Economics

This course is designed to provide students with an understanding of how financial technology is reshaping the landscape of wealth management. The course explores key innovations, including robo-advisors, algorithmic trading, artificial intelligence, big data analytics, and the Internet of Things (IoT), and their applications in personal and corporate investing. 

Covid-19 is an infectious disease caused by a type of virus, manifesting itself in individual human beings; but the covid-19 pandemic was 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 on societies and economies across the glob. There is a particular focus on how and why policy decisions were taken; and on the longer-term implications.

This course covers the economics of discrimination guided by economic theory and evidence. In the first part of the course, students look at some broad stylized facts relating to discrimination in the labor market (both racial and gender) and then explore some of the leading economic theories of the causes and consequences of discrimination, why it tends to persist despite the economic inefficiencies involved, the role for corrective policies, and to the extent the negative effects of discrimination are transmitted inter-generationally. The second part of the course includes the empirical measurement of discrimination, an overview of the economic consequences of racial and gender discrimination, which policies have been implemented to promote equality for underrepresented groups, and examines the relationship between economic inequality and intergenerational mobility. The second part also covers econometric methods used in the literature on the economics of discrimination. 

This course provides an introduction to climate change science for students of economics and business. It provides the basics to understand the physical challenges of sustainable development and the key role of businesses in tackling climate change. 

This course situates migration within broader social and economic contexts. To understand human mobility, it conceives migration as an intrinsic part of wider processes of economic and social change, rather than as a “problem to be solved”. Drawing on empirical and theoretical work, it demonstrates the contradictions and continuities in how migration has been understood in social science scholarship and explores how migration affects key areas of the economy and society, including implications from a public health perspective. By examining historical and contemporary examples, the course shows how migration patterns evolve in response to shifting economic demands, political decisions and social transformations.

This course analyzes the impact of economic variables in a national and international context through a case study, identifying sources of competitive advantage for the organization. 

International economic relations are undergoing deep and destabilizing changes. Disruptions are manifest through trade restrictions and protectionism, the weakening of international institutions and cooperation, the segmentation of the world economy in different geopolitical areas, growing public debt in many advanced and developing economies and mounting challenges to the current International Monetary System, with questions on the future role of major currencies (Dollar, Euro, Renminbi). This course provides the basic analytical tools to observe and understand those evolutions. In addition to lectures by the instructor, presentations by students and debates are also organized. The course develops economic analyses and theories, using mainly graphic tools. No modelling or econometric approaches are used. Tutorials are organized for students who wish to catch up or develop some topics further.

This course provides an introduction to the economics of money, banking, and financial markets. It presents a general overview of key monetary and financial market phenomena, of how key financial and money market institutions operate and the basic workings of financial and money markets. The course is designed to provide students with a general understanding of how financial markets work and the impact of financial markets on the domestic and international economic system.

This course teaches essential concepts in law and economics in a dynamic setting. It introduces rationality theory and explores specific areas of law, such as Tort, Contract, or Criminal Law, focusing on current topics. Students apply analytical skills to analyze legal situations, culminating in a legal memo addressing a current legal issue or public consultation.

Digital technologies are more pervasive than ever, profoundly reshaping how people work and navigate today's job markets. Yet technological change is often framed as either a blessing or a curse, overlooking the complex ways it interacts with work. This course takes a step back to examine the foundations and stakes of contemporary, technology-driven changes in the domain of work. How are current technological changes affecting the nature of work? To what extent are they contributing to new or existing forms of labor market inequality? And what policy levers can effectively address new challenges posed by digital innovations in the area of work? Drawing on a multidisciplinary perspective, it explores the interactions between technology and labor market inequality, integrating insights from sociology, economics, and digital anthropology. Each class begins with a one-hour lecture and Q&A, followed by a one-hour student-led session. The second half follows a flipped-classroom format, in which a group of students designs and facilitates an activity (e.g., discussion, debate, case study, or mini-presentation) that engages peers in applying and critically examining course concepts.