Economics

This course provides students with fundamental financial concepts and theories as well as the applications in making corporate financial decisions. Part I introduces basic concepts in finance such as financial assets, opportunity cost, PVs, FVs, and NPVs. Part II demonstrates how to make firm investment decisions based on the calculation of project PV and other criteria. Part III explains why the opportunity cost of capital (the required rate of return, or the discount rate) is determined in the security market, or, the CAPM. Part IV discusses financing decisions, mainly how to financing with debt and equity and decide the optimal capital structure. 

Dynamics in the Chinese financial markets has attracted much international attention. This course provides an understanding of how the Chinese financial markets originated and developed, what reforms have been done, the Chinese characteristics, and the challenges and difficulties in future reforms. Starting with a comprehensive introduction, the course covers the major financial markets in China, including the central bank and the banking system, the security market and the foreign exchange market. The topics discussed for each market include the fundamental concepts and theories; the history and facts in China; a comparison of the domestic and international systems; examples and cases; and future reforms. 

This course offers a critical view on the current mainstream economic and financial model, including its exhaustion, contradictions, and unsustainability. It explores the potential that a new approach to the use of money could have to overcome the main global challenges that society faces, and which are mainly caused by the current economic and financial model. The course presents a new approach based on the alignment between social, ethical, and environmental aspirations on the one hand, and on the management of economic and financial activity on the other.

This course aims to  understand issues in global health and to utilize econometric methodologies to improve health policies in one's own countries. The first half of this course discusses global health/health systems reforms in the Asia-Pacific Region while the second half introduces impact evaluation by presenting a detailed analysis of quantitative research underlying recent program evaluations and case studies. This course works extensively with Stata.

Students are required to have basic knowledge on statistics and econometrics.

This course covers the basics of “traditional” microeconomics, the so-called “price theory:” the analysis of the perfect competition and its application. This course covers: market, demand, supply and the equilibrium; consumer behavior and utility maximization; firm behavior and profit maximization; market failure (imperfect competition, imperfect information, externality, and public goals) and economic policy; taxes and subsidies, income distribution, etc. 

This course studies economists' way of viewing, explaining, and predicting the world, focusing on microeconomics principles that demonstrate the decision making of individuals, including consumer, firm and individual industry. It emphasizes applications and polices rather than formal economic theory. 

This course explores how sustainability and social justice have evolved from isolated considerations to interrelated frameworks that jointly influence policy decisions. Discussions focus on understanding sustainable development through the diverse worldviews of local communities, businesses, and governments in emerging markets. The course not only examines sustainability from ecological and economic perspectives but also incorporates ethical and social considerations, particularly issues of intergenerational fairness and justice. The course specifically discusses and contrasts the concept of sustainability for social justice within the operations of both local and multinational corporations in emerging markets. It frames these discussions in the context of the unintended impacts that business investments can have on biodiversity, human rights, and global value chains. Special attention is given to the challenges businesses face in mitigating and adapting to climate change within their operations. The course provides the knowledge and tools needed to navigate the intricacies of sustainability, with a special emphasis on human rights, biodiversity, and global value chains in emerging markets. Supported by academic theory and real-world case studies, the course adopts a holistic, social-sciences perspective on current sustainability concepts. This comprehensive approach facilitates the design and evaluation of governmental and corporate policies and practices to contribute to a more equitable and sustainable future.

Industrial organization is one of the most important applied areas of microeconomics. It takes a close look at how markets work, how traders (firms, consumers, etc.) interact in a market either strategically or otherwise, and how exogenous environments, including policy variables, affect the market and the participants therein. This class provides an overview of the basics of industrial organization theory, empirics, and some of the state-of-art research.  

This course analyzes firms’ behavior under imperfect competition by using microeconomics; price theory and game theory. It deals with the following topics: monopoly and monopsony, duopoly (with price/quantity competition), differentiation and compatibility, entry deterrence, location choice, timing selection, investment and R&D, vertical integration, mixed duopoly, etc. 

Prerequisite: PRINCIPLE OF MICROECONOMICS and GAME THEORY. Students are highly recommended to take this course after INTRODUCTION OF MATHEMATICS TO ECONOMICS. 
 

This course applies economic theory to the study of firms in markets. The study focuses on firm behavior in imperfectly competitive markets, which appear to be far more common than the perfectly competitive markets that were the focus of basic microeconomics courses. It draws on game theory, transaction cost analysis, information theory, and the economic analysis of the law to provide detailed consideration of firm behavior and the goals and effects of government intervention.

The course provides a broad range of examples on how economic theory and experiments can be used to understand pressing societal problems as well as to inform governments, firms, and consumers. The applications range from media bias to environmental conservation, from discrimination to education and social housing. Each topic starts from simple theoretical models and then discusses experimental evidence, both supporting the model or showing potential limitations of the theory. While starting from simple laboratory experiments and in-class demonstrations, the main focus of the course is on field experiments. The list of topics covered includes: inequality; cooperation and the environment; human capital formation and education; voting and political participation; media bias and echo chambers; and incentives and the workplace. The course has three main objectives: (i) explain how economists learn from empirical evidence, and how lab, field, and natural experiments can help establishing causation; (ii) teach the intuition behind some intermediate game theoretical concepts; (iii) show a wide range of applications and topics in economics.

By combining the study of European economic history and the study of the history of economic thought, the course addresses the major economic, industrial, and financial transformations in the Early Modern and Modern periods in relation to their socio-cultural, political, and intellectual contexts. The module on the history of economic thought puts economic theory in historical perspective, by showing the variety of conceptual and interpretative frameworks through which major authors have approached basic economic issues. The course provides direct access to the main sources in the modern history of economic thought by encouraging students to question the very foundations of economic thought, in particular the notions of need, exchange, division of labor, and the market. By drawing attention to the socio-cultural, political, and intellectual contexts in which economic change occurs, the module on economy history does not address the economic transformation of European societies as the history of consecutive technological, industrial, and financial innovations. The course critically analyzes major economic changes in relation to the main political, intellectual, and socio-cultural turning points of modernity. The module examines European history in a global perspective. Overall, the course enhances students’ historical awareness, instills a sense of intellectual curiosity in them, and helps them develop their critical voice.