Economics

Businesses have been revolutionized with the introduction of new information technologies (IT) and artificial intelligence (AI). This course provides an understanding of the key economic concepts to operate and be a successful IT-enabled and/or AI-driven business and to impart an appreciation of the economic impacts of IT and AI at the firm, market, and societal levels. The course discusses competitive market analysis, IT-related economic issues of pricing and bundling, information asymmetry and uncertainty, as well as AI-related topics of automated decision, and economic impacts of AI technologies.

This course focuses on the performance of European firms according to essential external users such as investors and “analysts." It deals with a specific angle of analysis - the financial aspects of the performance - viewed from users like shareholders, bankers, creditors, customer unions, and tax authorities. Comparability of financial information through the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) is a key issue in an international environment. Taking a user perspective throughout, whether discussing reporting principles or in the practice of financial analysis, this course is divided in two parts: identifying the financial information provided in the IFRS system, and examining the analysts’ views on this information? The course covers international and comparative accounting, performance indicators, methods for measuring the success of a firm, and evaluation methods for company financing policy. It also discusses comparative differences in international practices, as doing business with European companies requires the ability to analyze the information they provide. Other topics covered include how investors and analysts view the information that companies provide, what they see as its strengths and weaknesses, what information really matters to them and what they all but disregard, and finally, how they estimate the company’s performance through the information provided in IFRS.

Health economics encompasses both economic analyses of health and health care. This course provides knowledge of how economic theory and methodology can help us understand the underlying conditions and characteristics of health care. The different areas of health economics, such as the demand for health, health care, and health insurance, providers in health care, the physician-patient relationship, the organization and financing of health care, economic evaluation, and equity issues are discussed. Illustrations are frequently taken from the problems and reforms in Swedish health care. Gender-related aspects are taken into consideration. The course includes guest lectures by health economists working outside academia. Economic evaluation is a particular focus of the course.

This course provides an introduction to game theory, a framework for studying situations of strategic interdependence. Students are shown how to describe such situations formally, how to analyze them using concepts of dominance and equilibrium, and how the theory can be applied to questions arising in various social sciences. Concepts and techniques to be studied include: games in extensive and strategic form, backward induction, strategic dominance, imperfect information, choice under uncertainty, pure and mixed strategy Nash equilibrium, coordination and outguessing games, the prisoners' dilemma, subgame perfection, iterative dominance, commitment and credibility, and repeated games.

Economics of Development explores the principles and issues of economic development. In this course we will ask: (1) How does a developing country break the poverty trap and evolve to a modern economy with a higher living standard? (2) What are the processes and conditions of economic development? and (3) Is there a scope for policy? What policies and strategies should be tried out?

This course consists of four parts (ten chapters): 

Part 1 “Introduction” includes two chapters. Topics to be covered are: (1) the object of Development Economics and the purpose of this course, (2) characteristics of developing countries and (3) a comparison between economic development and economic growth. 

Part 2 “Development Models in a Dual Economy” includes three chapters. Topics to be covered are: (1) the transfer and employment of rural surplus labors in a dual economy, (2) the relationship between industrialization and the development of the rural sector and (3) China’s transition from a dual economy to a modern economy and the challenges associated with this process. 

Part 3 “Modern Economic Growth Theory” includes three chapters. Topics to be covered are: (1) the accumulation of physical capital, (2) the accumulation of labor and human capital, (3) the relationship between technological progress and economic growth and (4) the characteristics and trends of China’s economic growth. 

Part 4 “Structural Theories of Economic Development” includes two chapters. Topic to be covered are: (1) Structural Theories of the Latin school, (2) balanced and unbalanced growth strategies in economic development, (3) relationship between industrial structure change and economic development and (4) issues about the industrial structure in China’s industrialization process. 

This course aims to help students have a comprehensive understanding of the basic principles and issues of economic development. Students are not only required to have a well understanding of the general theories, but also are required to apply theories to practical problems and carry out empirical research in areas of China’s economic development.

This course introduces students to the foundations of macroeconomics with an emphasis on the tools used in economic analysis. The course instructs on how macroeconomic data is constructed and how to interpret it. Students will also use graphical tools to understand some basic macroeconomic theories and analyze how policy changes impact the macroeconomy. A final group project involves using the skills and tools learned in the class to analyze the macroeconomy of a selected country. 

This course is a "Foundation" course required for all ICU Economics majors and is prerequisite for most 200-level and 300-level courses in Economics.

This course studies corporations in relation to the structure of productivity and human relations, the business environment, business as a cultural project, business and the management of human resources, decision making, the spirit and workings of mercantilism, and production and finance. To do so, the course utilizes local, national, generalized, and specialized mass media.

This course will cover the theoretical and empirical foundations of development economics. The course will cover a range of topics related to global economic development mostly focusing on microeconomic perspectives. The course will also provide an overview of the “credibility revolution” in development economics and commonly used econometric techniques.

This course covers the main empirical methods used for causal inference in economics, political economy, political science and development: randomized controlled trials, natural experiments, instrumental variables, and regression discontinuity design. Students learn how to use these methods to address important questions in the social sciences. The emphasis is on applications and not on the derivation of estimators. Students study a large number of articles published in leading journals in economics and political science. Students consider the research question these articles address, how they address it, what data they use, and the strength and weaknesses of their approach. 

This course aims to understand the current situation, problems, and challenges of the Korean economy. As the population demographics in Korea changes into an aging society, economists are warning that Korea may experience a long recession like Japan’s lost decades. This course discusses various aspects of the Korean economy by examining the data of the following economic variables: GDP, GDP per capita, income disparity, demography, inflation rate, unemployment rate, interest rates, policy interest rate, money, monetary base, household debts, flow of fund, government budget, government debt, balance of payments, current account balance, trade balance, net foreign asset, and corporate earnings.