Economics

This course examines Taiwan’s economic development from about 1860 to the present. The course is organized topically (and roughly chronologically); it begins by examining Taiwan’s important crops (tea, sugar and rice) and how these affected Taiwan’s economic development from roughly 1860-1970. Then the course briefly looks at the development of Taiwan’s natural resources. Finally,  the course discusses Taiwan’s rise as a manufacturing power - noting Taiwan's first labor-intensive manufactured export, woven hats, which were produced and exported in the pre-war era, but then mainly focus on Taiwan’s post-war export boom and its modern growth, particularly the electronics industry. Students participate in six group projects based on the readings listed; these groups will usually be randomly assigned. 

This course develops the analytical tools to study short-run fluctuations in aggregate economic activities. It emphasizes the micro-foundations of macroeconomics and investigates the determinants of consumption, saving, investment, labor demand and labor supply. We derive the IS-LM and AD-AS frameworks and use these frameworks to understand why the economy goes through booms and busts. The course also discusses different theories of the business cycles, such as the Keynesian and the Real Business Cycle theories. In particular, it examines their assumptions and policy implications for macroeconomic stabilization.

This course seeks to understand the concepts and the techniques required to conduct marketing research and to know how to apply them in real world marketing research problems in order to make better business decisions. In this course students are introduced to different stages of the marketing research process. The course examines different types on research designs, how to collect and scrutinize data, and quantitative research methodologies and their applications to various data sets which can be used to solve real-world business problems. The contents of this course comprise theory, concepts, and frameworks relevant to marketing, and empirical methodology and their applications to real-world datasets. The topics include but are not limited to: exploratory/descriptive/causal research: research design and data collection; experimental design; sampling; A/B testing; consumer segmentation: cluster analysis; perceptual maps: factor analysis; market response modeling; field experiments; and conjoint analysis. The course recommends students be have a basic knowledge of linear regressions and t-tests as a prerequisite.

European Union (EU) competition law, along with US antitrust law, are two main streams in the world's competition law, each having their own unique features influenced by various economic theories. This course analyzes the basic framework of global competition law and the leading principles and cases of EU competition law.

In practice, economic evidence submitted by economic consultants is facilitated before the EU courts. The class examines real case experience throughout the term. 

This course focuses on the economic analysis of the structure and role of financial institutions and tools and conduct of monetary policy in the economy. Topics include the role of money, debt and equity; financial institutions and markets; regulation; financial crises; interest rates; commercial bank operations; the money supply process; theories of money demand; conduct of monetary policy and its role in different macroeconomic frameworks: international role of money; and monetary policy in Singapore. The course requires students to take prerequisites.