Development Economics (taught at the the graduate and undergraduate level)

This course surveys the nature of growth and causes of underdevelopment in newly industrializing and less developed economies, reviewing development theory and practice focusing on the experiences of developing economies in the Asia and Pacific region. The course begins by reviewing macroeconomic issues related to development and government policy/strategy for promoting development. Later, it shifts to microeconomic development issues including poverty measurement, analysis, and current policy and program approaches to alleviating poverty. The course also overviews impact evaluation methods and agricultural environmental issues related to economic development. The course aims to provide an introduction to several of the principal areas treated in the economic development field, while also teaching common tools used in applied development work. Accordingly, assignments will include a number of quantitative exercises (spreadsheet based) to link theory to data to inform policy. By combining theory and applied empirical analysis. The course also aims to provide students with the background knowledge and analytical skills to inform current development policy debates.

Family Economics

The course provides a survey of key topics in economic analysis related to family economic decision making and family well being. Students will be introduced to theories and concepts that economists use to understand families and family decision making with respect to key markets that influence their income, broader well-being, and economic security. For example, the course will review economic perspectives on family formation (marriage and the decision to have children), educational investments, labor market activities, etc. The course seeks to emphasize analytical approaches (e.g., the rational actor paradigm and rational choice theory) and analytical tools (e.g., Excel to collect and analyze data on families), and the interplay between theory and empirical knowledge about key issues related to families. In addition, the course will cover some of the basic empirical facts about the family and current statistics related to households and family economic well-being.

International Economics

This course covers theoretical, empirical and policy issues relating to international economics. The course is divided into four parts: International Trade Theory, International Trade Policy, Open-Economy International Economics and Exchange Rates, and International Monetary Policy. Parts I and II provide an introduction to the dominant theories of international trade, including standard neoclassical free trade approaches and more recent theories addressing imperfect competition, economies of scale, national competitiveness issues, and managed trade. Parts III and IV cover topics in international macroeconomics and finance, including the balance of payments, exchange rate policy, globalization and international financial flows, and financial crises.  After successfully completing of the course, students should be familiar with the main economic theories of international trade, understand and be able to critically assess various trade policies, and have an elementary understanding of open-economy international economics and the determinants of exchange rates, the balance of payments, and international financial flows.

International Environmental Policy

The course will survey a number of the leading transnational (international and regional) environment issues facing the globe from a number of perspectives. Environmental issues to be considered include: air pollution (e.g., acid rain, ozone depletion), climate change and associated disasters, deforestation, fisheries, land use change, and the long run sustainability of use of selected natural resources (e.g., water, fossil fuels, mined resources). The course will seek to establish the current status of scientific understanding regarding the selected issues, before considering past and ongoing efforts to address these environmental issues. Insights offered from economics, political science and international law, and other social science disciplines will be considered in terms of the causes and solutions to transnational environmental problems. Challenges of collective action, shared resource use, and institutionalization of environmental policy will be themes emphasized in the course.  After successfully completing of the course, students should have a deeper understanding of the transnational environmental challenges facing the globe. The causes, current status, and existing options for addressing environmental problems facing the globe should be clearer. Barriers to international collective action to address global or regional environmental problems will be discussed, as well as the effect of measures available to promote better environmental management.

Labor Economics

This course surveys the market, institutional, and social factors that influence how labor markets function and the markets’ employment and wage/benefit outcomes. The course will cover theories of wage determination, human resource development, trade unions/collective bargaining, and public policies that influence labor market outcomes.  The course will compare labor markets across selected countries ranging from more competitive (employment-at-will) to more highly regulated labor markets.   By the end of the course, students will be able to contextualize how labor markets function according to contrasting perspectives (neoclassical economics and institutionalist). Course material should leave students completing the course with a deeper understanding of employer-employee relationships and determinants of wages (and benefits) and other labor market outcome (e.g., unemployment rate, under-employment, real value of wages and benefits).

Macroeconomics

The course introduces principles underlying the study of economics—principles of individual choice, interaction between individuals, and economy-wide interaction. The essentials of supply, demand, market equilibrium, surplus, and shortage are introduced; along with the consequences (e.g., inefficiency, and deadweight loss) of market interventions such as price and quantity controls. Open economy macroeconomics is introduced by explaining the causes of recessions and expansions, employment and unemployment, long-run growth, and inflation versus deflation. Economic measurement is covered by explaining the data and calculation of gross domestic product and consumer prices indices. Other topics covered in the course include: the operation of financial markets and institutions, and monetary policy.  The course aims to introduce students to the topics and principles of macroeconomic analysis. Students successfully completing the should be able to demonstrate a basic understanding of news relating to the economy as a whole as seen in publications such as The Asian Wall Street Journal, the Economist, the Far Eastern Economic Review, and the Nikkei Asian Review. Students should gain understanding of government fiscal or monetary policy and how these influence economic performance in terms of growth, inflation, investment, employment, and similar economic outcomes. The course aims to enable students to critically apply economic tools to inform business decision making, as well as to understand the impact of economic performance on their lives.

Project Economic Analysis 

Course provides a thorough introduction to procedures for ex ante economic analysis of investment projects.  Topics covered include: typical processes for investment project preparation, differences in analyses between public and private investments, analysis to identify promising investments, standard contents of an investment feasibility study including demand analysis and identification and assessment of project alternatives,  differences between economic and financial analysis of investments, investment cost estimates and projections, dealing with taxes, capital depreciation, and interest.  Course reviews investment cash flow projections (i.e., the FIRR and NPV calculations), and issues in the identification of investment economic costs and benefits (e.g., project outcome versus benefit, incorporating traded and nontraded goods into the model, and estimating incremental and non-incremental benefits).  How to incorporate investment effects on poverty reduction and social inclusiveness, environmental , and macroeconomic  issues into the analysis are also covered,  among other topics.  Students are introduced to the use of Excel-spreadsheet based analysis, and were required to work with a spreadsheet-based model of a proposed investment and calculate important economic and financial indicators for the investment.

This was a week long training course for Ministry of Finance staff in selected Pacific island countries. I was the principal facilitator for the course in my capacity as the Senior Economist in the Asian Development Bank's Pacific Regional Department.  

Tourism Analysis and Planning

Tourism was one of the fastest growing industries worldwide, with total international trips reaching new heights each year before the Covid-19 Pandemic essentially forced closure of the international tourism industry in 2020. Tourism businesses can generate significant income and employment in both developing and advanced industrialized economies, and tourism activity represents a dominant sector in many countries. However, it represents a unique product subject to considerable risk. This course will review the development of the tourism industry, applying economic, historical, and other perspectives to analyze and understand the factors that drive tourism development, the evolution of tourism destinations, and the long run profitability of tourism enterprises. In addressing course topics, lectures will include consideration of how international tourism will adapt in the post-Covid-19 world. The course aims to inform tourism investment, planning, and policy decision-making, focusing on Asia and Pacific cases. Practical application of course content is made practical through assignments involving demand analysis, economic and financial (cost-benefit) analysis of tourism investments, and guided research on a “destination analysis” on a selected tourism destination. The destination analysis analyzes the attractions, past tourism arrivals, and actual or potential niche tourism markets served by the destination; and asks students to assess investment/policy priorities and options for advancing or sustaining the development of the selected destination. Students present the results of their destination analysis at the end of the class.