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| Core Required Courses |
Mathematics and Computing for Economics
This course introduces a variety of fundamental mathematical tools that are useful in analyzing economic and social issues.
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Statistics for Business and Economics
This course introduces students to basic theories of probability. The objective of the course is to understand the assumptions (requirements) of statistical decision making and to get used to the idea of probability. This process lays the groundwork for a sequence of econometrics courses. As you may know, econometrics is the most widely used tool for analyzing data in economics. You are expected to use econometrics in your thesis if you are interested in empirical research.
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Research Methodology
This course aims to provide students with the working knowledge of research methodologies and techniques that are the systematic and objective search for and the analysis of information relevant to the identification and solution to the development issues. The general objectives of this course are to: (1) develop the students' problem formulation and analytical skills; (2) provide students with a sound knowledge of research process and methodologies; and (3) raise the students' awareness to the potential biases and limitations of research data and techniques.
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Microeconomics
The purpose of this course is to develop a deeper and more advanced
understanding of
microeconomic reasoning and analysis. By paying attention to the techniques
used in analyzing economics models, it is hoped that students will gain a
more sophisticated understanding of the economic phenomena discussed in
introductory courses and
be better able to employ economic theories in other courses. The basic
issues
considered are: consumer behavior, production theory and market structures,
general equilibrium, and market failure.
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Macroeconomics
The purpose of this course is twofold. Firstly it expands the macroeconomic model discussed in the Basic Macroeconomics (BPC 4020) to incorporate the uncertainty and expectations explicitly. It will enable us to gain a deeper insight into the effects of macroeconomic policies and address a set of questions that have been impossible in the basic models. Secondly it reviews models of economic growth to study the long run behavior of the aggregate economy. The models provide theoretical and empirical frameworks to formulate the issues of growth policies.
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Applied Econometrics
The course introduces basic econometric techniques including advanced linear regression, discrete dependent variables, truncated models, simultaneous equations, and time series models. Emphasis is placed on applied methods rather than econometric theory.
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Development Economics
This course covers major ideas in development economics, looking at both theoretical models and empirical issues. Topics include growth models, human capital issues, intra-household economics, migration, land tenancy, rural credit markets, risk coping, and other economic issues particularly relevant to developing countries. To develop empirical skills useful for your research, students learn how to analyze data using Stata or other statistical software. By the end of the course, students should be familiar with major concepts in development economics and be ready to start using Stata for their own research.
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| Elective Required Courses (Applied Disciplinary) |
Agricultural Economics
This course explores the economic foundations for public policy
analysis related to agricultural issues in rural areas. The emphasis of this course is on
concepts and introduction of various tools required for policy analysis and empirical
research in agricultural economics. In particular, the course aims to deepen students'
understanding of how economic theory can be theoretically and empirically applied
to policy problems of agricultural sectors. This course is suitable for individuals who
have strong interest in economic development and agricultural economics, and want to
analyze these issues with quantitative and econometric methods as a policy analyist.
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Applied Time Series Analysis
The purpose of this course is two folds. The first is to teach students time series econometric and computational skills so that they can better understand extant research papers in the area of economic development. The second is to help students to undertake their own time series analyses using the skills obtained in the course. The econometric skills taught in the course will include Tests for non-linearity, Co-integration Test, ARCH and GARCH. It will be illustrated how these skills can be used to explore issues in the area of Economic Development. Much emphasis of the course is placed on the applications of the skills to the analyses of the East Asian data.
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Computable General Equilibrium Modeling
This course will give students an introductory explanation about the computational overlapping generations model within a general equilibrium framework. The course will cover topics such as a basic framework of overlapping generations model, a concept of general equilibrium, and FORTRAN computer programming. An emphasize will be particularly given to full understanding of the simple overlapping generations model and computational applications of the model in order for students to analyze/evaluate actual public policies within a computational/numerical framework. Students will be asked to apply a computational model to analyze their own countries in their term paper.
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Cost Benefit Analysis
The course familiarizes students with a powerful decision-making tool: the technique of cost-benefit analysis (also referred to as project appraisal). The course begins with the financial analysis of investment expenditures and then proceeds to the economic and distributive appraisal of development projects. It exposes students to the theoretical principles and practical applications of cost-benefit analysis.
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Development Finance
This course aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the role of monetary and fiscal economics in developing countries combining theory and empirical evidence and to acquire deeper insights into the interrelationships between finance and growth. It also exposes students to the theoretical principles and practical applications of various microfinance models.
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Development Planning
The course introduces techniques and models of socio-economic development planning and policy analysis. It discusses the structure, major components, and process of socio-economic development planning.
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Econometric Modeling and Forecasting with Time Series data
Macroeconometric models have become one of the most important tools for policy makers of the day in quantifying the impacts of various policies on their economies and for forecasting.
This course is also designed to provide a clear understanding of the salient features, challenges and opportunities of the participants' own economies. They will also learn to use econometric models to quantify the effectiveness of various government policies on the economy. A prior knowledge of basic statistics, applied econometrics and macroeconomics is useful. Furthermore, the course will use Excel and Eviews and learning partners are supposed to know how to use them in advance. This course is highly recommended for students who intend to do quantitative analysis in their thesis writing.
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Environmental Economics
This course explores the economic foundations for management
and public policies of environmental problems such as natural resource depletion, sustainable
development, and pollution control. The emphasis of this course is on basic
concepts and introduction of analytical tools for policy decision-making as well as generating
research in environmental economics. In particular, the course aims to deepen
studentsf understanding of why resource and environmental problems have occurred
from the economic point of view and what kind of policy tools, which are provided by
economics and management science, should be implemented to solve these problems.
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Health Economics
This course will be different from a typical Health Economics course in that it covers journal articles the instructor finds interesting. A wide range of topics are included. For example, you may believe that professional medical services have historically contributed a lot to the advancement of human health. A close examination of the relationship between the two, however, may reveal that professional medical services are not as effective to human health as you think. For another example, you may think that physicians always try to cure your illnesses or injuries as quickly as possible with the minimum costs incurred on you and the society as a whole. However, if you look at physicians as economic agents, you may also think that physicians maximize their profits rather than maximize patientsf utility. We will look at some studies relating to this issue. This course introduces students to some interesting topics in health economics.
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Inequality and Poverty: Measurement and Applications
This course is a one-credit course, designed to introduce some measures of inequality and poverty and present their applications in developing countries. Topics covered in the course include: growth-inequality-poverty relationships, Kuznets hypothesis, meaning of inequality (income homogeneity, population homogeneity, and transfer principle), Lorenz curves and Lorenz comparisons, Lorenz-consistent inequality measures and decomposable inequality measures, Gini coefficient and its decomposition by factor components, generalized entropy class of measures (e.g., Theil indices) and their decomposition by population sub-groups, Theil indices and the Kuznets process, measurement of regional income inequalities, measures of poverty, Foster-Greer-Thorbecke (FGT) index.
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International Finance
This course surveys the determination of exchange rates and theories of
balance of payments adjustments. It also explores open economy
macroeconomics and analyzes some of the institutional details of foreign
exchange markets, balance of payments accounting, and the international
monetary system. The policy issues addressed in the course include the
choice of foreign exchange rate regime, regulations over international
capital flows, the architecture of international monetary system, and
policy coordination among nations under alternative international monetary
systems.
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International Trade and Commercial Policy
The course is an introduction to the theory of international trade and
commercial policy. The first part focuses on the neoclassical theory of
trade, including the nature of trade itself, its causes, and its welfare
effects. The second part examines policies that intend to promote or
regulate international trade. Finally, current international trade
agreements (bilateral and multilateral) and international organizations will
be reviewed.
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Project Cycle Management (FASID Course)
The course introduces basic project cycle theory. Topics to be covered include project evaluation and shadow pricing, cost-benefit analysis, and project planning.
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Public Finance
This course will introduce students basic concepts of public finance, particularly in the context of macroeconomic policies by referring to advanced macroeconomics with microeconomics foundations. In the first half of the course, basic macroeconomic models commonly applied in pubic finance such as the infinitely lived agent model and the overlapping generations model will be taught, and the other half of the course will cover applications of the basic models in several fields related to public finance: Economic growth, human capital & education, and population economics. One of the aims of this course is to give students powerful and sufficient techniques to evaluate/analyze actual public finance policies ongoing in their home countries with rigorous economics tools.
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Public Sector Economics
The world economy is contemplating a further round of deregulation and privatization. In this dynamic context, it is critical to understand what economic activities government should or should not be responsible for and why. This course provides a theoretical framework to analyze actual public sector economic issues as well as practical applications of that framework.
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Quantitative Analysis of Economic Policies
The purpose of the course is twofold. The first is to teach students econometric and computational skills so that they can better understand extant research papers in the area of economic development. The second is to help students to undertake quantitative analyses on their own while using the skills learned in the course.
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Quantitative Methods for Decision Making
The course provides students with a working knowledge of quantitative techniques for decision making in development management. Topics covered include decision theory, optimization techniques, and project scheduling and management.
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Urban and Regional Economics
This course aims to introduce the foundation and applications of urban and regional economics. The course will examine the concepts and theory of urban and regional economics, based mostly on microeconomics theory. The principles discussed in the course provide the basis for analyzing and understanding the spatial dimension of economic activities. The emphasis in the course is on the theoretical principles, but the analysis of practical issues is not neglected. The better understanding of economic behavior in an urban and regional context, however, requires that its analytical underpinnings be clearly understood. This course will be relevant to students interested in urban and regional economic analysis, economic geography, local government policy, business location decision, and urban affairs and management.
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Urban and Regional Planning
This course aims to introduce the framework of planning process and to present the methods for planning process in thinking about the effectiveness of plans (public policies). It also provides the basis for understanding and critically analyzing various stages of actual planning process, and for using them in an urban and regional context. The principles discussed in the course provide the basis for doing such planning. The emphasis in the course will be on the general framework, but the practice of planning process will not be neglected. The good practice of planning, however, requires that its principles and framework be clearly understood.
This course will be relevant to students interested in planning, public policy, public administration, urban affairs and management, and governmental studies.
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| Elective Required Courses (Regional and Country) |
Japanese Banking and Financial Systems
 The financial system of Japan, particularly its banking sector, has
frequently been in the news over the years since 1990 when Japanfs asset-price
ebubblefburst and the economy entered a period of stagnation. This course first
covers the role of banking and finance in the economy. It introduces
some of the central issues and ideas in modern theories of banking and finance
in the light of recent thinking about the relationship between banking,
finance and the real economy. Then, concentrating on the experience in the
1990s, this course examines some of the important implications of the Japan's
financial system, which has relevance beyond Japan itself.
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Japanese Political Economy
This course focuses on selected issues in the political economy of contemporary Japan. The primary focus will be the interaction between Japanese political and economic institutions, and public policy. It first looks at how postwar political institutions (e.g., the structure of the bureaucracy; the long-dominance of the Liberal Democratic Party) shaped Japanese politics and public policy to promote economic growth. Second, it examines how the old system became out of date as Japan has become a world economic power; and finally explores how the system will change through policy reforms (such as deregulation). The class is a mixture of lecture- and seminar-style, and is designed for graduate students with some background in Japanese studies or political economy.
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Japanese Public Finance and Administration
The course analyzes the system of the Japanese public finance and administration. Japan has employed a centralized system introducing Western countriesf various social mechanisms since Meiji Restoration and succeeded in catching up with the Western countries.@ After the WWII, the Japanese government introduced Keynes policy to strengthen social infrastructures that stimulated both supply side and demand side of the economy with a large amount of government debts. In the course, the role of central and local government is examined elucidating the public money flows through taxation system, local allocation tax system, etc..
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OPEC and Economic Development
The course analyzes the economic development and related socio-political problems of oil exporting countries, focusing on the Gulf OPEC members. The economic cooperation of Japan and other advanced nations with these oil exporting countries will also be examined.
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Postwar Japanese Economy
This course studies the postwar Japanese economy from both historical and empirical perspectives. The Japanese economy achieved high economic growth and overcame the oil crises after World War II. The course analyses the factors that lay behind the development of the Japanese economy, focussing on the roles of the government and of the private sector. The contemporary Japanese economy is also subjected to empirical analysis.
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