Economics

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. 

This course examines the empirical evaluation of (human resource) management practices in organizations. A brief introduction provides an overview of the fundamentals of experimental economic research. Subsequently, empirical studies on the causal effects of HR practices on employee behavior are discussed. The course trains students how to use experimental economics for the evaluation of causal effects of management practices in organizations. Students read, analyze and discuss various studies from organizational economics and practice their critical reflection. The reading list of the course includes studies on topics such as monetary and non-monetary incentives, leadership instruments, teams, feedback, recruitment, training. Tutorials are integrated into the lectures and the aim of the tutorial is to deepen the contents discussed in the lecture.

This course examines the major public policies toward business in Canada, such as competition policy, regulation, public ownership and privatization, industrial policies, and trade policies. It includes comparison with policies of other countries, especially the U.S. 

This course examines different farm management and agribusiness management practices and approaches in the agricultural and horticultural sectors. Drawing from multidisciplinary perspectives, the course provides students with understanding of the key approaches, issues and themes relating to strategic management in agribusiness (theories, planning), organization theory (explanatory approaches, design principles), interorganizational coordination (cooperation, chain management), fundamentals of innovation and knowledge management, basics of information and knowledge management, and business ethics and corporate social responsibility.

This course examines option pricing and hedging. It will concentrate on the theory and idea of derivatives pricing and risk management. Topics include option market; European and American options; conditional expectation and discrete-time martingale, discrete-time option pricing theory; true probabilities vs. risk-neutral probabilities; estimating volatility; the Black-Scholes formula; implied volatility; option Greeks; market-making and hedging; and exotic options.

This course examines the determinants of trade patterns, trade policy, tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade, political economy of protectionism, bilateral and multilateral trade disputes, trade liberalization, trade and development.

This is a special studies course involving an internship with a corporate, public, governmental, or private organization, arranged with the Study Center Director or Liaison Officer. Specific internships vary each term and are described on a special study project form for each student. A substantial paper or series of reports is required. Units vary depending on the contact hours and method of assessment. The internship may be taken during one or more terms but the units cannot exceed a total of 12.0 for the year.