Economics

The course covers the basic principles and methods of financial engineering, the conceptual tools and substantive tools that financial engineers must possess, and the use of financial engineering principles and methods to solve financial problems in practice, which lays a theoretical foundation for future practical work or research. In the financial market, both enterprises that need financing and financial investors face two basic problems: financial product pricing and investment risk management. This course focuses on these two major issues: risk portfolio model based on utility theory and capital asset pricing model; option futures pricing model based on risk-free arbitrage equilibrium.

The course introduces students to the basic theoretical and empirical literature on how labor markets have evolved over time and across countries. In particular, it will enable students to apply the tools of analysis to a wide range of models and policy relating to the question of who and how much we work: over time, over the life-cycle, and in the household. We focus particularly on female labor force participation, the impact of technological change on the labor market and sectoral shifts. To understand these, students discuss income vs substitution effects, savings decisions, intertemporal substitution of work and consumption, intensive (how many hours?) vs extensive (whether to work) margin labor supply choice. The goal is to develop good economic intuition on these topics, while also discussing the empirical strategies to analyze these labor market outcomes.

From a political science perspective, this course investigates the stark material inequalities that exist between countries and world regions. It covers the transnational political-economy processes that shape inequalities within and between countries, including perspectives on the winners and losers of global trade, the deregulation of global finance, the precarity created along global production chains, tax evasion of multinational companies, migration, and the rise of global tech companies. The course reflects on the consequences of these processes for areas such as democracy, gender relations, and climate change.

This course offers an advanced study of macroeconomics. Topics include: macroeconomic modeling; formal analysis of dynamics; uncertainty in macroeconomics; fiscal and monetary policy; dynamics of debt and deficit; the role of credibility and expectations.