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M.A. in Economics

Overview

The programme intends to prepare students for a successful future in academia or in business, government, and related fields. The curriculum has an emphasis on creating mathematical and statistical foundations that helps students get more out of their core and elective courses. The curriculum is as rigorous as any postgraduate economics programme offered in India or elsewhere, allowing students to pursue careers as academics, consultants, and practitioners across the world. Taught by academics with Ph.D. degrees from prestigious international and Indian schools who have shown experience via research scholarship and consultation. In addition to giving students the chance to enrol in prominent programmes overseas through Alliance University's worldwide academic partners, the programme also aims to provide internship possibilities for students.

Duration

Two Years (Four Semesters)

Commence of the course


Course Duration


Mode of Study

Eligibility


Bachelor’s degree with a minimum of 50% marks aggregate.

A relaxation of 5% marks or its equivalent grade may be allowed for those belonging to SC / ST.


Programme Outcomes

Developing better knowledge of the key ideas in economics.

Imbibing the economic reasoning and critical thinking

Developing the ability to evaluate actual economic conduct.

Developing right articulation skills to explain economic viewpoints.

Ability to operate effectively in finance, economics, and statistics.

Access the knowledge on themes and issues related to economics from a variety of sources by using contemporary library, searching, and retrieval techniques.

Understand the career opportunities in variety of banking, economics, and statistical services.

Career Opportunities

Graduates with an MA in Economics have job options in the fields of banking, finance, the stock market, and associated management companies. After earning their MA in Economics, applicants with the necessary knowledge and abilities can find plenty of employment in the commercial and public sectors.

Some of the career opportunities for graduates with an MA in Economics are listed below:

  • Associate Researcher
  • Trade Analyst
  • Stock Broker
  • Marketing Manager
  • Branch Retail Manager
  • Bank Manager
  • Teacher / Professor
  • Data Analyst
  • Director of Operations
  • Financial Analyst
  • Digital Marketer
  • Project Manager

Core Courses

Course Description This course builds the foundation for students of MA in Economics in advanced mathematical techniques  necessary for  them  for further studies. Course will touch upon topics  of real analysis, matrix algebra, calculus and dynamic optimization.
Course Objective To develop the necessary mathematical skills in students of MA Economics for them to pursue a career in economics and related disciplines.
Course Outcome At the end of the course, students will be able to solve economic problems using mathematical techniques, including framing of models, using techniques of real analysis, calculus and matrix algebra to understand mathematical modeling and proof.
Topics Real Numbers, Set Theory and Topology, Matrix algebra, Differential calculus, Optimization, Dynamic Programming and Optimal Control theory
Suggestive Text Sundaram, Simon and Blume, Chiang
Course Description This course introduces students to the necessary foundational methods in statistics and econometrics. It covers topics of probability, distributions, sampling, estimation and inference and basic econometrics, exploring the multiple regression model under classical assumptions.
Course Objective To equip students with necessary statistical and econometric skills for developing statistical estimation and inference in a variety of circumstances.
Course Outcome At the end of the course, students should be able to understand and apply probability concepts to real world situations; use probability distributions to model real world problems; conduct hypothesis testing and be able to interpret results, run regressions and interpret results.
Topics Descriptive Statistics, Probability distributions, sampling distributions and estimation, testing of hypothesis and Analysis of Variance, Classical Multiple Regression Analysis and BLUE.
Suggestive Text Hogg and Craig, Greene, Johnston and DiNardo.
Course Description This is the introductory microeconomics course for students of economics. Beginning from consumer demand from utility theory, the course introduces students to decision making under uncertainty and aspects of production, costs and markets and touches upon general equilibrium analysis.
Course Objective To familiarize students with microeconomic modeling in decision theory, consumer behaviour and firm behaviour and analysis of markets from various perspectives.
Course Outcome At the end of the course, students should be able to understand and apply microeconomic theory to various aspects of decision making by economic agents, and analyze the impact of policy changes on decision making by individual units, both from a partial equilibrium as well general equilibrium contexts.
Topics Theory of consumer behaviour, decision making under uncertainty, theory of production and cost, Markets, General Equilibrium.
Suggestive Text Varian; Mas-collel et al.
Course Description This is the introductory course on macroeconomics. After going through preliminaries, this course presents the workhorse model in business cycle policymaking and presents various competing paradigms. The course discusses further the aspects of monetary rigidities and labour markets.
Course Objective To familiarize students with modern macroeconomics and current debates on policymaking on aspects of business cycle, with a special focus on microfoundations.
Course Outcome At the end of this course, students should be able to understand working of the macroeconomy and policymaking under various paradigms, apply these concepts and frameworks to analyze the outcome of macroeconomic policies in the economy.
Topics Measurements, Review of Keynesian economics, Micro-foundations of consumption and investment functions, Role of money and rigidities, labour markets and Mortensen-Pissarides-Burdett friction models.
Suggestive Text David Romer; Blanchard and Fischer.
Course Description The course presents the essential ideas, methods, and traditional theories in the fields of growth and development economics. The course provides insights on the presence of various degrees of economic growth across the countries via the investigation of the various ways of accomplishing economic development. The course focuses on fundamental concerns like poverty and inequality by emphasizing debates on the definition, scope, and dimensions of these challenges.
Course Objective Explain the theoretical views of economic development and growth, as well as the factors that contribute to them. Raise students' awareness of the difficulties faced during the developing process and develop critical thinking.
Course Outcome
  1. The course offers a foundational framework for fundamental growth and development problems, solutions, and models.
  2. The goal of the study is to examine variable structure and change.
  3. It aids in understanding the economy's overall static and dynamic views from a purely theoretical standpoint.
  4. Students will be able to analyze the development planning.
Topics Economic Growth vs development, poverty and income inequality, population and economic development, growth models, theories of economic development, trade and economic development, development planning.
Suggestive Text Todaro and Smith; Ray; Mishra and Puri.
Course Description This course intends to examine how economic decisions by households and firms get affected due to market failure, uncertainty, asymmetric information, and timing. Further, it examines the nature of strategic interaction and interaction. Finally, it investigates the role of policy as well as economic contracts in improving welfare.
Course Objective a) deepening the understanding of the basic theory of optimization by economic agents and the efficiency of the resulting outcome for the market as a whole, b) introducing the analysis of strategic interaction as well as interaction under asymmetric information, c) simplifying the role of economic policies as tools to improve efficiency in the presence of market failures.
Course Outcome At the end of the course, students will be able to:
  • Define and describe the determinants of consumer choice, including inter-temporal choice
  • Describe behavior of agents in static as well as dynamic strategic situations - the nature of economic interaction under asymmetric information
  • Analyze and assess efficiency and welfare optimality of perfectly and imperfectly competitive markets
  • Analyze and assess the effects of externalities, public goods, strategic behavior and asymmetric information on efficiency
  • Analyze and assess the nature of policies and contracts aimed at improving welfare
Topics General equilibrium and welfare: competitive equilibrium and efficiency, Pricing in input markets, Inter-temporal choice: savings and investment choices, The economics of information, Market Failure, Introduction to Game Theory.
Suggestive Text Mas-collel et al.
Course Description This course builds on the earlier macroeconomics course to focus more on growth theory and computational macroeconomics. After focusing on building blocks such as infinitely lived representative agent model and overlapping generation models, the course deals with issues of long term economic growth, including endogenous growth models and role of institutions. The course also deals with computational general equilibrium models from real business cycle and dynamic stochastic general equilibrium perspectives.
Course Objective To familiarize students with current theories and models of macroeconomics with special focus on growth theories and computational general equilibrium theories.
Course Outcome At the end of the course, students should be able to master modeling on growth theories and make comparative analysis of various growth strategies pursued by countries, and how policymaking can change outcomes. Students should also be able to solve computational macroeconomic models by applying techniques of dynamic programming.
Topics Growth and Business Cycle Theories, Representative and Overlapping generation models, Endogenous growth theories, empirics of growth, Real Business Cycle and DSGE modeling.
Suggestive Text David Romer; Ljungqvist and Sargent; Blanchard and Fischer.
Course Description What is endogeneity bias for a regression? What is instrumental variable? How to select proper instrumental variables? How to select proper model and what diagnostic tests should be conducted for model selection? This course will provide answer to these questions.
Course Objective This course would provide theoretical background required to conduct applied econometrics research.
Course Outcome To equip students with theoretical background for empirical research
To understand different diagnostic tests.
To understand 2SLS and 3SLS.
To understand use of limited dependent variables, GMM; SUR and their diagnostic tests.
Topics Violations of classical assumptions and diagnostic tests in regression models; Generalized Linear Models; Regression diagnostics; Generalized Least Squares; Instrumental Variables and 2SLS; Seemingly Unrelated Regression; Simultaneous Equation Models and 3SLS; Limited Dependent Variables; Generalized Method of Moments.
Suggestive Text Baltagi, Wooldridge, Maddala.
Course Description The aim of this course is to provide a foundation on features of Indian Economy and role of various sector in economic development. This course seeks to offer an analytical introduction to the main aspects of economic policy and performance in post independent India. The course is expected to enable the students to appreciate the evolution of the economy, its institutional framework, and contributions of different sectors to Growth.
Course Objective To understand the landscape of Indian economy.
To have an in-depth analysis of the sectoral contributions of agriculture, industry, and service sector in India
To understand major economics challenges of Indian Economy
To examine the operation and implementation of fiscal and monetary policy in India.
Course Outcome After studying the structure aspects of Indian Economy, students will be:
  • Exposed to economic reforms in India and problems of Indian economy
  • Able to evaluate the efficacy of various government programs and propose alternative policy directions.
  • Understand nuances in using statistical information for analyzing economic policy, and get familiar with the issues for research.
Topics Introduction; Sectoral Composition; Economic Reforms and Public Finance; Infrastructure; External Sector.
Suggestive Text Dutt Mahajan, Dutt Sundaram.
Course Description The causes and effects of international trade and investment will be examined in this course. We shall look into the causes of trade, the products traded, and the beneficiaries of trade. The reasons why nations or organisations restrict or regulate international trade will then be examined, along with the effects such policies have on economic welfare. The impact of trade on economic growth and wage disparity, multinational corporations and foreign direct investment, international trade agreements, and current trade policy conflicts will all be examined. Aspects of the present "globalisation" discussion will also be covered, including the application of international labour standards, the relationship between trade and environmental issues, and the function of non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Although the understanding of past and present events in the global economy will be emphasised throughout the course, we will heavily rely on formal economic modelling to do so.
Course Objective To acquaint students with international economic environment in trade
To provide insights into gains from trade and globalisation, Protectionism
To analyse measures for externalities, international debt, investments and institutions
To share role of regional blocks and trade policies in trade, and MNCs.
Course Outcome On completion of the course, student will be able:
  • To identify the elements influencing GDP performance
  • To identify the contexts in which classical, neo-classical, and Keynesian ideas can be used
  • To gain practical knowledge of multipliers and other economic delays
  • To keep an eye on institutional regulators in economies, money demand, and money supply
  • To understand asset markets, regulator independence, and currency exchange trends
  • To read about several nations' methods of international adjustment
Topics Review of theory of comparative advantage; Terms of Trade and Tariff Offer curves, elasticity and terms of trade; Trade and Technological Change; Balance of Payments and Foreign Exchange Market.
Suggestive Text Krugman, P., Obstfeld, M., and Melitz, M.; Kindleberger; Salvator.
Course Description This is an introductory course on game theory, where students will learn about strategic choices in the context of many economic problems, and how that impacts decision making in the real world.
Course Objective To develop foundations of game theory and framing problems in the context of games, and to apply game theoretic modeling and solutions to a wide range of economic problems in many contexts and analyze decision making under strategic considerations.
Course Outcome At the end of the course, students should be able to formulate game theoretic problems and offer solutions, apply game theoretic modeling to real life situations, and critically analyze decision making using game theoretic techniques.
Topics Definition of game and solution concepts; Static and dynamic games of complete & incomplete information, and perfect and imperfect information; Bayesian Nash equilibrium and its refinements; applications of game theory in auctions, bargaining and policymaking; cooperative games, Shapley value and Nash bargaining and applications.
Suggestive Text Gibbons; Fudenberg and Tirole; Osborne & Rubinstein.
Course Description The course introduces students to the field of behavioral economics and contrasts with the traditional economic assumption of rational agents in decision theory. It discusses the implications for policy in a wide variety of situations.
Course Objective To develop understanding of behavioral economics among students and how that changes assumptions about decision making by humans, especially under uncertain environments. The objective is also to familiarize students more with economic modeling in situations of uncertainty and ambiguity.
Course Outcome It is expected that at the end of the course, students will learn more about decision making by individuals from a behavioral economics perspective, be able to apply the theory learnt in real environments and be able to critically analyze theoretical and empirical contributions in the field of behavioural economics.
Topics Expected utility and deviations from it, prospect theory; loss aversion and endowment effect; hyperbolic discounting and self control; fairness and altruism in the context of ultimatum and dictator games; heuristics and biases; filed experiments, applications and use of behavioural economics in policymaking.
Suggestive Text Kahnemann (Thinking fast & slow); Sunstein & Thaler (Nudge); Noise.

Electives

Elective Courses

Disclaimer: The elective areas and courses are tentative. The offering of elective areas and courses will depend on the number of students opting for an elective, and as such will be decided at the sole discretion of Alliance University. While other electives may be offered, some electives outlined here may not be offered.

Financial Economics
Course Description This course helps students to understand how financial markets work and how securities, bonds and equity are priced. It gives theoretical understanding of bond and stock valuation using present value techniques. The course further includes portfolio theory and a development of the Capital Asset Pricing Model. The concept of financial market efficiency is introduced, and evidence for efficiency evaluated.
Course Objective The aims of this course include a) providing a thorough understanding of assets pricing, b) developing skills to apply pricing methods in real world scenario, c) offering a critical overview of financial market efficiency, and d) enabling students to develop an understanding of how securities markets operate.
Course Outcome

After the end of the course, students will be able to:

  • Describe the important differences between stock, bond, and derivative securities.
  • Explain how to price assets (like bonds, equity and derivative) using both present value technique and absence of arbitrage methods.
  • Employ mathematical tools to compute risk and return for portfolios of securities.
  • Evaluate portfolio choice problems.
  • Explain and apply the Capital Asset Pricing model for computing expected stock returns.
  • Critically evaluate the evidence for informational efficiency of stock markets.
Topics Present discounted value calculations, random walk hypothesis and market efficiency; bond valuation models; equity valuation models; portfolio theory and capital asset pricing model; derivative pricing in securities markets.
Suggestive Text Myers and Allen; Cochrane; Campbell and Viceira; Huang and Litzenberger
Course Description This course introduces students to the subject of capital structure and how corporations raise funds. In the process, when outside investors in the form of debt and equity are involved, the course also introduces students to elements of corporate governance with an eye on shareholder protection in various contexts.
Course Objective To familiarize students with the concepts and issues pertaining to corporate finance and corporate governance, and helping them understand, apply and critically analyze the theories and practice of corporate finance and corporate governance.
Course Outcome At the end of the course students should be able to understand the firms’ choices of various financial alternatives available to them for financing of projects with an eye to maximization of firm value and apply the concepts in practice, and also be able to understand issues of corporate governance especially due to the severe information asymmetry between various parties in the financial market.
Topics Capital structure and theories of debt-equity choice, Modigliani & Miller; Information asymmetry & Agency Theory (Jensen & Meckling); Myers & Majluf; Empirical evidence (Rajan & Zingales); Corporate governance, investor protection regimes & issues pertaining to developed & emerging markets; business groups & implications; reforms in the Indian markets.
Suggestive Text Damodaran; articles from peer-reviewed journals
Course Description This course introduces the concept of money; what it is, why we use it and how it is created, micro- and macroeconomic theories of the supply of and demand for money. It examines monetary policy in a closed economy, considering several models that allow real effects of monetary policy, ranging from new-Classical to Keynesian. Finally, it studies uncertainty in monetary economics that is pervasive in macroeconomic modelling and takes the form of data, parameter and model uncertainty and introduces students to the concept of robust monetary policy design.
Course Objective The aims of the course are to a) provide understanding of the theories explaining why it is demanded by individuals, b) get an idea of how decisions made by the monetary authorities concerning money supplies or interest rates can have real effects on the economy, c) develop a number of macroeconomic models through which monetary policy can be evaluated, d) develop understanding of the uncertainties policy-makers face and how policy makers may deal with these uncertainties.
Course Outcome After successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
  • Explain and discuss why people hold money and why it is used in the trading process
  • Solve macroeconomic models and assess the role and efficacy of monetary policy for various types of models in both the Classical and Keynesian set-ups
  • Describe and explain the main channels of the monetary transmission mechanism, through which monetary policy can have real effects on the economy
  • Introduce the concepts of uncertainty and discuss the policy under uncertainty.
Topics Introduction to money and monetary economics; Theories of Money; Monetary Policy and its applications; issues in monetary policy; conduct of monetary policy in the Open Economy; Institutions and history of money.
Suggestive Text Lewis & Mizen; Walsh; Mishkin.
Course Description This course introduces student to analysis of time-series data. A time series data is an arrangement of data points that occur over regular time intervals. It shows all the time-dependent variables in the dataset. In time series analysis and modeling, we prepare models to identify the patterns in datasets. Time series forecasting involves finding the future values of stock prices, inflation, GDP, temperature etc.
Course Objective
  • To establish a model that analyses the pattern of time series data.
  • To understand the important features of the time series pattern.
  • To elucidate how the past affects the future.
  • To forecast future values based on the past series.
Course Outcome Upon completion of this course students will be able to:
  • Describe a time series data via time plot.
  • Estimate and identify Autocorrelation Functions (ACF) and Partial ACFs.
  • Produce, identify and estimate random walk and test white noise.
  • Apply ARIMA, VAR, VECM, Cointegration and forecasting from timeseries datasets.
  • Analyse time series data through software (STATA or R).
Topics Introduction and data visualization; stationary and non-stationary univariate models including ARIMA; Non-linear models and structural change; stationary multivariate models; non-stationary multivariate models; predicting variance and VAR, VECM & ARCH/GARCH models.
Suggestive Text Hamilton; Judge, Hill, Lutkepol et al.; Diebold; Maddala & Kim.
Public Policy
Course Description This course examines Indian economy’s growth and development issues and policy responses.
Course Objective This course reviews major trends in aggregate economic indicators in India and places these against the backdrop of major policy debates in India in the post-independence period.
Course Outcome This course will help students understand the key issues related to the Indian economy. It will broaden their horizons and enable them to analyze current economic policy thus improving their chances of getting employed, and be more effective, in positions of responsibility and decision making. The course also serves as the base for further study of sector specific policy discussion that is pursed in the course in the next semester.
Topics Introduction to growth and development; Population and Economic Development; Employment and occupational structure; Indian Development Experience.
Suggestive Text Todaro & Smith; Kapila; Agarwal.
Course Description This course is intended to provide a glimpse of developments in Public Economics and Public Finance. It explores the role of government in the economy, applying tools of basic microeconomics to answer the important policy questions such as government response to global warming, Social Security versus private retirement savings accounts, government versus private health insurance, setting income tax rates for individuals and corporations. The course outlines the theories of public finance over the period. It discusses public and private goods; redistribution and welfare policy of the government; taxation and the behaviour of individuals.
Course Objective The course intends to make the students understand the functioning of government policy. How the government policy works and how the take revenue has been redistributed for the welfare of the people.
Course Outcome Upon completion of this course the students will be able to:
  • Comprehend the role of public finance and economics in the development of the country’s economy.
  • Understand the theories of public finance and economics.
  • Understand and describe the reasons for social security, unemployment and disability insurance, health insurance and redistribution and welfare policy of the government.
  • Comprehend and describe the taxation and individual behaviour such as taxation and savings/labour supply/ risk taking, corporate taxation and the tax reform in the country.
Topics Introduction; Market failure, externalities, public goods and its provision; Social Insurance & redistribution; Taxation and individual behaviour; optimal tax policy for various domains; behavioural economics and public policy.
Suggestive Text Musgrave & Musgrave; Gruber; Atkinson & Stiglitz; Raja Chelliah; Nudge (Sunstein & Thaler).
Course Description How much value is for clean environment? How can we create a pollution tax to abate pollution? Can we trade in pollution permits? These questions will be answered in this course.
Course Objective The purpose of this course is to look at environmental problems like air pollution and water pollution from an economic perspective. To understand the valuation of the environment and to prevent pollution by either imposing pollution tax or by creating permissible pollution permits in a market.
Course Outcome At the end of the course, students should be able to understand the challenges of environmental sustainability and economy, and critically analyze policy choices from an economic perspective.
Topics Introduction; externalities and environment; measurement of goods & services with environmental accounting; micro- and macro-economic policy for environment; environmental regulations; economics of natural resources; Nordhaus DICE framework.
Suggestive Text Kokstad; Bhattacharyya; Nordhaus.
Course Description Why does free vaccination in developing countries is not universally successful? Why do health insurance companies have a waiting period for their insurance? This course will use the microeconomic foundations of health to answer these questions. Beside it will give an overview of both these sectors in India.
Course Objective This course uses the microeconomics foundation to analyze the decisions made by human beings in health. It will help to get a better understanding of addictions , demand for heath and heath insurance. The tools used in this regard are econometrics, game theory and microeconomics tools. It also discusses the existence of discrimination in India in this sector and necessity of public intervention.
Course Outcome To comprehend the various theoretical models of health.
To understand and analyze human decisions for health under various scenarios.
To apply cost-benefit analysis for various health programs.
To develop an insight for various health policies in India.
Topics Introduction and issues involved; measurement of health in a static and dynamic sense; economic models of health – Arrow model, Grossman model; health insurance markets and imperfect information; behavioural economics and healthcare; health and economic development; health valuation and healthcare policy.
Suggestive Text Bhattacharyya et al., William; Grossman.
Development Economics
Course Description This course focuses on sustainability concerns related to economic development in India, developing countries and the world. It introduces and elaborates the concept of Sustainable Development. We look at booth theoretical and empirical issues related to concerns of sustainability in development.
Course Objective To familiarize students with concepts and understanding of sustainable development and its relation to economic growth, theories and empirical evaluation of climate change policies and policymaking.
Course Outcome This course will enable the students to:
  • Understand sustainability concerns in economic development.
  • Apply theory to empirical information in sustainable development.
  • Get a very deep and broad perspective on sustainability issues in development.
  • Learn how to do research on a topic in sustainable development.
Topics Sustainable development & equity; Energy use & sustainable development, issues of geopolitics; environmental issues in development; sanitation, clean water & renewable resources; pathways to a sustainable future.
Suggestive Text Articles & other resources.
Course Description This course introduces students to agricultural economics, given the continued importance of this sector to the Indian economy. It focuses on various aspects including technological efficiency in agricultural production, analysis of markets and pricing and public policy.
Course Objective The course is intended to provide students with an understanding of theory of agricultural markets, especially as applied in the Indian context.
Course Outcome At the end of the course, students should be able to understand the various aspects of agricultural economics and analyze the markets and proposed policy outcomes in the agricultural markets.
Topics Introduction to agricultural economics; efficiency & technological change; nature of agricultural markets; structure of market & issues of supply chain; food & agricultural policy; A history of policymaking on agricultural issues in India.
Suggestive Text Colman & Young; Ray.
Course Description This course would look at the process, politics, and policies through a gender lens. This course will also evaluate whether globalization, especially in the context of developing countries, has been able to reduce gender-disparity.
Course Objective This course examines the gender dimensions of economic development from the perspective of feminist economics. In detail issues of production (paid work), reproduction (care work), and the family/household nexus (where production and reproduction meet).
Course Outcome
  • To understand the different neo-classical and feminist theories.
  • To understand the measurement of different indicators of gender and descriptive statistics.
  • To evaluate policies which will reduce gender-disparity and improve economic well-being of women in a developing country context.
Topics Introduction to gender economics, concepts & approaches; feminist economics; history of thought of gender & development; measure of gender inequality; household, families & work; gender & poverty; gender & globalization; policies & overcoming gender disparities.
Suggestive Text Viswanathan et al.; articles and handbook chapters.
Data Science & Advanced Econometrics
Course Description This is one of the first courses in data science concentration which introduces students to various aspects of data scientists problems including data engineering and manipulation using softwares such as Python, R and SQL. In addition, it also introduces students to data visualization, and supervised machine learning techniques in regression and classification models.
Course Objective To develop preliminary data science and programming skills in students and develop in them analytical skills helping them make decisions which data science technique to use among many competing models that can be applied to a particular problem.
Course Outcome At the end of the course, students should be able to perform data handling and related operations of creating, joining and merging data sets, create variables, and run algorithms that will enable them to perform tasks expected of a data scientist.
Topics Python, SQL & R foundations; data visualization & preliminary analysis with data; training, testing & prediction samples; Regression as supervised machine learning tool, goodness of fit, overfitting & ridge & lasso regressions; logistic regression & categorization, naïve Bayes & discriminant analysis; unsupervised learning k-means clustering; econometrics & data science.
Suggestive Text Materials will be provided.
Course Description This is the second course on machine learning techniques, which deals with aspects of unsupervised learning and deep learning techniques. This also deals with situations of online experiments with machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques.
Course Objective To familiarize students with concepts of machine learning, deep learning and artificial intelligence using neural networks, and enable them to go deeper in classification and regression techniques using advanced methods.
Course Outcome At the end of the course, students should be able to run algorithms for a variety of problems involving methods of random trees and forests, artificial and convolutional neural networks, and apply them to business problems.
Topics Classification techniques & random forests; basics of artificial neural networks (ANN); perceptrons; activation functions & gradient descent; convolutional neural networks; causality & data science; applications in business for machine learning & neural networks.
Suggestive Text Trustworthy Online Controlled Experiments: A Practical Guide to A/B Testing; Kohavi, Tang and Xu.
Course Description This advanced course on econometrics introduces students to advances in econometric techniques over the last 50 years and introduces students to handling panel data and estimating treatment effects in social science research in parametric, semiparametric and nonparametric ways.
Course Objective To familiarize students with advanced econometric techniques in panel data econometrics and estimation of treatment effects in social science especially considering endogeneity problems.
Course Outcome At the end of the course, students should be able to estimate models of panel data and interpret the models appropriately, analyze methods used for estimation of panel data models by using appropriate diagnostic tests, solve problems related to endogeneity in data and apply and estimate using semiparametric and nonparametric methods where appropriate.
Topics Fixed and random effects models; estimations and tests of hypothesis; dynamic panel data; endogeneity, system GMM estimators; local average treatment estimator; Tobit and Heckman 2-step; regression discontinuity design; semiparametric and non-parametric estimators.
Suggestive Text Amemiya, Maddala.
Industrial Economics
Course Description This course introduces students to the economic regulatory frameworks in different jurisdictions. After discussion of theories on regulations, their importance and their potential impact, the course discusses the experiences of different countries with respect to regulation in a variety of markets and jurisdictions, and implications for businesses and consumers.
Course Objective To familiarize students about the theory and practical aspects of economic regulation in a variety of industry, contexts, and policymaking scenarios.
Course Outcome At the end of the course, students should be able to appreciate and understand the role of regulation and regulatory authorities in a well-functioning economy, and apply such perspectives in various policymaking scenarios, and critically analyze the impact of any policymaking or regulatory intervention on various stakeholders.
Topics Introduction and theoretical foundations; different regulatory authorities in India; Antitrust – legal & economic framework; comparison between jurisdictions (USA, EU, India etc.); new challenges with two-sided markets & network effects; regulation in the labour markets in India and globally.
Suggestive Text NA; course will be taught from articles & cases.
Course Description This course introduces market structure, competition and decision-making within firms, from an economic perspective. The economic perspective enters the course content in two ways. First, economics provides many of the tools to be used in making and analysing firm decisions. Second, economics provides a way to understand how changes in the environment in which firms operate influence their decision-making.
Course Objective This course will enable the students to:
  • Understand the behavior of various economic agents and analyze and explain the application of economic concepts.
  • Facilitate recognition how economic forces affect organizations and describe the economic consequences of firm’s decision making.
  • Understand different market structures and analyze how price and quantity are determined in various markets.
Course Outcome At the end of the course students should be able to apply their learnings to firm decision making and critically evaluate firm strategies and actions.
Topics Introduction to firm & its behaviour; product & pricing decisions by firms under different market conditions; factors affecting behaviour such as vertical control and integration, pricing; capacity constraints and its impact on decisions; collusions; spatial competition; incentives, innovation, and patents; network externalities.
Suggestive Text Tirole; Belleflamme & Peitz.
Course Description This course aims to acquaint students with traditional and contemporary topics in labor economics and to encourage evidence-based learning. It provides a broad introduction to the economic analysis of labour markets issues and relies considerably on microeconomic theories. This course helps students to understand systematic development of the theory of labor supply, labor demand, and human capital. The topics covered include wage and employment determination, immigration, unemployment, wage discrimination, inequality, investment in human capital, institutions in labor market, labor market policy, among many others.
Course Objective The aim of the course is to apply analytical tools from intermediate microeconomic theory to analyze how society develops, allocates, and rewards human resources, and to study a wide range of labor-related issues. Emphasis will also be given to empirical evidence on those topics. Another aim is to develop students’ understanding of some core labor market institutions and public policies such as income support programs, minimum wages, immigration, and anti-discrimination policies.
Course Outcome After the completion of this course, students will be able to:
  • Understand the structure and assumptions of standard models of labour economics.
  • Apply economic models to explain the behavior of labour market variables.
  • Explain and analyze current labour market problems arising from inefficiency.
  • Identify and assess environmental and sustainability considerations in problems in labour markets.
  • Understand individual differences through wage, identities, education and skills.
Topics Issues in labour supply; models of human capital accumulation, frictions in labour market; labour demand and equilibrium in labour market; wage discrimination and inequality in labour market through gender, race and other identifiers; theories of taste-based and statistical discrimination; labour market institutions and labour market policies.
Suggestive Text Ehrenberg & Smith; Becker; articles on the topics.
Course Description This course examines how organizations govern themselves by designing corporate control mechanisms that channel manager’s incentives into actions that create firm value. It focuses on applying economic tools to problems involving corporate governance, incentive conflicts, outsourcing, executive compensation, and mergers and acquisitions.
Course Objective To familiarize students with the workings of an organization and interaction between managers, shareholders and other stakeholders and analyze problems of the firm.
Course Outcome This course will enable the students to:
  • Understand various aspects of corporate governance and economics of organizations.
  • Understand how incentives are structured and applied in organizations.
  • Apply economic methods to understand organizational problems.
Topics Introduction and economic analysis of organizational structures; markets and firm architectures; tasks and jobs; contracting and incentive problems; vertical chain of production and integration of firms.
Suggestive Text Brickley, Smith & Zimmerman.
International Economics
Course Description This course will introduce students to the key concepts, debates, and challenges related to globalization, international trade, and the institutions that govern them. The course will explore the economic, political, and social implications of globalization, and examine the role of foreign trade policies and institutions in shaping economic outcomes at the national and international levels.
Course Objective
  • Understand the nature and scope of globalization and its impact on economic development and inequality
  • Analyze the key factors that shape international trade patterns and flows
  • Critically evaluate the role of foreign trade policies in promoting economic growth, competitiveness, and welfare
  • Understand the role of international institutions in regulating global economic relations
Course Outcome The paper provides critical understanding of trade policies and globalization and development issues and contemporary approaches. It helps to understand the role of international institutions in regulating global economic relations.
Topics Introduction, trade policies and their effects; Regional integration & trade agreements, effects of intellectual property right regimes; trade and inequality between and within countries; international institutions (IMF, WB, WTO etc.) and governance.
Suggestive Text Krugman & Obstfeld; Debraj Ray; Stiglitz.
Course Description The course introduces the fundamental concepts, approaches in areas of International Finance. International finance is a field of study that deals with financial transactions and investments that take place between two or more countries. The study of international finance includes topics such as foreign exchange rates, international monetary systems, international capital markets, multinational corporations, international portfolio investment, and international risk management.
Course Objective The course is aimed at students interested in pursuing a career in international finance, banking, or investment. The course is designed to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the key concepts and principles of international finance and how they apply in practice. Students will be exposed to real-world case studies, and they will learn to apply analytical and quantitative tools to make informed financial decisions in an international context.
Course Outcome
  • Understand the global financial system
  • Analyze and manage foreign exchange risk
  • Understand international capital budgeting
  • Understand international portfolio management
  • Understand the role of multinational corporations
Topics Introduction to international finance; exchange rate regimes and purchasing power parity; international capital budgeting and portfolio investment; international trade and finance & MNCs; Emerging market economies.
Suggestive Text Levi; Madura; Eiteman et al.
Course Description Foreign direct investment (FDI) is an integral part of an economy and a catalyst for economic development. Yet, the benefits of FDI do not accrue automatically and evenly across countries and sectors. Domestic government policies and investment architecture matters for attracting FDI by the developing countries. The challenges mainly faced by host countries, that need to establish a transparent, broad, and effective policy environment for investment and to build the human and institutional capacities to implement them.
Course Objective The course intends to provide an understanding among the students both the pros and cons of FDI and the relationship between Trade, FDI and economic development of the country.
Course Outcome Upon completion of this course students will be able to:
  • Understand the role of FDI in a country’s overall development.
  • Comprehend the bright side and dark side of FDI on both host and home countries.
  • Analyze the relationship between trade, FDI and economic development.
  • Comprehend and relate the global value chain with the recent developments
Topics Review of International Trade Theories; Introduction to Foreign Direct Investment; evidence of impact of FDI on development – pros and cons; emergence of global value chains; trade, investment and development.
Suggestive Text NA; Based on articles and reports.
Course Description This course is designed to introduce students to the fundamental concepts of open economy macroeconomics and their application to the context of developing countries. The course will cover topics such as exchange rates, balance of payments, trade, capital flows, and their impact on economic development.
Course Objective
  • Understand the basic concepts and theories of open economy macroeconomics
  • Analyze the causes and consequences of international trade and capital flows
  • Critically evaluate the role of exchange rate policies in economic development
  • Understand the challenges and opportunities faced by developing countries in the global economy
Course Outcome After completing this course student will be able to relate various policies pertaining to exchange rate, trade, FDI etc., and their interlinkage with economic development.
Topics Introduction, Balance of Payments and Exchange Rates; Trade and development; financial development, debt in international market and sovereign debt; international financial institutions.
Suggestive Text Krugman and Obstfeld.

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