Teaching

I am a Senior Lecturer at Dartmouth College in political economy, finance, and mathematics. I began teaching in 2016 for the Political Economy Project, but I have since expanded my work to other courses and disciplines.

ECON 15 - Political Economy of China

This course examines how politics, economics, and institutions have shaped the modern Chinese economy. Course topics include the Mao era, the pathologies of socialism and central planning, and the post-Mao transition to the market. Special emphasis will be placed on how “capitalism with Chinese characteristics” affects innovation, entrepreneurship, corruption, and rule of law. Students will be graded on class participation, quizzes, and an original research paper.

ECON 16 / PBPL 22 - Regulation

This course examines the history, politics, and economics of market regulation in the United States. Class discussions will focus on the arguments for and against state intervention in markets. We will also evaluate evidence of market failure and government failure in financial markets, healthcare, welfare policy, environmental policy, anti-trust law, and zoning ordinances. Special emphasis will be placed on how regulation affects prices and why regulated firms may demand regulation. Students will be graded on class participation, quizzes, and original research.

ECON 25 - Competition and Strategy

This course examines the strategies that businesses use in choosing prices, advertising, research and development, and mergers to maximize their profits. The course studies how business strategy is constrained by market competition and antitrust policy (government policy toward monopoly, collusion, and mergers). The analysis is conducted using game theory, empirical methods, and experimental methods.

ECON 26 - The Economics of Financial Intermediaries

This course examines the history and dynamics of financial systems, institutions, and markets. Class discussions will explore the evolution of payments, intermediaries, depositories, and exchanges. Special emphasis will be placed on the relationship between competition, prices, and risk. Students will be graded on class participation, a midterm exam, and a final exam.

ECON 36 - Theory of Finance

This is a course in financial economics. The goal of the course is to understand the financial decisions firms and investors face, how these decisions are related, and how the tools of finance can help make these decisions. Our treatment of the subject will present a mix of financial theory and empirical application. The unifying theme throughout the course will be the effects of time and uncertainty on economic decision-making. Topics covered will include asset valuation, portfolio theory, capital budgeting, firm financing decisions, and option pricing.

MATH 86 - Mathematical Finance 1

Financial derivatives can be thought of as wagers on uncertain future financial events. This course will take a mathematically rigorous approach to understanding the Black-Scholes-Merton model and its applications to pricing financial derivatives and risk management. Topics will include arbitrage-free pricing, binomial tree models, measure theory, Ito calculus, the Black-Scholes analysis, derivatives pricing, the Greeks, and delta hedging.

MATH 96 - Mathematical Finance 2

This course is a continuation of MATH 86 with an emphasis on the mathematics underlying fixed income derivatives. Topics may include exotic derivative pricing, stochastic calculus, Radon-Nikodym derivative and change of measure, Girsanov's theorem, the Martingale representation theorem, interest rate models (e.g., H-J-M, Ho-Lee, Vasicek, C-I-R), interest rate derivatives, interest rate trees and model calibration, and credit derivatives