Students learn in class methods, tools and concepts that are then used to read through major economic papers and undertake research on specific topics. Papers and topics will cover the current issues of interest in the areas of microeconomics, macroeconomics, growth, econometrics, and finance to include the CFA Professional Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct.  Students will be expected to make a formal presentation and write about their research topics with  position and/or white papers. They will be expected to demonstrate an ability to work with quantitative and analytical information. The course will be structured into modules/sections taught by a group of faculty members. The modules will cover the following broad topics:

• Microeconomics
• Macroeconomics
• Econometrics
• Finance

Students will further their knowledge of Economics and Finance, and learn how to use and apply economic and statistics tools fairly rigorously. Students should develop the skills required to perform a critical and knowledgeable analysis and autonomous reformulation of the topics they learn in class, to include:

• Demonstrated competency in research skills and information literacy
• Knowledge of how to find, document, and write-up quantitative and mathematical information
• Ability to summarize complex issues (in a rigorous way) with position and/or white papers
• Ability to give short, and professional verbal presentations on research topics

Attendance is mandatory.


Guidelines for presentations and papers on Micro and Macro/Finance seminars will be handed out in class.

Final Presentation:

Students make an in-class presentation on the topic of their paper or on a closely-related topic they choose in consultation with the instructor(s). The duration of the presentation will be about 35-45 minutes. The presentation ought to be professional and formal and carried out so that the speaker can face and interact with the audience. Students ought to be able to use the relevant softwares: PowerPoint or similar or pdf slides. Students will be expected to project the slides and comment on them, and not just read out from their notes. Hard copies of the slides will have to be numbered and handed out to the instructors and will be graded. Moreover, students will be expected to use the white board to further clarify concepts presented on the slides. Each slide ought to be neat, legible, intelligible, and should not contain too much information. The presentation slides should be structured as follows: a front page slide showing the speaker`s name, affiliation, the title of the talk, the location and the date of the talk; then slides with the introduction, motivation, objectives, slides with a preview of results obtained, a slide that lay out the plan of the talk (road map); then slides that present the model starting from the assumptions and proceeding with the main results. Students should refer to the sample presentation posted on MyJCU.

Assessment:  Students will be graded based on their ability to motivate and explain more complex results and demonstrate a thorough understanding of their topic.  They should also be able to respond to questions from the instructors in a way that indicates knowledge of their topic and the underlying research.  The structure and organization of the presentation as well as the English speaking skills will be factored in the overall evaluation of the student.

Week 1
Microeconomics: Private information, adverse selection and market failure (based on Akerlof`s paper).

Week 2
Microeconomics: Private information, adverse selection and market failure (based on Akerlof`s paper).

Week 3
Microeconomics: Education and labor market signaling (based on Spence`s paper).

Week 4
Microeconomics:

Education and labor market signaling (based on Spence`s paper).

Imperfect information and credit rationing (based on Stiglitz, and A. Weiss` paper).

Week 5
Microeconomics: Imperfect information and credit rationing (based on Stiglitz, and A. Weiss` paper).

Week 6

Macroeconomics: The service sector economy:  unbalanced growth and implications for the service sector (primarily education and health), labor markets, and income distribution.

Week 7

Finance: CFA Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct

Week 8

Macroeconomics and Finance: Valuation of assets and financial reporting - country and company risk analysis and reporting.

 Week 9

Theories of financial crisis

Week 10

The European Monetary Union: Challenges for the future

Week 11

Migration and development

Week 12

Seminar on the global economy with emphasis on China

Week 13

Student in-class presentations

Meetings with students for paper supervision and mentoring

Week 14

Student in-class presentations

Meetings with students for paper supervision and mentoring

FINAL EXAM – CLASS WILL MEET FOR A CLOSING SESSION AND DISCUSSION.  ALL PAPERS ARE DUE ON THE DATE OF THE UNIVERSITY SCHEDULED FINAL EXAM.