Postgraduate Courses

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Use economic concepts to analyze the reasons for the rises of FinTech.
• 2.
  Explain implications of FinTech on the financial sector and the rest of the economy.
• 3.
  Identify potential benefits and risks of FinTech for financial stability.
• 4.
  Address implications of FinTech on central banking and monetary policy.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Recognize China’s economic growth model.
• 2.
  Summarize how China runs its monetary and exchange policies.
• 3.
  Identify special characteristics of China’s financial system.
• 4.
  Analyze China’s relations with the rest of the world in terms of trade and investment.
• 5.
  Analyze China’s key economic challenges ahead.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Identify the appropriate machine learning task for a potential economic and financial application.
• 2.
  Describe the core differences in machine learning by regression, classification, and clustering.
• 3.
  Apply machine learning methods to analyze practical cases related to economics and finance.
• 4.
  Implement machine learning techniques in Python.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Summarize the general knowledge of mathematics with special emphasis on linear algebra and optimization.
• 2.
  Develop and apply the mathematical skills which are essential for postgraduate studies of economic theory.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Apply demand and supply analysis in predicting market price and related dynamics in competitive markets.
• 2.
  Analyze key trade-offs in pricing, and compare different pricing strategies according to industry or market conditions.
• 3.
  Predict competitors' actions and reactions using basic game theoretic methods, and in the context of oligopoly market, analyze the direct effect and the strategic effect of various business decisions.
• 4.
  Explain the impacts of asymmetric information on market efficiency.
• 5.
  Communicate microeconomic analysis in business decisions to multiple stakeholder groups.
• 6.
  Work effectively within a team environment for solving both technical and non-technical problems.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Understand and apply the core academic concepts of business functions required for General Managers.
• 2.
  Integrate functional knowledge concepts to make general management decisions.
• 3.
  Apply Western management expertise to Greater China.
• 4.
  Effectively work as member of cross-cultural teams.
• 5.
  Define, analyze, and solve complex problems.
• 6.
  Develop responsible leadership skills.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Define the theory of general equilibrium. 
• 2.
  Present various cases in industrial organization.
• 3.
  Explain standard equilibrium concepts in game theory.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Describe the main questions in macroeconomics and the main components of standard macroeconomic theories, explain the impact of each key component and the consequence of including it, and critique the applicability of models.
• 2.
  Use theories and knowledge from macroeconomics to review and explain economic and monetary policies, trade and economic growth.
• 3.
  Illustrate mathematical methods related to static optimization and dynamic optimization.
• 4.
  Locate, gather, organize and use appropriate information for macroeconomic studies.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Examine the design of organizations, and the relationship between organizational structure and corporate strategy using economic analysis.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Explain how other players form their strategies and expectations in order to identify one's own best response strategy.
• 2.
  Model social interactions as strategic games, use game theoretic concepts to predict behavior in these interactions and conceive of ways in which altering the game affects social outcomes.
• 3.
  Explain how managers can utilize insights of game theory to address important decisions confronting the firm.
• 4.
  Construct game theoretic reasoning to analyze issues related to entry into new markets or exit from established businesses, changing the perceptions of competitors, the extent of product differentiation and proliferation that is implied by competition, and strategies aimed at alleviating price competition among firms.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Identify the framework, style and tools of macroeconomics.
• 2.
  Apply the concepts and framework developed to current global macroeconomic issues.
• 3.
  Enhance research report writing and presentation skills.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Interpret classic results in microeconomic theory.
• 2.
  Formalize economic problems using simple but well-reasoned models.
• 3.
  Find solutions for formal economic problems.
• 4.
  Apply equilibrium concepts of game theory to various economic settings.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Understand models and major issues regarding individual decision making processes.
• 2.
  Reproduce proofs of some classic results but also be able to explain intuitively each model's perspectives and results.
• 3.
  Understand the power and limitation of standard models.
• 4.
  Apply the theory and principles studied in class to real world applications.
• 5.
  Be well prepared for other economics courses in the program.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Conduct business cycle analysis.
• 2.
  Evaluate government fiscal and monetary policies.
• 3.
  Use deterministic and stochastic models of economic growth.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Have an up-to-date and in-depth knowledge of advanced macroeconomics, especially monetary economics. Understand the important questions of monetary economics and the main components of business cycle and monetary theories. (SILO # 1)
• 2.
  Grasp the advanced mathematical and quantitative tools to understand the important macroeconomic research questions discussed in the literature. (SILO # 1.2, #1.3)
• 3.
  Apply the concepts, principles, and models learnt in this course to analyze economic phenomena and the current macroeconomic events and its impact on the business environment and the economy. (SILO # 2.2)
• 4.
  Develop new research questions independently based on the literatures and current macroeconomic phenomenon; and carry out research independently to address these questions. (SILO # 4.1)
• 5.
  Apply monetary theories and models to understand and evaluate the effects of monetary policies, possible effects and causes of recent financial crisis, and financial and monetary policies that may stabilize fluctuations. (SILO # 2.2)
• 6.
  Think critically and creatively when making effective economic decisions and policy suggestions supported by macroeconomic theories and analytical and quantitative techniques. (SILO # 1.3)

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Demonstrate a reasonably solid theoretical foundation and practical knowledge in econometrics.
• 2.
  Carry out empirical research and interpret empirical results in economics.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Possess a solid theoretical foundation and practical knowledge in econometrics.
• 2.
  Carry out empirical research competently in economics, finance, accounting and other areas in business and social science.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Understand the empirical strategy as used in recent applied microeconomics studies.
• 2.
  Design the empirical strategy as required in recent applied microeconomics studies.
• 3.
  Apply the empirical strategy to data to write papers in applied microeconomics studies.
• 4.
  Critically read recent applied microeconomics studies.
• 5.
  Effectively present the summary of recent applied microeconomics.
• 6.
  Potentially expand the frontier of applied econometrics.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Explain standard concepts in information economics.
• 2.
  Present several classical papers on information economics.
• 3.
  Apply the standard theory and approach to mechanism design.
• 4.
  Describe the standard theory on agency problems.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Explain the role of central banks in financial regulation.
• 2.
  Describe relationships of monetary policy to other economic policies.
• 3.
  Describe goals and instruments of monetary policy.
• 4.
  Discuss pros and cons of central bank independence.
• 5.
  Identify approaches to capital controls and exchange rate policies.
• 6.
  Illustrate models of exchange rate determination.
• 7.
  Describe the role of economic forecasting at a central bank.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Construct a variety of measures of exchange rates and relate them to one another.
• 2.
  Measure the components of the balance of payments and use macroeconomic theory to explain the determinants.
• 3.
  Explain the relationship between macroeconomic policy and exchange rates and the balance of payments.
• 4.
  Explain and represent the implementation of exchange rate policy.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  grasp up-to-date and in-depth knowledge of applied macroeconomics.
• 2.
  discuss the empirical and theoretical results of structural shocks and their propagation mechanisms.
• 3.
  apply relevant tools to answer academic questions that students have as independent researchers.
• 4.
  communicate the research ideas effectively to research scholars.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Correctly use the tools of finance to add value to the firm (and avoid destroying value).
• 2.
  Describe and interrelate the three main corporate finance policies (investment, financial, payout).
• 3.
  Relate the three main corporate finance policies to corporate governance (and vice versa).
• 4.
  Apply all knowledge, skills, and insights gained in the course to tackle real-world situations.
• 5.
  Subject proposed actions to the three lenses (economic, legal, ethical) of corporate responsibility.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Explain how investors trade off risk and return using the concept of utility maximization.
• 2.
  Allocate money across different asset classes in a scientific manner.
• 3.
  Price financial securities on the basis of fundamental financial principles.
• 4.
  Identify basic principles of equity research and valuation models.
• 5.
  Determine whether a portfolio manager is doing a good job.
• 6.
  Perform passive and active portfolio analysis using Microsoft Office Excel.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Know the basic models built on coalition of depositors, coalition of borrowers, delegated monitoring, etc.
• 2.
  Learn the complicacy of the borrower-leader relationship due to costly state verification and moral hazard.
• 3.
  Understand some common practices in financial intermediation, financial crisis and regulations.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Apply economic analysis to the management of the environment and natural resources.
• 2.
  Appreciate theoretical and empirical research in environmental economics.
• 3.
  Use economic principles and non-market valuation techniques to address a variety of continuing and contemporary environmental issues.
• 4.
  Explain the method in policy evaluation and develop policy evaluation report(s).
• 5.
  Demonstrate effective writing and communication skills in report preparation and presentation.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Apply the microeconomic concepts and models to conduct supply and demand analysis of housing markets.
• 2.
  Explain the economic rationales and effects of public policies on housing.
• 3.
  Apply the macroeconomic concepts and models to analyze the dynamics and spillovers of the housing market.
• 4.
  Use the relevant quantitative tools to carry out the empirical analysis of housing markets.
• 5.
  Formulate and conduct a secondary research project related to housing market issues.
• 6.
  Communicate the topic effectively in oral and written English.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Know the basic models for money.
• 2.
  Learn the models implications to various monetary policy issues.
• 3.
  Learn analyzing dynamic models.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Apply econometric theories and models in analyzing economic issues in real world with solid support by data, including: identification of research questions, looking for suitable datasources, establishing solid research methodology according to research questions and data availability.
• 2.
  Demonstrate fundamental knowledge of the R platform, including familiarizing R working environment, performing data management with R, using graphic functions for presentation, and writing R scripts for specific research projects.
• 3.
  Enhance report writing and presentation skills.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Identify economic critical thinking.
• 2.
  Utilize labor economics to explain pertinent economic and social phenomena.
• 3.
  Carry out independently applied research in economic and social problems of the labor market.
• 4.
  Apply economic theory to practical human resources situations and make sound economic decisions.
• 5.
  Recognize cultural diversity on labor issues.
• 6.
  Formulate informed ethical thinking based on rigorous economic and social analyses.
• 7.
  Communicate effectively.
• 8.
  Be a lifelong user of economic analysis.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Describe the philosophy, style and tools of value investing.
• 2.
  Apply concepts in Accounting, Microeconomics and Corporate Finance to analyze companies and their stocks.
• 3.
  Write a research report.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  State and explain the theoretical and empirically observed relationship between economic growth and poverty reduction.
• 2.
  Analyze the theoretical mechanisms through which poverty might become a "trap".
• 3.
  Describe theoretical assumptions under which population growth might affect economic growth, provide economic explanations for fertility choices, describe the empirically observed relationship between economic growth and population growth and interpret it.
• 4.
  Describe credit market imperfections and analyze how market imperfections may impede growth, and in particular lead to a poverty trap.
• 5.
  Analyze the mechanisms that cause microcredit programmes to have high repayment rates, and provide possible explanations why they do not appear to lead to poverty reduction.
• 6.
  Explain the role of incentives in determining how public servants operate.
• 7.
  Distinguish between correlation and causality, and analyze the merits and demerits of different empirical methods.
• 8.
  State a research question clearly, provide well-reasoned arguments for and against various mechanisms driving an observed phenomenon.
• 9.
  Critically evaluate an empirical research paper and interpret its results.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Understand the theories behind gains from trade, comparative advantage and trade, economies of scale and trade, distributional effects of trade, and trade policy, and in some cases, understand how to take the theory to the data and estimate the model empirically.
• 2.
  Apply the theories to analyze gains from trade, what determines comparative advantage, how comparative advantage determines trade pattern, how increasing returns to scale determines trade pattern, how trade affects factor returns and the effects of trade policy.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Know the different theories that seek to explain the causes of trade, gains from trade and pattern of trade flow.
• 2.
  Analyze the impact of trade on individual economies and to the world, including the aspects of welfare, growth and resource allocation.
• 3.
  Analyze the causes and consequences of trade protection.
• 4.
  Explain the gap between the theory and observed facts about international trade.
• 5.
  Know the economics of the world trading system.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Have an up-to-date and in-depth knowledge on international macroeconomics. Understand the important questions in the literature and the main components of international macroeconomic theories.
• 2.
  Grasp the advanced mathematical and quantitative tools to understand the important research questions discussed in the literature.
• 3.
  Apply the concepts, principles, and models learnt in this course to analyze economic phenomena, understand and evaluate the international macroeconomics policies, possible effects and causes of
  recent financial crisis, and financial and monetary policies that may stabilize fluctuations.
• 4.
  Develop new research questions independently based on the literatures and current macroeconomic phenomenon; and carry out research independently to address these questions.
• 5.
  Think critically and creatively when making effective economic decisions and policy suggestions supported by international macroeconomic theories and analytical and quantitative techniques.
• 6.
  Communicate effectively in oral and written English.
• 7.
  Demonstrate proficiency in using mathematical, quantitative and empirical tools to conduct economics research.
• 8.
  Locate, gather, and analyze data using appropriate information technology, software and systems.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Explain the theoretical and experimental concepts of game theory.
• 2.
  Describe, analyze and summarize data sets.
• 3.
  Carry out original research in related areas.
• 4.
  Develop original paper and proposal for theory and experimental ideas respectively.
• 5.
  Conclude precisely the ideas presented.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Know the limitation of classic economic models and avoid wrong assumptions and conclusions.
• 2.
  Understand the underlying psychology of human behavior and apply in decision making.
• 3.
  Understand behavioral theory that extends classic economic models to capture psychology and apply to real situation.
• 4.
  Propose experiments to test theories.
• 5.
  Propose psychological underpinnings underlying choice behavior.
• 6.
  Develop research ideas on behavioral economics.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Use industrial organization concepts or theories acquired through this course to explain and analyze real-life economic issues.
• 2.
  Form informed opinion on the contributions of a research paper and propose potential follow-up research projects.
• 3.
  Develop simple theoretical models to conduct industrial organization research.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Explain the theory behind the econometric methods for industrial economics.
• 2.
  Implement the methods by writing programs using R and C++.
• 3.
  Critically assess the question, motivation, method, materials, and implications of research papers.
• 4.
  Discuss the contemporary business and organizational issues as analyzed in recent industrial economics papers.
• 5.
  Present the question, motivation, method, and implications of research papers.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Develop cognitive skill: Evaluate and compare differing social scientific perspectives on public policy evaluation and design.
• 2.
  Evaluate current public health, education, and labor policies: Critically assess existing public policies and develop empirical tools to evaluate their impacts.
• 3.
  Apply evaluation skills to policies: Perform data analysis using Excel and Stata.
• 4.
  Create professional writing skills: Write reaction papers for an academic audience.
• 5.
  Develop interpersonal skills: Present, discuss, evaluate and defend supplemental readings in front of a large group.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Explain the macro-economic environment and its implications for the industry.
• 2.
  Gain an understanding on passive vs active investing including what both mean, the threat that passive investing poses to active managers, and asset managers’ response so far to the threat.
• 3.
  Explain what behavioural economics can tell about observed behaviours in the asset management industry.
• 4.
  Gain an understanding of what Private Markets are, their performance and implications for the broader economy.
• 5.
  Gain an understanding on what Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investing is, and its impact so far on the asset management industry.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Explain the welfare implications of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues using economic theories.
• 2.
  Explain steps taken by companies to address ESG issues and the implications on their financial performances.
• 3.
  Gain an understanding on the role of ESG data and index providers and the importance of the information to asset managers.
• 4.
  Integrate ESG issues to the investment process from the asset managers’ perspective.
• 5.
  Explain the roles played in ESG investment on activist and impact investment.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Understand the key concepts, principles, and models of urban economics.
• 2.
  Collaborate and communicate effectively in oral and written English on issues regarding urban economics.
• 3.
  Analyze the consequence of an urban policy and provide policy suggestions to governments and international organizations.
• 4.
  Develop an academic or career interest in urban economics.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Analyze qualitatively and quantitatively economic and financial risk exposures for financial institutions.
• 2.
  Apply risk management tools and procedures to manage economic and financial risks.
• 3.
  Address problems and challenges in the risk management process.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Read, analyze, and critique papers in the area of economic design.
• 2.
  Survey literature and know how to dissect and effectively digest a sizable body of papers.
• 3.
  Deliver technical presentation and know how to structure motivation, modeling, and analysis in a talk.
• 4.
  Develop and operationalize a research idea and put ideas into a presentable research proposal.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Gain insight of the research process.
• 2.
  Write up research papers/documents.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Approach research problems in a logistical way.
• 2.
  Conduct literature review.
• 3.
  Write up research papers/documents.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Present the topic to the public.
• 2.
  Deep grasp of the subject matter.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• 1.
  Present the topic to the public.
• 2.
  Deep grasp of the subject matter.