Economics

The purpose of this course is to provide an overview of the various economic fields by investigating these fields in their historical and methodological context and the linkages between these different fields and to other related sciences.

This course focuses on the process and theoretical background of The European Union (EU). It explores its formation by three creative processes: deepening of the integration, enlargement of the EU, and economic transformation in former socialist countries. After introducing those processes and some theoretical background, students analyze different EU economic policies. Considering that the participants are American undergraduates, this course systematically compares and contrasts the EU and its role in the world with the USA. Preliminary knowledge of principles of microeconomics is strongly recommended, but all necessary theoretical concepts are briefly summarized as part of this course.

This course analyzes the main pillars and political consequences of the world economy, through the study of key contemporary issues such as the World Trade Organization and Trade Policy, multinational corporations, regional trade agreements, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, the Latin American debt crisis, the financial crisis in East Asia, financial globalization, economic inequalities and global environmental policies.

Political economy describes the multifold interactions between the political and economic subsystem in a society and is studied by many different disciplines. This lecture series invites scholars and practitioners from economic history, economics, history, literature and sociology to present on different sectors and aspects of the American political economy. Topics range from labor to housing markets, from migration to the international dollar system and from social movements to racialized capitalism. The lecture provides students with a unique interdisciplinary introduction into current research into American political economy, from many JFKI scholars and beyond.

The course introduces students to the interplay between trade, migration, and issues such as inequality, environmental degradation, and global politics. It equips students with the analytical tools and essential knowledge necessary to engage in contemporary debates on these issues, helping them to gain a deeper understanding of the interconnected dynamics in the globalized economy. The course covers both theoretical concepts and empirical studies. Students will understand the key theories and concepts underlying international trade and migration and have developed an awareness of how trade and migration trends are influenced by and contribute to challenges in areas like the labor market, environmental sustainability, or social cohesion. For the final examination, students are expected to demonstrate their ability to critically evaluate and discuss the relationship between trade or migration and at least one of the challenges discussed throughout the course.

This course examines economic history and its persistent impact on economic development in the context of China. Particular attention will be paid to explaining the missing industrialization in the Ming-Qing period and the historical roots of China’s recent economic rise. To this end, the course will compare China to the West in terms of culture, institutions, human capital, and other fundamental forces of development, and will employ historical data and econometric tools to examine the economic impacts of these fundamentals. 

Industrial organization is a branch of microeconomics that studies markets of imperfect competition. When the number of competitors is small and competition is imperfect, each individual firm faces situations of strategic interaction among the market participants (consumers, competitors, or suppliers). Using game theoretic tools, this course studies various market structures and the competitive and cooperative strategies used by profit-maximizing firms as well as their implications for market outcomes and regulation policies. Topics include Markets and strategies, Static oligopoly competition, Dynamic oligopoly competition, Source of market power, Price discrimination, Impact of asymmetric information, Cartels and collusion, Horizontal mergers, and Vertically-related markets.

Prerequisite: Game Theory

This course is an introduction to the field of health economics, a rapidly growing field of applied economics. Economic concepts such as scarcity, incentives, marginal analysis, profit maximization, and cost-minimization will be used throughout this course. Students will analyze this important sector using economic analysis methods.  

Topics include the production of health capital; demand-and-supply analysis of health and medical care; the production of health; asymmetric information in insurance markets; the role of government in the provision of health care; economics of mental health and happiness; and health policy debates in developing countries. 

In this course the views of a number of classical thinkers on capitalism will be discussed: Adam Smith, Karl Marx, Max Weber, Friedrich Hayek, John Maynard Keynes, Milton Friedman and Thomas Piketty. What was, in their view, the nature of capitalism? Which problems does the system have? And how should these shortcomings be remedied?

This course examines the conditions and causes of long run growth from nomadism to agriculture to industrialized states, including institutions, geography, culture, colonialism, and slave trades. It covers determinants of the Neolithic, consumer and industrial revolutions, demographic transition and first era of globalization.