Economics

This course provides a rigorous treatment of the core concepts and skills in security investments and portfolio management. The main focus is on the trade-off between risk and return, which will be analyzed in a mean variance framework. Along this line, two main theories of asset pricing will be explained: the Capital Asset Pricing Model and Arbitrage Pricing Theory. The empirical tests of these two theories will also be discussed.

The course presents an introduction to the economic theory of the public sector. The topics covered include public goods, externalities, education, health care, pensions, redistribution, collective decision making and cost-benefit analysis.  A prerequisite for this course is a basic course in microeconomics.

This graduate-level course prepares students for theoretical research in financial markets and is based on journal articles and working papers. The first part of the course discusses different methods to facilitate transactions. The course introduces secured and unsecured credit, and compares the difference between credit and money. The second part of the course discusses search and matching friction in the financial markets, discussing models applying search and matching friction to study stock markets, housing markets, and bond markets. The last part of the course discusses the current development of fintech, introducing the theory behind cryptocurrencies and analyzing how digital currencies influences the current economy.

This course equips students with fundamental skills and conceptual knowledge essential for investment professionals, including money managers, security analysts, and investment advisors. Students gain a strong foundation in the theoretical principles and practical applications of portfolio investment techniques, with an emphasis on using Python for financial analysis. Additionally, the course incorporates discussions on recent financial news relevant to lecture topics, enhancing students' understanding of real-world investment scenarios.    

The course covers the following topics: The Investment Environment; Portfolio Theory and Practice; Equilibrium in Capital Market; Fixed-Income Securities; Security Analysis, and Options, Futures, and Other Derivatives. 

Recommended prerequisites: Basic knowledge of statistics and understanding of introduction to microeconomics. 

This course provides a mathematical foundation of regression analysis for advanced undergraduate students or graduate students who have studied intermediate-level econometrics and are familiar with probability theory and regression models. This course studies estimation methods for regression models such as ordinary least squares (OLS), generalized least squares (GLS), instrumental variables (IV) estimation, and the generalized method of moments (GMM) in a mathematically rigorous fashion.

This course explores the intersection of economics and environmental challenges, equipping students with theoretical frameworks and empirical tools to address pressing environmental issues. The course covers the role of economics in environmental issues, market process modeling, market failure analysis (e.g., air quality markets and externalities), and policy approaches including command-and-control, market-based solutions, risk analysis, and cost-benefit analysis. Students also examine real-world cases such as air pollution (defining air quality, controlling mobile and stationary sources, ozone depletion, and climate change), water pollution (quality, point and non-point sources, safe drinking water), and solid waste and toxic substance management. The course concludes with a focus on sustainable development, including SDGs and climate change issues. The teaching methodology integrates theoretical lectures with case studies, supplemented by contemporary examples such as COP21, the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement under Trump, and comparisons of BMW's environmental initiatives and scandals.

Prerequisites: Microeconomics and Macroeconomics

This course introduces the main kinds of derivatives, with an emphasis on pricing and hedging issues, and on how investors and corporations can use these instruments in practice. The main contents of the course are: introduction to financial derivatives; forwards, futures, and swaps (institutional apsects, pricing, hedging); options (institutional aspects, pricing, hedging); and basics of credit risk and credit derivatives. Prerequisites: a solid understanding of financial economics; familiarity with the mathematics of interest rates (discounting/compounding, equivalence of rates at different maturities), with basic statistics (expected values, standard deviation and variance, ordinary least squares), and calculus (limits, differentials, differentiation, Taylor expansions, partial differentiation, optimization, basic integration). 

This course examines the pricing and output decisions of firms and the performance of the market under various market structures. Topics include theories of oligopoly; product differentiation; the effects of imperfect and asymmetric information; the examination of pricing practices such as price discrimination, tie- in selling, and resale price maintenance; collusion and anti-competitive behaviors, and public policies related to the promotion or restriction of competition.