COLLEGE OF BUSINESS
Department of Economics
Degrees Offered:B.A., M.A
TO Webpage:
Chair:Chuang, Shi-feng
The Department
The Department of Economics began as a program offering classes in the University's evening division in 1980, and was established as a department in 1986. Currently, the department has 16 full-time professors, with approximately 720 undergraduate students. The department offers a four-year program leading to the Bachelor of Arts in Economics.
The department offers theoretical core courses including intermediate microeconomics and macroeconomics, as well as specialized courses in econometrics, money and banking, economic development, financial economics, and labor economics. Students are required to take a minimum of 109 credits of required courses, along with 30 elective credits, in order to graduate. From 2007 on, we also provide a credit course program by designing a series of economics, finance and law related courses. Any student can earn a certificate from school if he/she fulfilled the requirements of this credit course program.
The department strongly emphasizes research and has a significant number of faculty members conducting projects funded by the National Science Foundation of the ROC. The department also holds conferences regularly dealing with the economic problems of Taiwan.
The M.A. program in Applied Economics was established in 2001. Its teaching objectives are to train students to acquire a professional knowledge of Applied Economics and a strong ability for further study and employment. Furthermore, we stimulate the students' enthusiasm and ability for advanced research. However, the name of "The Graduate Institute of Applied Economics" was changed to "The Graduate Institute of Economics" for students enrolled since 2004.
Faculty
Professors
Chuang, Shi-feng ; Liao, Huei-chu
Associate Professors
Chen, Chao-liang ; Chen, Yah-wei ; Cheng, Tun-kung ; Chiang, Li-ly ; David Kleykamp ; Lin, Chin-yuan ; Lin, Shu-chin ; Wan, Jer-yuh ; Yang, Biing-shiunn ; Chen, Jhy-hwa
Assistant Professors
Chen, Yi-yi ; Lee, Chun-yuan; Lin, Yi-chen ; Ronald A. Edwards
Degree Requirements
2008 TAMKANG UNIVERSITY CATALOG 258 COLLEGE OF BUSINESS The Department of Economics offers one program at the undergraduate level (Bachelor of Business) and one program at the graduate level (Master). The degree requirements for the programs are as follows:
- Requirements for a Bachelor in Economics: Successful completion of 139 credits of courses, include 109 credits of required courses and 22 credits of elective economics courses.
- Requirements for a Master's in Economics: Successful completion of 33 credits of courses, include 21 credits of required courses and 12 credits of elective economics courses offered in the department. Students are also required to submit a written master's thesis completed under the supervision of a faculty member and pass an oral examination.
Course Descriptions
Undergraduate Courses
B0071 Investment (2/2) This course is mainly about investing in marketable securities. It focuses on the investment environment and process.
B0130 Microeconomics (3/3) This course offers an indepth investigation of the theories of consumers and firms. Special topics in information economics, uncertainty, overlapping models, externalities, basic game theory, etc., are also included.
B0202 International Finance (2/2) This course studies the theory of exchange rate determination and international monetary economics. The first semester emphasizes exchange rate theory, while the second semester emphasizes the analysis monetary union and exchange rate policy.
B0218 International Trade Policies (2/2) International trade policies are a living discipline, changing and evolving in response to the development of the world's economies. This course is the study of international trade and finance, providing important implications for economic policy.
B0263 Money and Banking (3/3) This course studies the interest rate and foreign exchange rate in the financial market, financial institutions, money supply and demand, and the monetary policy. Students in this course need the basic concepts of economics.
B0268 Labor Economics (2/2) This course provides a blend of theoretical and applied research. The main topics include: labor supply, education and training, labor demand, theories and empirical evidence of unemployment, job reallocation, the effects of globalization and techological change on the labor market.
B0295 Economic Development (2/2) This course studies the basic elements of development and growth. The first semester emphasizes growth theories, while the second semester is devoted to applying these theories to the Taiwan economy.
B0301 Introduction to Mathematical Economics (2/2) This course presents an introduction to basic mathematical tools for major types of economic analysis such as static's, cooperative static, dynamics, and mathematical programming.
B0305 Principles of Economics (3/3) This course covers the following topics: Individual economy includes price and theory of supply and demand, analysis of acts consumers, theories of production, structure of costs, structure of markets, and supply and demand of production factors. Collective economy is the study of national income, unemployment, inflation and economic growth.
B0373 Intermediate Macroeconomics (3/3) This course approache s aggregate economics theory with emphasis on recent developments.
B0547 Public Sector Economics (2/2) This course provides students with a solid grounding in theory and teaches students to understand how the public sector interacts with the rest of the economy, why governments act in the way they do, enabling them to evaluate policies and their alternatives.
B0668 The Economics of Uncertainty and Information (2/2) This course studies essential concepts in the economics of uncertainty and information. It deals with issues presented in the context of choice under uncertainty, including a discussion of expected utility theory, insurance market, portfolio analysis, principal-agent theory, and game theory.
B0727 Econometrics (2/2) Literally, econometrics means "economic measurement." It consists of the application of mathematical statistics to economic data to lend empirical support to the models constructed by mathematical economics and to obtain numerical results. It is concerned with the empirical determination of economic laws, which will all be discussed in this course.
B0728 Economic Dynamics (0/3) This course focuses on economic dynamic models. Topics include an introduction to dynamic models, integral calculus, economic applications of integrals; first-order differential equation, first-order difference equation, qualitative-graphic approach.
B0776 Industrial Organization and Game Theory (2/2) This is an introductory course on modern industrial organization. This course provides rich applications of game theory on a firm's behavior and industry analysis. It is topic oriented. Major topics include monopoly strategies, predatory strategy, collusive behavior, merger, vertical restraints, auctions, R&D, etc.
B0817 The Application of Excel Financial Tools (2/0) An overview of all the Excel Financial Tools is arranged for the first class meeting. Then each Excel Financial Tool is illustrated by four steps. First we explain the definition and its related mathematics inference. Then the operation process in Excel Financial Tool is taught. Finally, we point out the application in real world and its limitations.
B0818 The Application of Excel Statistical Tools (0/2) An overview of all the Excel Statistical Tools is arranged for the first class meeting. Then each Excel Statistical Tool is illustrated by four steps. First we explain the definition and its related mathematics inference. Then the operation process of each Excel Statistical Tool is taught. Finally, we point out the application in real world and its limitations.
B0931 History of Taiwanese Economy (0/3) This course explores the development process of Taiwanese economy since the early 15th century. Discussion on Taiwan's policies and performance in 1970's and 1980's is the last section of the course.
B0934 Advanced Microeconomics (2/2) This course is designed for students who have learned microecomics and calculus. Hence, the purpose of this course is to discipline students to be capable of using mathematical models for analyzing consumer behaviors, firm behaviors and market structures in depth.
B0935 Advanced Macroeconomics (2/2) This course is an introduction to the study of Macroeconomics at advanced level. It presents the major theories concerning the central questions of macroeconomics. New Classical economic growth model and endogenous growth model are introduced to address the questions of why some countries are rich and others poor and why countries grow. Traditional Keynesian, new classical, real business cycle, and New Keynesian theories intend to analyze the questions of what the sources of business fluctuations are; why there is unemployment, what the sources of inflation are, and how government policies affect output, unemployment, inflation, and growth. The goal is to provide both an overview of the field for students who will not continue in macroeconomics and a starting point for students who will go on to more and advanced courses and research in macroeconomics.
B0936 Decision Analysis Applications (2/0) This course focuses on decision models and its application. Topics include decision criterions, decision trees; risk analysis, sensitivity analysis; utility and decision making. Also introduces basic Markov chains.
B0937 Guide to Economic Essays and Readings (2/2) This is a two semester course which uses English to guide students through various classic topics in economics, with a particular emphasis on reading, writing, and understanding macroeconomics. The first semester considers the business cycle, money and the macroeconomy, interest rates, exchange rates, inflation, and economic growth. There are short worksheets which accompany the readings. The second semester considers issues surrounding consumption, investment, trade, and nominal wealth, again with worksheets accompanying the readings. The readings are simplified interpretations of the master works of Marshall, Keynes, Fisher, Friedman, Tobin, and Samuelson, etc. Discussion and exams are conducted in English.
S0440 Linear Programming (0/2) This course focuses on formulating linear programming problems. Topics include an introduction to linear programming, review of linear algebra; linear programming applications, sensitivity analysis and interpretation of solution.
Master's Program
B0099 Applied Microeconomics (0/2) This is a topic oriented course covering advanced applications of microeconomics, in the spirits of game theoretical analyses. Most of these applications are relevant to the studies of industrial organization or financial economics.
B0118 Applied Macroeconomics (0/2) Following up on the lectures in Macroeconomics Theory, this course continues to study some more applied subjects, such as open economy issues, economic growth issues, accompanied with paper readings. It requires a term project of empirical research related to macroeconomic policies.
B0129 Microeconomic Theory (3/0) This one semester course focuses on the fundamental tools of microeconomics that will be helpful to all economists, such as utility maximization, labor supply, revealed preferences, profit and cost functions, uncertainty, and general equilibrium.
B0262 Monetary Theory ＆ Policy (0/3) This one-semester course attempts to provide coverage of the most important topics in monetary economics and of some of the models that economists have employed as they intend to understand the interactions between real and monetary factors. Topics include price determination, inflation, and the role of monetary policy.
B0268 Labor Economics (0/2) The aim of this course is to acquaint students with traditional topics in labor economics such as labor supply and demand theories, search models, human capital models, contracts, models of reallocation and cleansing, job creation and destruction.
B0295 Economic Development (0/3) Topics in this course include the evolution of the theories of development, measurements and causes of income inequality and poverty, the role of institution on development, etc.
B0429 Economic Growth Theory (3/0) The purpose of this course is to introduce the theory and empirical evidence of economic growth around the world. We will discuss the old and new research that shows that many of the most important determinants of economic growth are clearly within the purview of economic policy.
B0668 The Economics of Uncertainty and Information (3/0) This course provides basic topics of uncertainty and information. In-depth treatments include different approaches of studying economic behavior under uncertainty, consumer theory, producer theory, game theory, asymmetric information, signaling, and search theory. Especially, it focuses on the introduction of classic literature of wide applications.
B0710 Macroeconomic Theory (3/0) This course uses the market-clearing approach as a general method for analyzing macroeconomic problems. Starting from a simple Ramsey model, then adding money, capital to the model to discuss some important issues.
B0890 Econometrics (I) (3/0) The first semester introduces the basic tools for studying econometrics and the regression model in cross-sectional data.
B0891 Mathematics for Economics (3/0) This course studies the mathematics required to solve problems in Economic Analysis. Optimal control theory will then be introduced to solve dynamic optimization problems.
B0892 Econometrics (II) (0/3) The second semester emphasizes the econometric analysis in time-series and panel data.
B0894 Applied Micro-Econometrics (0/3) This course covers two main topics on applied microeconomics using a variety of econometric techniques to date as well as the non-parametric approach. One of them introduces how to measure the productivity and efficiency of a decision-making unit. The other addresses the estimation of various probability models, such as probit and logit models and multinomial logic models. On the basis of probability models, the Tobit and truncated regression models will also be discussed.
B0924 Firms, Contracts, Financial Structure (2/0) This course introduces the new developments in the theory of the firm. The major focus is on the effects of firms' ownership structures on their financial structure and real decisions.
B0932 Energy Policy and Management (3/0) This course introduces some basic concepts (units, NPV) and techniques in the energy economics, and then illustrates the main policies implemented popularly in the world, such as the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and the pursuit of 3Es (economy, efficiency and environment).
B1173 The Economic Analysis of Social Issues (0/3) This course involves applications of current research, econometric methodology, and historical data to achieve clear and practical understanding of the economic aspects of important social issues, such as suicide, crime, abortion, immigration, global warming, de-industrialization, etc.
B1193 Introduction to Research Methodology and Seminar (0/1) Seminar
B1203 Security Analysis (0/3) This course is designed to study the characteristics and analysis of individual securities, as well as the theory and practice of optimally combining securities into portfolios.
