Global Economics - Senior

Course # ECON 4901

Course Description

This course provides an overview of the issues and methods involved in measuring the impact of policies, programs, and interventions, with a focus on developing countries. Through lectures, case studies, and real-world examples, you will learn how to quantify the causal effect of interventions by carefully understanding attribution and the practical applications of methodologies. The course will explore the steps involved in designing an evaluation, including conceptualization, developing a theory of change, understanding the different methodologies for conducting impact evaluation and choosing the most appropriate methodology given the set of circumstances. You will learn about four methods of impact evaluation (randomized controlled trials (RCTs), instrumental variables, regression discontinuity designs, and difference-in-differences), and the weaknesses and strengths, as well as their appropriateness to real life evaluation scenarios.  The goal of this course is to equip you with the skills to design and conduct rigorous evaluations and so that you can make a real positive impact in the world, whether it be in academia, non-profit work, social entrepreneurship, private philanthropy or government.

Course Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course the students will be able to:

• Explain the theory of change underlying the causal relationship between an intervention and its outcomes.
• Develop evaluation questions that effectively measure the impact of a program or policy.
• Evaluate and select appropriate comparison groups that approximate the counterfactual in various real-life scenarios.
• Apply experimental and quasi-experimental designs to evaluate the impact of interventions.
• Assess the strengths and weaknesses of different impact evaluation methodologies and make informed decisions on the most appropriate methodology for a given situation.

Course Assessment and Grading

Course # HUSS 3001E

TBA

Course # ECON 3409E

Course description

The aim of performance management course is to develop knowledge and skills in application management techniques to quantitative and qualitative information for planning, decision-making, performance measurement and control. In the modern, competitive environment, the information systems are vital mechanisms of managing and controlling an organization. The course focuses on the information needs and systems required by organizations to manage and measure performance. The course introduces costing and management accounting topics, budgeting, performance measurement and control. Managers need to appreciate the problems surrounding scarce resources, pricing and make-or-buy decisions, and how this relates to the assessment of performance. Risk and uncertainty are a factor of real-life decisions, and students need to understand risk and be able to apply some basic methods to help resolve the risks inherent in decision-making. All the subject areas covered in this syllabus could be examined in either a public sector or private sector context.

Course learning outcomes

Upon successfully completing this course, students will be able to:

• Identify the information systems and developments in technology required for organizations to manage and measure performance.
• Apply cost accounting techniques for decision-making.
• Apply decision-making techniques to facilitate business decisions and promote efficient and effective use of scarce business resources.
• Apply appropriate budgeting techniques and methods for planning and control.
• Use standard costing systems to measure and control business performance and to identify remedial action.
• Assess the performance of an organization from both a financial and non-financial viewpoint.

Course Assessments and Grading

Course # ECON 3412E

Course Description

The elective course on Advanced Microeconomics reflects some important aspects of strategic behavior of firms, consumers as well as states in their regular interaction. Some interactions are cooperative, such as when partners successfully collaborate on certain projects. Other times the interaction is competitive, as exemplified by two or more companies fighting for market share, by several workers competing for a promotion, or by rival political parties in election.

It introduces basic principles of game theory to address relationships among different firms and consumers in a more rigorous manner. Topics ranging from economics, international trade, political science to development will be used to show how learned concepts of interaction among different stakeholders are important.

Course Learning Outcomes

After completing the course students should be able to:

• use normal and extensive forms to understand the strategic interactions among companies and consumers;
• analyze behavior in static settings by applying the pure and mixed strategies of Nash equilibrium;
• apply models of simultaneous game to explain duopoly competition  and tariff setting by two countries;
• explain behavior in dynamic settings on the basis of sequential move-game with complete information;
• explain the strengths and limitations of static and dynamic interactions with complete information;
• analyze strategic interactions of firms and consumers on the basis of incomplete information;
• apply the concept of perfect Bayesian equilibrium to job market signaling game;
• compare advantages and disadvantages of strategic interactions among firms, consumers and states on the basis of models with complete and incomplete information.

Course assessments and grading

Course # ECON 4502E

Course Description

The objective of this workshop is to help students make significant progress on their senior thesis. In the initial few sessions, we will cover the basics of creating and writing research papers, as well as what constitutes novel research. This course will introduce students to the main theoretical issues involved in research and the practical aspects of designing and analyzing results. By taking this course, students can develop their research skills, analyze the research of others critically, and improve their writing and presentation skills. Additionally, students will learn about various resources available to them for research and writing, such as EconLit, GoogleScholar, Zotero, and Latex. After selecting their topic, students will present the relevant papers on the existing literature about their topic and explain how they will use these to create in their research. This process will enable them to acquire a working knowledge of theories and empirical research in the topic of their choosing. If they are doing empirical research, they will collect the relevant data during this semester.

Course Learning Outcomes

• Describe how theoretical, epistemological, and ontological considerations are applied to particular research context in economics
• Explain key components of research methods used in economics
• Formulate a research question to study a research problem
• Identify the qualitative and/or quantitative research methods to investigate a research question
• Identify literature and data to support the objectives of the research
• Synthesize existing literature to identify knowledge gaps for a research problem

Course Assessment and Grading

Course # ECON 4902

Course Description

The objective of this course is to provide the students with a comprehensive understanding of the role and activities of international organizations (IO) in the early 21st century. The focus is on (1) the philosophy and principles of IO as well as issues that they deal with, and (2) IOs that have a critical role on economic governance especially the global financial architecture and world trading system. This course consists of two parts. The first part examines the rationale of IO by dealing with the origins, the nature, theory and methods to analyze them. In this part we look on global organizations and the United Nations (UN) system with a particular emphasis on global financial, development and trade institutions. In the second part we review regionalism and regional organizations as well as new processes, actors and issues in global governance. We discuss regionalism in Europe with a specific focus on the European Union and continue with regionalism in Asia focusing on the Central Asia. We then examine the Group of 20, BRICs and other rising powers, and non-state actors and their changing role within global governance. The course aims students to be able to use data resources from IOs, to understand their role and functions within global macro- and micro-economic dynamics, and to be able to contribute to contemporary debates on the reform and future of IOs. The students will engage in contemporary scholarly and policy debates by applying methods to compile information and data from the resources provided by the IOs, and by synthesizing data and information they have compiled for the purpose of producing convincing arguments about the performance and reform of those institutions.

Course Learning Outcomes

Upon successfully completing this course, students will be able to:

• Build conceptual knowledge about the roles and functions of IOs, and resources provided by IOs.
• Improve methodological knowledge to compile data from IO resources
• Improve methodological knowledge to analyze processes and functions of international and regional organizations.
• Identify trustworthy and reliable sources of data and information provided by IOs
• Classify data in terms of ‘hard’ data versus ‘soft data’/perceptions data
• Compile numeric and qualitative data from IOs
• Synthesize data and information from various IO sources for economic research and analysis
• Assess, on the basis of data collected and analyzed, a country’s current and past economic performance and its future challenges

Course Assessments and Grading