COURSE TITLE: 

Economic Approach to Southeast Asia II 

Year/Semester: 2025-2026/Fall and Winter 

Class time: Tuesday 15:00-16:30 

Room: Inamori 330

Format: Lecture and discussion

Target year: 1-5 

Credits: 2 

Course ID: G-AAA01 81323 LE31 


INSTRUCTOR:

Instructor: Tomohiro Machikita

Affiliation: Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University

Office: Inamori 221

Office hours: Tuesdays 16:30-17:30


OVERVIEW AND PURPOSE:  

This course studies economics of Southeast Asia through the lens from economic development. This course studies quantitative analytical frameworks and use historical case studies to examine the role of geographic and institutional factors such as incentives, trade, community development, skills, migration, agglomeration of economic activities in understanding the performance of regions in developing vs developed economies and comparative institutional analysis of cities. We may cover related and recommended topics analyzing regional differences through geography and institutions answering questions such as: How urbanization relates to economic development? How institutional difference has persistent effects on economic development?


COURSE OBJECTIVES: 

Through active participation in discussions and presentations of assigned papers, students will absorb the research designs of the most up-to-date study results, and each student will be involved in their own research thesis. Students will study the basic mechanisms of industrial development and prior empirical research, acquiring the basic knowledge that is needed to independently understand the latest research results.


TENTATIVE COURSE SCHEDULE AND CONTENTS: 

Each class meeting will open with a presentation by the instructor, followed by discussion of the assigned textbook. Active class participation will thus form a major component of one’s overall grade for the course. Students submit a term paper on a topic of interest by the end of the semester. 




ASSIGNED READINGS:  

This is tentative. All readings will be uploaded before the semester begins. Readings marked by asterisks (*) are required. Others are recommended. Main textbooks are as follows. 




OPTIONAL READINGS:  


Theory: 


History:


Empirics:


COURSE REQUIREMENTS:  

Without imposing a strict requirement, I assume familiarity with the concepts taught in basic undergraduate-level Statistics, Econometrics, and Microeconomics. This is an economics class that employs quantitative reasoning. Students should read the papers that are assigned for each upcoming class and participate in class discussions. 


EVALUATION METHODS AND POLICY: 

Grades will be based on attendance/participation and final exam. Final exam will be short essays. Active and constructive participation during the class discussions will influence your grade as well. 


TEXTBOOKS:

All of the required readings are available on electronic reserve via Panda. Supplementary to course content, students are also encouraged to pursue self-study on statistical methods, qualitative research methods, and microeconomics in order to better understand related academic papers. Please check the following textbooks: (1) Varian's Microeconomic Analysis; (2) Gibbons' Game Theory for Applied Economists; (3) Cunningham's Causal Inference: The Mixtape; (4) Hernan and Robins' Causal Inference: What If; (5) Angrist and Pischke's Mostly Harmless Econometrics.  


OFFICE HOURS:

Tuesdays 16:30-17:30, and by appointment.