Why people in Western Europe are rich while many in developing countries are so poor? How Zimbabwe experienced inflation rates of thousands of percent per year in the late 2000s? This course aims at developing students’ awareness and economic intuition about global economic news. Students will discuss global economic news, focusing somewhat on Hong Kong, Mainland China, and the U.S. – learning how
to analyse economies from around the world. With clippings from various news sources, such as the Wall Street Journal, South China Morning Post, the New York Times, the Economist and Business Week, students will participate in discussion of various economic problems, issues and question. They will gain knowledge on various topics, including how a country grows, what determines national income, how inflation and unemployment are related, how government spending and central bank actions affect a country’s economy, the role of the financial system, what affects exchange rates, etc. Upon completing this course, students would be able to describe the principles and intuition behind economic issues in the news, analyse the effects of various government policies on the economy, explain the interrelationships among nations in the global economy, and explain the reasons and implications of various government policies on the economy. Students would be assessed based on a final exam, a group project, class participation, and a short individual essay.
