Core and Capstone Courses

This course examines how practical problems can be solved by using econometric methods. The emphasis is on the analysis of real-world economic data using advanced statistical software. Topics include: estimation and testing of linear regression models, regression diagnostics, robust estimation, bootstrap, panel data, nonlinear least squares, discrete choice models and forecasting methods.

This course is an introduction to econometric theory and applications at an advanced level. Candidates are expected to be proficient in calculus, matrix algebra, and econometrics at the undergraduate level. Potential topics to be discussed include the classical linear model, generalized method of moments, and multiple equation models.

Note: Candidates may be required to pass a mathematics test in order to take the course.

This course examines how openness in the form of commodity trade and factor (especially capital) mobility affects long-run growth and short-run fluctuations, as well as the effects of macroeconomic policies, across countries. Topics include: international income convergence; international business cycles; international policy coordination; exchange rate and balance of payments dynamics; currency and other financial crises; and puzzles in international financial markets.

This course traces the evolution of central banks over the last 200 years from primitive financial clearing-houses to promoters of macroeconomic stability and growth as a natural progression as policymakers sought to combat various challenges to macroeconomic stability, such as inflation and systemic financial risk. The course will discuss different monetary policy regimes, including currency boards and inflation targeting, and the inherent trade-offs between them, focusing especially on the importance of credibility and expectations. Optimal monetary policy design and the monetary transmission mechanism will also be covered.

This course covers how consumers and producers make choices and how these choices are equilibrated by the market. In the part on choice theory, utility maximization and profit maximization problems together with corresponding dual problems are considered. Optimal value functions are studied and used to perform comparative static analysis. Restrictions imposed by optimization on consumer and producer behaviour are discussed. Choices under uncertainty are also investigated. The second part mainly covers the equilibrium in perfectly competitive markets and the two fundamental welfare theorems. It will also discuss the consequences of market failures, including public goods, externalities, and market power. Game theory will also be introduced.

This course covers neo-classical macroeconomics, the Keynesian model and its problems, the consumption function and investment and economic fluctuations, supply and demand of money, the counter-revolution in monetary theory, inflation and unemployment and alternative policies for dealing with them, and open economy macroeconomics.

This course provides an advanced treatment of standard tools and frameworks in microeconomics that are used in other courses of the curriculum. Topics include: constrained and unconstrained optimization, consumer theory, uncertainty and information, cost and production, and market structure and equilibrium.

Note: This course is not open to candidates who have taken or are taking ECON6011.

This course is an advanced treatment of the theory of the determination of national income and aggregate economic behaviour. Topics include: national income accounting, employment theory, inflation and deflation, monetary and fiscal policy for economic stabilization, economic growth, and international economic issues. Applications to contemporary economic issues are emphasized.

Note: This course is not open to candidates who have taken or are taking ECON6012.

Governments regulate markets to varying degrees. This course studies the economics of competition, monopolies and cartels, theories of regulation, regulation and taxation, and rent-seeking behaviour. These concepts are used to understand how business strategy in regulated markets differs from that in competitive markets. Selected case materials based on contemporary local examples from banking, container terminals, electricity and gas, transportation, telecommunications, air services, housing and property, and the gaming industry will also be used in classroom discussions.

This course covers game theory and its applications to various fields of economics. It studies static games with complete information, dynamic games with complete information, static games with incomplete information, dynamic games with incomplete information, and the equilibrium concepts corresponding to these games. It considers applications of these concepts to the study of industrial organization, international trade, labour economics, public economics, corporate finance, and monetary economics. Applications to auction and bargaining are also considered. Finally, it offers an introduction to mechanism design and its application to the procurement problem.

This course introduces basic techniques of forecasting, based on economic and structural time series models. ARIMA and regression models with trend, season, and cycle components will be considered. The hands-on experience in applying the techniques to real-world problems is emphasized. Topics include: basics of linear regression, modeling and forecasting trend and seasonality, basics of ARIMA models, forecasting cycles, forecasting with regression models, evaluating and combining forecasts, unit roots, stochastic trends, ARIMA models, and volatility models.

This is a special course that deals with various topics of macroeconomics. Topics covered may vary from year to year, depending on the research interests of the instructor.

This is a special course that deals with various topics of microeconomics.  Topics covered may vary from year to year, depending on the research interests of the instructor.  

This is a core course for MEcon students taking the Data Analysis Stream. It is designed to familiarize students with data analysis tools used extensively in academia and the industry. The emphasis is on the application of econometric methods to the analysis of real-world economic data using advanced statistical software. Statistical packages covered in the course may consist of, but not limited to, Excel, STATA, R, Matlab and Python.

This course introduces students to the challenges of interpreting observational data, and to different approaches designed to overcome these challenges. Drawing on examples from different areas in economics, the course provides an overview of research designs that aim at extracting credible causal relationships, such as difference-in-differences, matching estimators, instrumental variables, regression discontinuity, audit studies, natural experiments, and randomized control experiments. Students will be given hands-on experience with these research designs, and will learn their theoretical underpinning as well as their limitations.

This course will be taught by teacher(s) who have special expertise in different areas of economic policy. Emphasis is put on using economic analysis to shed light on the rationale behind specific economics policies and their implications for citizens and for business practices. The topics covered will vary depending on the expertise of the teaching staff; examples may include technology and the economy, income inequality, political economy of Hong Kong, political economy of China, trade policies in a globalized world, financial crises, land use policies, housing policy, competition policy, retirement protection, minimum wage, and health care policy.

This course will be taught by teacher(s) who have special expertise in different areas of economic policy. Emphasis is put on using economic analysis to shed light on the rationale behind specific economics policies and their implications for citizens and for business practices. The topics covered will vary depending on the expertise of the teaching staff; examples may include technology and the economy, income inequality, political economy of Hong Kong, political economy of China, trade policies in a globalized world, financial crises, land use policies, housing policy, competition policy, retirement protection, minimum wage, and health care policy. However, topics covered in ECON6075 will not be covered in this course.

An ever-increasing share of human communication is recorded as digital text. This course introduces students to the quantitative analysis of text from a social science perspective, with a special focus on Economics and Finance. The course introduces the theoretical foundations for text analysis but mainly takes a practical approach, illustrating the methods for systematically extracting quantitative information from text, from classical content analysis and dictionary-based methods, to classification methods, scaling methods, and topic models. Lectures will be complemented with hands-on exercises working with text data in R.

This course introduces fundamental ideas, important methods and popular techniques in big data analysis and machine learning. Combining statistical theory, computational tools, and hands-on experience with real data, this course will provide students with a solid basis for handling big data in the practice of economics, finance, and management.

This course will equip students with the numerical tools (data skills and computation skills) necessary to tackle interesting questions in quantitative macroeconomics. The course consists of three major parts: data, model, and policy. The first part focuses on showing students how to deal with macro and micro data in economics and more importantly, how to find interesting empirical patterns from the data. The second part is about the study of computational methods and algorithms useful to solving and analyzing macro models. The third part is devoted to ongoing frontier research in macroeconomics based on heterogeneous-agent models.

This course is designed to provide training in advanced microeconomic theory for first-year Master’s students. The course will focus on decision theory, game theory, and mechanism design at a graduate level. The first part covers the theory of individual decision making. The second part covers game theory, which is concerned with analyzing strategic interactions among agents. The third part covers topics in mechanism design, which explores how to apply game-theoretic concepts studied insofar to design effective institutions.

This course provides an in-depth study of advanced macroeconomic theory and its application to real-world issues. Students will learn to analyze macroeconomic problems from different perspectives and understand the tools and techniques used to address them. The emphasis will be on the microeconomic foundations and decisions that underlie the behavior of aggregate variables. Students will also learn to connect economic theories to data.

This course is about the analysis of data within economics and the interpretation of empirical results. The course will provide a practical introduction to econometric techniques and analytical methods commonly used in modern empirical research, such as matching, difference-in-differences, instrumental variables or regression discontinuity designs.

This course will introduce some basic theory about economic growth and development and use the theoretical framework to quantitatively examine economic growth and development over time and across space. The topics covered will include basic facts about economic growth and development, growth accounting, development accounting, structural change, factor misallocation and aggregate productivity. Throughout the course, the growth and development of the Chinese economy will be used as an important case study.

This course will prepare students to conduct own research in the field of labor economics as well as related areas such as personnel economics, public economics and family economics. In this course, we will cover a wide range of theoretical models and empirical studies based on cutting-edge classic and recent research papers. During the course, students will be encouraged to develop own research ideas.

Building on student’s previous background in Applied Econometrics (ECON6001), this course explores advanced topics in Applied Econometrics. Topics covered may vary from year to year, depending on the research interests of the instructor. While theory will be covered, our focus is on applications. Students have the opportunities to apply their knowledge in data analysis and economic concepts in analyzing real-world problems in an empirically rigorous manner.

Prerequisite: ECON6001 or equivalent

This is a special course at the MEcon level that deals with various topics of economic policy. Topics covered may vary from year to year, depending on the research interests of the instructor. Students have the opportunities to apply their economic knowledge and research methodology in analyzing important economic policies, either historical or contemporary.

Prerequisite: ECON6021 and ECON6022 or equivalent

This course will be taught by teacher(s) who have special expertise in different fields in economics. Students are introduced to the basic set of questions addressed by each field of specialization covered, and the conceptual framework commonly adopted to address these questions. Emphasis is put on making sure that students are familiar with the literature in the relevant field, and are equipped with the tools to do their independent research. The fields covered will depend on the interests of students and the availability of teaching staff with expertise in the relevant fields. The fields of specialization covered may include labour economics, public economics, political economy, economic growth and 9 development, economic history, industrial organization, international trade, international macroeconomics, and urban economics. However, topics covered in ECON6077 will not be covered in this course.

The course is designed for students who are admitted to the Advanced Research Stream. The Research Thesis shall consist of original work written under the supervision from one of the faculty members at the Faculty of Business and Economics. Students shall submit the titles and proposals of their research thesis for approval by the supervisors before January first of the final academic year, and the research thesis shall be presented before August thirty-first of the final academic year. The Research Thesis, which should not exceed 30,000 words in length, shall be graded by the supervisors and approved by the MEcon Board of Examiners. Assessment shall be conducted in the form of 100% coursework.