Overseas Project Experience (Macroeconomics in Asia)

Financial Market plays an important part in assuring the efficiency of the economy, creating economic growth and development for many countries. However, we are also experiencing more and more economic turbulence erupting from the activities of financial markets which raises questions regarding the essential roles of the Central Bank especially in conducting Monetary Policy as well as managing the banking system and financial markets.

 There are two main parts to this course. The first part explains the functions and structure of Financial Markets (including both assets market and market for money), helping students to understand the meaning and behavior of interest rates, money demand, and money supply. That serves as the background for the second part, in which the banking system and monetary policy theory and strategies will be introduced. Both parts will highlight the management roles of the Central Bank.

Aligning itself to the SMU-X experiential learning pedagogy, students will have a chance to work on real-world projects faced by a project partner in Vietnam. That allows students to further apply classroom knowledge and theory to practical problems for real organizations. At the same time, as the operation of a central bank is very broad and complicated, you should expect that the projects will require more knowledge that is outside of this course curriculum, even might be knowledge in other disciplines.  

The course is also an SMU-XO course, meaning students will have a chance to expose to another country, which is Vietnam in this case. During the course, they will have opportunities to find out about Vietnam's culture and learn about Vietnam's economy from guest speakers. The course will include a study mission to Vietnam in week 17 (after exam weeks).

This course will, hence, help to clear the Global Exposure requirement.  

The course also emphasizes teamwork skills as the group work component comprises 50% of the final grade. Students will have to learn to work as a team to complete a difficult task under time pressure. Effective communication and collaboration, taking initiative, and fulfilling responsibilities are essential to success in teamwork. Peer Evaluation will be imposed to reward those with extra effort as well as to identify freeloaders if any.