ECONOMICS
Principles of Economics
This course covers both micro- and macroeconomics. The microeconomic subjects studied include the workings of the market mechanisms—how supply and demand determine the quantities and prices of goods and factors of production and international trade, and how quantities and prices are affected by government intervention. The macroeconomic subjects include the determinants of economic growth, financial institutions, short-run fluctuations in output and employment, inflation, macroeconomics of the open economy, and the role of government policy. Prerequisites: elementary algebra and geometry.
M-F noon-3.00 pm
Principles of Economics: Microeconomics
This course offers an introduction to the market system, emphasizing economic interactions among individuals, business firms, and government. Topics include supply and demand, economic decision making, social efficiency, perfect and imperfect competition, labor markets, capital markets, and market failures. Issues such as the environment, taxation, and income distribution are addressed.
Principles of Economics: Macroeconomics
This introduction to macroeconomic theory and policy emphasizes the overall performance of the national economy. Topics include economic growth, financial markets, and the causes and consequences of short-term movements in gross domestic product, unemployment, interest rates, inflation, the budget deficit, and the trade deficit. The course also covers key policy-making institutions, such as the Federal Reserve, and controversies over the proper role of government in stabilizing the economy.
TTH 3.15-6.15 pm
Quantitative Methods in Economics and Business
This course covers the main mathematical tools used in modern economics and business studies. Topics include elementary set theory, introductory linear algebra including matrices, limits and sequences, and multivariate calculus with emphasis on unconstrained and constrained optimization. Applications and examples are drawn from practical problems in economics and business. This course is particularly recommended for students intending to study advanced economics, finance theory, and graduate business courses.
TTH noon – 3 pm
Introduction to Managerial Finance
Students examine the practices and perspectives of financial management, with reference to the foundations of modern finance: economics, managerial organization, and accounting. This course builds analytical and quantitative skills in several topic areas: financial condition and performance, financial planning and control, working capital management, long-term asset decisions, and financial and capital structure. It introduces the processes of financial engineering, innovation, and restructuring. The roles of economic value added and the balanced scorecard in developing managerial strategies and incentive structures are also discussed.
MW 6.30 – 9.30 pm
Introduction to Capital Markets and Investments
Students are introduced to investment analysis, including the functioning of capital markets, changes in markets, and analysis and tests of the efficient market hypothesis; portfolio theory; risk/return paradigms; and valuation theory applied to the aggregate market, industries, and firms. Topics covered include the analysis of currency markets, and an introduction to options, futures, and derivative securities.
TTH noon-13.00 pm
Microeconomic Theory
The focus of this course is on the optimizing behavior of individual consumers and firms and the coordination of these individual decisions through markets. Topics include the theory of the consumer, the theory of the firm, decisions involving time and risk, perfect competition, imperfect competition, general equilibrium, and welfare economics.
MW 6.30-9.30 pm
Macroeconomic Theory
In this course we build models of national income determination, unemployment, inflation, and economic growth. In addition to looking at the domestic economy, we develop models of the macroeconomic effects of international trade. These models are used to analyze US fiscal and monetary policies and to sort out the controversies among the Monetarists, the New Keynesians, and the New Classicals. Students learn advanced concepts which can be applied to the economic analysis of business and policy situations.
TTH 8.30-11.30 am
Introduction to Econometrics
This course is an introduction to multiple regression methods for analyzing data in economics and related fields. Students learn how to conduct empirical studies, as well as how to analyze and interpret results from other empirical works. The emphasis is on gaining an intuitive understanding of the principles of econometric analysis and applying them to actual data. We start with the basics of statistics, including some probability theory and basic concepts in sampling, estimation, and hypothesis testing. Topics such as multiple regression techniques as well as issues related to departures from the standard assumptions on the error structure comprise the main subjects to be discussed. Aside from specification and data problems and the procedures to correct for measurement errors, the use of instrumental variables, probit/logit, panel data models, and basic time series methods are also part of the course agenda.
MW 8.30-11.30 am
Economic Development in India and East Asia
This course covers the modern economic development and reforms of the Indian economy, comparing it to East Asian economies, with emphasis on China. The course reviews the quantitative performance of these economies, their respective strengths and weaknesses, the anticipated course of future reforms, and the likely scenarios in these countries in the next two decades. It identifies prerequisites of infrastructure for economic development in the context of globalization. Topics covered also include financial architecture, GATT and WTO rules, the impact of information technology, the concept of governance, and the consequences of population growth. The course includes an analysis of why the Soviet-style command economy failed in India and China, and the causes of the 1997 East Asian crisis and its continued impact.
MW 3.15-6.15 pm
Money, Financial Institutions, and Markets
This course presents a moderately advanced overview of concepts and techniques in the fields of money, banking, and finance. It examines the agents, instruments, and institutions that make up the financial system of the modern economy, such as bonds, the stock market, derivatives, and the money market, including the role of banks in deposit and credit creation. Along the way, standard concepts and tools of financial analysis are covered, including the risk-return tradeoff (Sharpe ratio), the capital asset pricing model (CAPM), option pricing theory, and the efficient market hypothesis (EMH) and its alternatives.
MW 6.30-9.30 pm
International Corporate Governance
This course examines international corporate governance topics that collectively are termed agency theory in modern finance, as applied to the corporation, with focus on the separation of ownership and control and related issues. The formal and informal contracts that bind together shareholders, bondholders, directors, managers, employees, suppliers, customers, and communities are explored. The collaborative efforts as well as the potential conflicts of interest of these various constituencies are analyzed in the context of a changing legislative and regulatory environment. This enables us to evaluate the effectiveness of how corporate objectives are determined and achieved in the United States, Great Britain, Germany, and Japan. Selected cases and readings illustrate research findings and highlight key issues in international corporate governance. The issues raised by recent scandals are integrated into class discussions.
MW 3.15-6.15 pm
International Monetary Economics
This course covers the institutions, historical context, and other topics that are essential for understanding the current international monetary system. We focus on the evolving interactions, currently in flux, between multinational corporations and banks, central banks, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank. The interactions among these institutions define the different regimes that have characterized international monetary organization, from the pre-World War I gold standard, the post-World War II Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates, and the regime of more or less market-determined exchange rates that superseded it in the 1970s. Students study how foreign exchange markets interact with markets for goods and services and with capital markets. This is tested by examining the relation between spot and forward exchange rates, interest rates, and inflation rates. Balance of payments accounts and net asset positions of countries are analyzed, as well as the relative effectiveness of monetary and fiscal policy under fixed and floating regimes. We also consider other timely topics, such as the recent worldwide financial crisis, the microstructure of foreign exchange markets, and globalization. The conceptual framework and the analytical techniques required for insight into these issues require a strong emphasis on scientific method and empirical evidence. The course is useful preparation for graduate work in international economics and finance.
MW noon – 3 pm
Organizations, Management Behavior, and Economics
This course examines topics that can be collectively termed contracts and business organization. The problem of economic organization and the problem of social cost are considered along with efficient incentives (contracts and ownership), design and dynamics of organizations, motivation (contracts, information, and incentives), and employment incentives (contracts, compensation, and careers). Economic theories of organizations and management are explored using selected cases and readings to illustrate research findings and highlight key issues, including international dimensions. The evolution of corporate structure is considered as a basis for development of a model for the future relationship of economics, organizations, and management behavior. This includes consideration of nontraditional organization and management models to address current and future effectiveness and efficiency of organizations.
MW noon – 3 pm
Financial Accounting
This course is an introduction to financial accounting, its concepts, and the techniques of recording, summarizing, and reporting the flow of financial information through the entity concerned. It offers an understanding of the information flow process and the necessary techniques for analysis and evaluation of the firm’s potential in light of historical data.
Section 1: MW 6.30-9.30 pm
Section 2: TTH 3.15-6.15 pm
Managerial Accounting
This course introduces the principles and methods of data collection and presentation for planning and control, performance evaluation, and management decision making. It emphasizes product costing (both traditional and activity-based), cost-volume-profit analysis, operating and capital budgeting, evaluation of business operating segments, transfer pricing, and relevant costs for decision making.
TTH 6.30-9.30 pm
Financial Strategy and Behavioral Finance
This is an advanced course in corporate finance that is designed to provide an understanding of financial strategies and how they are influenced by behavioral finance. Traditional financial management topics such as valuation, capital budgeting, capital structure, and dividend decisions are discussed in reference to behavioral aspects. More advanced strategic corporate finance issues such as corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, and risk management are also revisited from a behavioral perspective. The objective of this course is to develop a framework for behavioral analysis of financial strategies and to highlight the behavioral pitfalls affecting financial decision making. Students are taught analytical tools to avoid biases leading to faulty decisions in a financial context.
TTH noon-3.00 pm
Capital Markets and Investments
This course examines capital markets and fundamental quantitative models used in securities analysis and portfolio management. Focus is on capital markets and instruments, modern portfolio theory, statistical concepts, asset pricing models, active versus passive investing, equity and fixed income styles, traditional and modern approaches to securities analysis, fixed income analytics including duration and convexity, performance measurement, and the role of derivative securities in investment management. Alternative investments and methods applicable to hedge funds and other long/short investors are also covered. Course activities include team-based projects analyzing securities and constructing investment portfolios. The above topics are applicable to equity and fixed income securities analysis, portfolio management, and investment modeling/research positions.
MW noon-3.00 pm
Derivatives and Risk Management: Analytics and Applications
This is a course on the analytics of financial derivatives and risk management that also covers a range of topics in contemporary finance. Specifically, the course examines the pricing and use of financial derivatives, including options, forwards, futures, and swaps, as well as credit derivatives in risk management. The course focuses extensively on the analytical aspects of derivative products and the practical applications of risk management tools in various contexts.
TTH 6.30-9.30 pm
The Global Financial Crisis
This course examines the literature on the most severe global financial and economic crisis since the Great Depression. It begins with a review of the institutional and regulatory framework—for example, governmental institutions like finance ministries, central banks, and regulatory agencies, and financial institutions such as banks, stock exchanges, and hedge funds—and a brief history of financial crises. The class discusses the recent critiques of the conceptual framework of macroeconomics and financial economics that focus on self-regulating and efficient markets and the implications for policy, particularly the role of monetary, fiscal, and regulatory policies and proposals for promoting transparency. The implications for managing investments and corporate investment as well as other topical areas of interest are also discussed.
MW 6.30-9.30 pm
