Postgraduate Courses

For MScFA and MScIM students only. An examination of some micro- and macro-economic concepts: competitive markets, profits in terms of cost structure and market power; national accounts and business cycles; money and inflation, economic growth, capital accumulation, technological advance and returns to capital and balance of payments.

The course overviews the key characteristics of the Chinese economy with a big emphasis on its transformation. Key attention is put on China’s way forward both in terms of challenges and opportunities.

Application of mathematics to economic and business analysis; mathematical analysis and linear algebra; optimization methods. For SBM students only. Graded P or F.

Demand analysis and estimation; cost analysis; market structure, strategic behavior and interaction; pricing decisions: asymmetric information; special topics in managerial economics; case studies. This is a core course for MBA.

This course provides an understanding of macroeconomic accounts, develops an ability to anticipate changes in the macroeconomic environment and economic policy, and introduces tools to evaluate the impact of these changes on the business environment.

Theory of the consumer, theory of the firm; market structures and market equilibrium; information and uncertainty; game theory.

Stylized facts about the macroeconomy; microfoundations of macroeconomics; dynamic stochastic models as tools to understand inflation, unemployment, business cycles and growth; fiscal and monetary policies.

This course uses economic analysis and case studies to examine the design of organizations, and the relationship between organizational structure and corporate strategy. The first half of the course focuses on relationships within the firm, topics includes agency problems, incentive pay, internal labor policies, conflict and cooperation among divisions, and transfer pricing. The second half of the course focuses on the boundaries and market relationships of the firm, topics include horizontal mergers and conglomerate diversification, internal capital market, vertical integration, and other vertical relationships such as franchising and strategic contracts.

This course demonstrates how game theory can be utilized for decision making. It helps students to know how other players form their strategies and to identify one's own best strategy; use game theories to analyze entry or exit from businesses, change the perceptions of competitors, the extent of product differentiation and proliferation that is implied by competition; and formulate strategies to alleviate price competition among firms.

This course covers the basic theory of short run macroeconomics, as it has developed since Keynes. The basic framework will be the "IS-LM" equilibrium method, in which we analyze the major markets which affect the macroeconomy - labor, output, money and foreign exchange markets by studying positions of general equilibrium in them. This framework will be used to analyze fiscal and monetary policies. This is a core course for MBA.

Theory of the firm, theory of consumer behavior, duality; theory of the market, game theory; neoclassical and alternative approaches.

Introduction to general equilibrium theory and welfare economics, economics of information and uncertainty, game theory, theory of contract and organization, topics in modern microeconomics.

Classical and Keynesian models, microfoundations of macroeconomics, dynamic and stochastic models of the macroeconomy, rational expectations, business cycles.

Theories of consumption, investment, money, and asset prices; inflation; unemployment; economic growth; the "twin" deficits; fiscal and monetary policies.

Ordinary least squares; multiple regression; variable selection and model specification; multicollinearity; heteroscedasticity and serial correlation; errors in variables; Endogeneity and instrumental variable regression; panel data model.

Ordinary least squares, multiple regression and maximum likelihood estimation; variable selection and model specification; multicollinearity; heteroscedasticity and serial correlation; errors in variables; Endogeneity and instrumental variable regression; panel data model; generalized method of moment.

This course is an introduction to modern theory of economic growth. It centers on the fundamental questions in economics: Why are some countries so rich while others are poor? How to help the less developed countries catch up? The first part of the course is to introduce the basic neoclassical and endogenous growth models together with discussions about their empirical relevance. The second part is to familiarize students with several special topics. Several growth and development topics on Chinese economy are discussed.

This course covers theories and applications of information and organizational approaches. Specifically, it covers the four main topics in information economics and organization theory: signalling, mechanism design, complete contract, and incomplete contract. Students are required to understand various concepts intuitively and to be able to deal with simple applications.

This course examines several economic aspects of the banking industry, the economic foundations of financial intermediation including liquidity provision and asymmetric information problems. We examine the economic risks faced by banks and how they use their comparative advantage to best manage those risks.

This course studies the basic theories of money and their applications to monetary issues. It also examines a class of phenomena related to banking, credits and liquidity from monetary perspective.

This course puts econometrics theories and models into practice. Students are required to write their own program with STATA, and do a term project. Topics included linear regression, panel data analysis and time series analysis regarding estimation, hypothesis testing and statistical interference.

The course introduces modern advances in behavioral economics and bounded rationality to try to answer why individuals' behaviors deviate from the standard economic theory systematically, why individuals are " biased", and tend to find the link of some aspects of psychological regularities. Topics include inconsistent preferences and self-control, judgment under risk and show the economic implications of those psychologically richer models.

This course presents a theoretical and empirical analysis of labor markets, utilizing primarily the tools developed in microeconomics and econometrics. We will investigate how wages are determined in various labor markets and study the effects of private and public policies on wages and unemployment. Issues about human capital and labor market discrimination will be studied. We will also examine how employers can design compensation packages, incentive contracts, and performance evaluations for their employees.

This course provides a systematic introduction to the financial markets, U.S. and Eurodollar. Students will analyze the major financial markets in the context of the macroeconomy. For each market, the instruments traded; its risks, liquidity and return offered; its uses; and how the market for it is made by money market brokers, dealers and investors will be discussed. Important innovations in the use of derivatives securities will be introduced.

This course will introduce the precepts of value investing. It will focus on the equity market, and begin with the classic Graham and Dodd investing criteria. This includes stock search; valuation; and design of optimal portfolio. Innovations to the classic criteria as well as use of derivates in the portfolio will be introduced.

The course investigates how economics grow, the meaning of "development", and the barriers individuals and countries face in achieving development. Topics include the poverty trap; how population growth affects economic growth; the rationale for government intervention in peoples' fertility choices; rural-to-urban migration and its socioeconomic implications; how credit market frictions affect economic activity and whether they can lead to poverty traps; how microcredit works and whether it helps to alleviate poverty; and the role of the state in economic development.

Industrial organization studies behavior of firms and industries, and their consequence in markets, mainly under imperfect competition. It also examines their implication for public policy including antitrust issues and industry regulations. This course is graduate level introduction of theoretical foundation and empirical techniques in industrial organization.

This PhD course aims to address several topics that are active in the field of economic growth, including, but not limited to, (1) structural change, (2) firm and industry dynamics, (3) political economy, (4) international trade, (5) pertinent research about China's growth and development.

This is an advanced course on the economics of international trade and foreign direct investment (FDI). In this course, students learn to analyze the causes and consequences of international trade and foreign direct investment. Topics include the sources of gains from trade, the determinants of trade pattern, offshoring, multinational production, geography & trade, and implications of trade policies.

The objective of this course is to study the implications of financial market imperfections for macroeconomics and finance, including uninsurable idiosyncratic risks, asymmetric information, moral hazard, agency costs, adjustment costs, and taxation. Lecture is focused on the theoretical foundation of financial imperfections and their qualitative implications. Students need to present papers to the class and complete a computation/estimation project.

Selected topics from the frontiers of research in economic theory and application.

An independent project carried out under the supervision of a faculty member.

Study of selected economic issues under the supervision of a faculty member in the Department. (Special permission from the Associate Dean is required for MBA students to take this course.)

For MSc(ECON) students opting for the Research Preparation concentration only. This course aims to acquire students with research skills through producing a term paper under the supervision of a faculty member in the Department.

Master's thesis research supervised by a faculty member. A successful defense of the thesis leads to the grade Pass. No course credit is assigned.

Research seminars presented by students, faculty and guest speakers. Students are expected to attend regularly. May be repeated for credit. Graded P or F.

Presentations and discussions of current research projects conducted by PhD students, faculty and visiting scholars. A required course of MPhil (ECON) and PhD (ECON) programs.

Original and independent doctoral thesis research. A successful defense of the thesis leads to the grade Pass. No course credit is assigned.