Economics

This course is an introduction to international trade for students who already have sound knowledge in introductory microeconomics. The course covers the following topics: the main reasons for trade; trade patterns; trade and income distribution; FDI and outsourcing; trade policy instruments; the World Trade Organization, and the multilateral trading system. 
 

This course provides students with an integrated understanding of the dynamics of environment-economy interactions, including the depth of dynamic and nonlinear behavior of the environmental and economic systems as they interact and change over time. This contributes to develop students’ innovative use of specialized knowledge and critical thinking skills in designing cost-effective environmental planning and programs in addressing many of today’s complex environmental challenges and economic issues. 

The course then discusses of a wide range of topics, covering the theory and practice in system dynamics; complex economy-environment system interactions and their resultant multiple cause and effect consequences; theory and practice in environmental policymaking, and the role of value orientations in sustainable environmental decision-making and policy design, among other subjects of interest. The discussions will be empirically tested using relevant case studies drawing from academic research and actual field study. 

This course will enable finance students to understand the fundamental principles and operational mechanisms of modern supply chain finance, laying a theoretical and practical foundation for their future engagement in relevant financial practices, and cultivating reserve talents in supply chain finance for financial institutions. The main content of the course includes the evolution of supply chain finance, differences in theory and practice between domestic and international contexts, the framework and principles of supply chain finance, related product portfolios and risk management, logistics finance, online supply chain finance, supply chain finance ABS, and conducting theoretical and practical innovation research based on the knowledge acquired.

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. 

The regular version of this course is worth 3.0 UC quarter units. The Q version of this course is worth 4 or 4.5 UC quarter units. Students must submit a special study project form which outlines the requirements for the additional units. This is typically an additional paper graded by the instructor of the course.

This course focuses on the analysis of financial transactions as an instrument for financial valuation to assist the decision-making process within organizations and within companies. It discusses different financial concepts and systems and the general approach of financial transactions. Other topics include financial values of annuities, the financial transactions of accumulation (sinking funds), and financial transactions of amortization (loans).  

This course analyzes the driving forces behind income, prices and other macroeconomic variables in closed and open economies. Topics include: macroeconomic problems and national accounts; goods market; financial markets; IS-LM Model; opening goods and financial markets; Mundell-Fleming Model; expectations-- instruments, consumption, investment, and financial market. Pre-Requisites: Macroeconomics I

This course provides an overview of the dynamics of the global financial and international monetary systems. It develops knowledge of the fundamental concepts needed to understand foreign direct investment, financial flows, international trade, and investment deals. As political risk and economic exposure to global events have become more immediate, special attention is given to the 2007-2012 world banking crisis, the role of central banks in the stabilization of national economies, national debts, and the specific economic challenges to which individual countries have been exposed in varying ways. Alternative views and policy measures to help struggling economies overcome the economic and financial crisis like contracting (or expanding) government spending are assessed and critically analyzed.

Tracing the history of beer from China in 7000 BCE, through to the impact of U.S. federal law and European Union regulations, this course explores the determinants and drivers of the economics of beer. This course includes an examination of the labor market and brewing, technology and innovation, national beer market trends, media and marketing of beer, new and emerging beer markets, cultural and political factors impacting the beer market, and the decline and rise of local, import, and craft beers.

The goal of this course is to familiarize students with the key analytical methods and leading applications in the field of game theory. At the end of the course, students should be able to identify and formalize problems that involve strategic interaction between different economic agents, and to analyze them with game-theoretical thinking.