Economics

This is a seminar course that analyzes research on topics in International Economics under the supervision of the lecturer.

The course analyzes important macroeconomic issues of developing countries, including theories explaining economic growth; relationship between economic growth and poverty; income distribution; development policies of different countries in the past; and the impact of short-term macroeconomic policies such as stabilization policies, monetary and fiscal policies, exchange rate management, and various factors affecting economic growth (e.g. international trade and investment, capital flow, financial crises, social welfare, and structural change).

This course provides an introduction to the basic macroeconomic model first and the most relevant macroeconomic indicators that measure economic performance. It also examines fiscal policy and monetary policy, and provides an analysis of open economies, paying special attention to the debate on the desirability of belonging to a monetary union. The course also provides an evaluation of the current debates on macroeconomic policies and economic growth.

This course deals with psychological phenomena, biases, and socially-oriented behavior that affect economically relevant decisions of people. The main focus is on what economists have learned from various experiments, as well as the methodology of answering questions by the means of an experiment. In order to understand better the motivation and contribution of experimental works, the course reviews the structure and predictions of standard models in Microeconomics and discusses the ways in which they are modified or extended to incorporate psychological theory and empirical findings. Students who have preparation in Calculus, Statistics, Econometrics, and Intermediate Microeconomics benefit from the course the most. Lack of background knowledge in one of these disciplines increases the amount of work that students need to do to keep up with their peers.

This course teaches the fundamentals of econometrics, in particular regression analysis and statistical inference. It purposefully starts at a level that assumes no prior knowledge of statistics, econometrics, or programming. The objective is to understand and interpret simple and multiple linear regressions and detect whether an analysis uncovers correlations or causality. The course does not rely on advanced math; rather it uses practical learning to teach the main concepts. Moreover, it introduces how to use R, a very powerful and widely used programming language, to perform data cleaning and undertake statistical analyses. By the end of the course, students carry out small-scale research projects using real-world data and regression analysis to reveal associations between various variables.

This course looks at the role of education as a signaling device, labor market discrimination, job search models and their applications, decisions within households, and non-cognitive skills as human capital. The course covers both the theoretical model and the empirical evidence to support the model in each part. Students pay particular attention to policy interventions and their effectiveness. While the focus is primarily on the UK, comparisons with other countries will also be introduced.

This lecture focuses on the development of Japan's economy and financial market. No particular prerequisites are required although basic knowledge of economic theory and policy, including Microeconomic Theory, Macroeconomic Theory, Economic Policies, and International Economics, is desirable.

The course aims to instruct on basic knowledge of the postwar development of Japan's economy and financial system as well as an understanding of its challenges. 

This course introduces classic and new topics in international trade from theoretical and empirical perspectives. It covers standard and academic materials commonly studied by economists in academia as well as international organizations such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Bank. Students will be able to demonstrate their knowledge of academic studies on international trade after completing this course.

Ideally, students should have already taken "INTERNATIONAL TRADE A" offered in the Fall semester prior to enrollment in this course. However, it is not a prerequisite.

Given the increasing prevalence of empirical approaches in academic studies on international trade, this course covers basic methods of econometrics and their application to data.

This course deals with current trade policy issues in turmoil from the viewpoint of international trade and international laws. After reviewing economic and politico-economic theory on trade policy, the issue of empirical measurement of trade policy will be discussed. Furthermore, the course explores WTO discipline on trade in goods; trade in services; intellectual property rights; safeguards and exception, and government procurement. The relationship between WTO and mega-FTAs such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will also be covered.

This course provides an understanding of the theory and the tools necessary to make good financial decisions. The course covers modern capital market theory and its applications to corporate finance. The course is divided into four parts: role of capital markets and the objectives of financial management; valuation of financial claims; risk and return; and corporate finance decisions including capital budgeting, financing, and divided policy.