Economics

This course examines the economics of climate change. Topics include technology and the history of economic thought, the economic evaluation of climate change, and climate change and public policy instruments.

The course introduces students to economic and social history in global perspective. It covers the period from ca. 1750 to the First World War, an age that saw the emergence of industrialization, the rise of modern European global empires, and what has been considered as the first wave of globalization. The first block of the course examines Glasgow's history and its connections with the wider world forged through slavery, empire, and globalization. Subsequent blocks of the course allow students to integrate study of key historical questions and themes with consideration of different world regions, which may include Europe, East Asia and South Asia, Africa, and North and South America.

This course introduces the economic analysis of the labor market. It presents both traditional topics in the labor economics literature (e.g. demand, supply, human capital, discrimination and compensating wage differentials) as well as recent developments (e.g. early childhood education, migration, non-competitive labor markets and alternative work arrangements). The focus in the course are the fundamental models of labor economics, while basic empirical methods and empirical applications in contemporary labor economics are also discussed. Students apply the economic concepts to real world empirical problems.

This course examines the main theories and aspects of technological change and innovation in an economic context. Topics include: modern (evolutionary) theory of technological change and innovation systems, innovation, growth, and competitiveness; diffusion of innovation, international trade, and multinational companies.
 

This course introduces students to the concepts of financial risks and to the techniques used to manage those risks using financial derivatives. After showing how to measure risk and its impact on the firm’s business, the course illustrates the functioning of derivatives, such as forward and futures, swaps and options, and their use to hedge financial risks.

This course introduces advanced economic concepts relevant for analyzing problems and policies relating to the environment, natural resources, and climate change using theories and analytical tools from microeconomics and macroeconomics. Additionally, the course introduces optimal control theory, which is applied to various problems within environmental and resource economics.

This course aims to provide students with a basic understanding of the interdisciplinary field of law and economics, as well as the ability to analyze social phenomena from a combined perspective of law and economics.  The first half of the course focuses on introducing fundamental theories in law and economics, while the second half involves a critical analysis of real-world legal cases in competition law from a law and economics standpoint. 

The first part of the course addresses the economic rationale underlying the creation and implementation of legal rules, enabling them to develop their critical thinking skills in designing efficient laws. Specifically, the study covers the economic reasoning behind areas of law such as property, tort, and contract, enhancing students' capacity to select the most efficient legal rules. 

The second part of the course examines real-world legal cases in the field of competition law, in various jurisdictions such as the US and the EU. Through these case studies, the class will observe the dynamic interaction between law and economics. Additionally, through comparative analysis, the class will gain insights into how to design laws that are best suited for specific societies by taking relevant circumstances into account.

This course introduces a number of approaches to understanding the relationship between politics and economics, the state, and markets. The course focuses on different perspectives on, and key concepts in, political economy, as emphasized or challenged in major works in the field. The themes which the course looks at include (i) the role of class and interests, (ii) culture and the economy, (iii) the embeddedness of markets, (iv) markets versus hierarchy, (v) the role of institutions, and (vi) the distribution of capital. Within each theme, students discuss key contributions to the different approaches, including works by Smith, Marx, Weber, Keynes, Polanyi, Hayek, Olson, Ostrom, and Piketty. 

This course introduces students to the main political economy issues that have driven the process of European integration from the aftermath of WWII to an uncertain present. Students investigate the European economic integration by revealing the interactions between economic efficiency and socio-political interests. To do so, the course first provides a historical and institutional background on the early formation and later evolution of the European Union. It then covers in more details specific EU policies and areas of interest related to both macroeconomics (monetary and fiscal policy, with a focus on crisis times) and microeconomics (trade and competition in the single market, distributive issues, labor market, and welfare policies). Students apply theoretical knowledge from alternative schools of thought (neoclassical economics versus critical political economy) to explore different angles and appreciate the complexity of EU economic policy-making.

This course introduces the principles of investments and major issues currently of interest to all investors. It focuses on stock markets, portfolio theory and practice, equilibrium in capital markets, efficient market hypothesis, and behavior and portfolio performance evaluations. The course explores intuition and practical applications of investment theory and analytical analysis.