Economics

This course primarily focuses on the identification of financial assets' fair prices. First, the course introduces the main theories of portfolio choice and risk-expected return trade-off in financial markets: the mean-variance portfolio choice, CAPM, APT, Fama-French models. Second, the course introduces the main models and techniques that are used to analyze fixed income securities. Starting from basic concepts such as the yield curve, yield-to-maturity, duration, convexity, the course introduces portfolio hedging strategies based on duration-matching or asset liability management. The course is divided into four parts. First, the course introduces the students to the problem of managing a portfolio. Second, the course introduces the students to the main models and techniques that are used to analyze fixed income securities. Third, the course introduces options pricing. Fourth, the course expose the students to the main behavioral finance findings in the current literature.

This course introduces the key issues and debates in the economics of globalization. While the benefits of economic globalization are generally accepted in the public arena, the process is known to create some new challenges for consumers, firms, governments and international organizations. This course looks at both opportunities and challenges created by globalization. Concepts and models from international economics are blended with historical analysis to provide an overview of the unfolding process of globalization over the long-term and the economic and political economy factors underlying that evolution. The course also covers specific (country) case studies with the impact of globalization on issues such as poverty, income inequality and the environment. It takes the inter-disciplinary analytical framework, drawing not only in in economics but also political science, and business strategy to illustrate a multi-faceted feature of ongoing globalization.

The course introduces and develops an economic framework for business analysis and corporate valuation. The main focus is on integrating key concepts of economics, accounting, and finance in order to effectively evaluate the information content of financial reports; develop up-to-date applied knowledge of fundamental valuation techniques; and successfully implement investment strategies.

This is an introductory course in microeconomics. The course begins with a discussion of economic history, the characteristics of different economic systems, and the factors influencing economic development following the Industrial Revolution including utility-maximization theory of consumption, optimal-bundle, and indifference curve analysis. Game theoretical frameworks are reviewed to model social interactions amongst economic agents before applying this framework to wage-setting relationships in the labor market. Applications of experimental economic methods are also briefly explored. Finally, standard neo-classical theories of supply and demand as well as firms’ pricing decisions under differing levels of market competition are introduced.

This course provides an overview of the economics of Globalization and Development. The first part of the course takes a historical perspective and focuses on globalization and development up to the Industrial Revolution. The course discusses the main driving forces: geography, culture, and institutions. The second part of the course first introduces several models of development and underdevelopment, with an emphasis on capital accumulation, rural-urban migration and the possibility of poverty traps. Next, it moves on to explore the influence that international trade, financial globalization and international migration have on modern development. Finally, the course turns to examining in more detail the agricultural and industrial sectors and what governments can do to facilitate their transformation as well as the development of the whole economy.

This course provides an understanding of the challenges associated with the transition from fossil-based fuels to renewable energy, considering both the supply and demand side of energy markets. This includes the technological challenges of introducing renewable energy in the energy system and the regulatory challenges of designing optimal policies to facilitate the transition. While the course generally deals with the several energy markets, special emphasis is placed on electricity markets due to the significant role of electricity in a carbon neutral energy system. The course applies theory and analytical tools from microeconomics, macroeconomics, and econometrics. A large part of the course is also based on numerical structural models of the energy system.

This course introduces the time series models used to analyze time series data with a special emphasis on applications in macroeconomics and international finance. The course has two specific objective: the first is to equip students with the tools they need for empirical research, while the second is to provide Eviews skills to conduct empirical analysis with an emphasis on practical implications and interpretations. The course is built so that the time series model is presented first for each topic, followed by the relevant computer exercises using Eviews.

The field of Economics has a complex history marked by contradictions. On one hand, it is a history of disagreement and changes, but on the other, it is a persistent effort to address crucial questions facing society. This interplay of discontinuity and continuity has shaped Economics into the theory we study today. By tracing the evolution of the science, one can gain a deeper understanding of its essence and how it has developed into its current form.

By the end of this course, students are expected to have:
- Developed an in-depth understanding of the context of contemporary economic theory.
- Acquired knowledge of the various schools of economic thought.
- Developed an understanding for why economics has changed over time.

This course examines the modern theory of international finance. It primarily employs algebraic and diagrammatic techniques to analyze key theoretical models, presents contemporary empirical evidence, and discusses econometric and other quantitative methods used to evaluate evidence and assess theoretical performance. Specifically, the course analyzes how and why aggregate economies interact through global markets for goods, services, and assets, including currencies. Special emphasis is placed on foreign exchange markets, alternative exchange rate and financial market regimes, and foreign exchange and related international financial crises. The course begins by reviewing recent evidence on “globalization,” including the dramatic growth in trade of goods, services, and assets over the past four decades. It offers historical perspective on this growth, discusses the measurement of trade and growth, and summarizes alternative theoretical explanations for globalization. From both institutional and theoretical standpoints, the course analyzes international currency markets and exchange rate determination, as well as the trade in goods, assets, and capital that gives rise to currency markets. 

This course provides students with tools to think critically and autonomously about economic ideas and public policy. The course develops the skills to elaborate a map of the successive interfaces between economics and policy, and to understand the major controversies surrounding the development of positive and normative economics. Economists think and write about the world in order to understand the way economic systems function, but also – sometimes – in order to transform them. This course provides an in-depth understanding of the role of economists in public policy since the end of the 19th century. The course is structured in three parts: 1) a description of the different regimes of the interventions of economists in policy. This part explores the evolution of the role of economists and the status of economic knowledge, from the margins to the core of policymaking, following the successive regimes of intervention. Then it analyzes the changing nature of economists’ role in policy after the Great Depression and post-war deregulation movement; 2) a series of case studies focused on institutions. This part is devoted to a series of historical case studies focused on the development of policies aimed at tackling poverty, inequality, and discrimination. The use of economics is explored in specific institutions; 3) an exploration of conflicting values through the history of public economics. The last part is about the practice and the scholarship on public policy. It investigates the history of the fields of welfare and public economics since the 1930s and the treatment of conflict between the positive and normative approaches in economics.