on welfare. This discussion is then extended to the case of imperfect competition and strategic trade policy.

The course equips students with a critical understanding of the major issues facing the European economy. The course provides a blend of descriptive information, theory, and empirical analysis. The emphasis is on economic issues but these issues are studied in their political, institutional, and historical context. Theoretical analysis forms an essential part of the course and requires knowledge of intermediate micro- and macroeconomics. Attention is devoted to some policy areas in which EU co-ordination has progressed furthest: internal market, regional policy, factor mobility, agriculture, and competition policy. The course is suitable for any student who has taken Economics and all Visiting Students who have acquired an equivalent level of Economics training.

This course is an introduction to the theoretical and practical functioning of urban real estate markets using concepts from urban economics, finance, and real estate economics. A major component of the course is the case study in which students value a mixed-use commercial real estate property using the knowledge and techniques they have learned.

This course presents basic analytical methods in trade and discusses current trade issues. It starts off by closely following textbook studies of trade theory, followed by a study of trade policies. After completing the relevant part of the textbook, some articles are selected for discussion including: tariffs, nontariff barriers and arguments for protection; commercial policy; preferential trade arrangements history and practice; international trade and economic growth; imperfect competition and strategic trade policy and especially those on trade and industrial organization.

This course introduces asset pricing and investment, beginning with asset pricing theory, empirical problems and the latest theory developed to solve these problems. Specifically, the course explores mean-variance analysis, expected earnings, beta models, and factor structures, such as classic CAPM, APT and the recently developed fama-French five-factor model and q-theoretical four-factor model. The course also covers the stock and derivatives markets, as well as personal and institutional investment. It involves many computational problems. The computing language R will be used. MatLab, and other programs such as Python, C, SAS or STATA can also be used.

This course builds upon the concepts studied in INTRODUCTION TO ECONOMICS A and introduces business strategies. The course covers cost calculations, market structures, firms' decision making, supply chains and such other topics. 

Prerequisite: INTRODUCTION TO ECONOMICS A.