Finance and Economics

University of California, Irvine - The Power of Macroeconomics: Economic Principles in the Real World - Professors Peter Navarro and Ali Saffari - Macroeconomics, or the branch of economics that has to do with large scale economies and financial systems as a whole, can be pretty difficult to understand and get your arms around. That doesn't stop many people from positing on what economies should and shouldn't do, or what is or isn't in the best interest of businesses, nations, and peoples. This course will give you the information required to really understand the economics of nations, businesses, and international systems so you can be a more informed consumer of news and public policy. You'll learn about popular theories and economists who shaped today's approach to finance, and cover topics like unemployment, inflation, deflation, monetary policy, budget deficits and public debt, and more. Best of all, the course is aimed at people with no economics background. University of California, Irvine - The Power of Microeconomics: Economic Principles in the Real World - Professors Peter Navarro and Ali Saffari - By contrast to macroeconomics, microeconomics has to do with smaller organizations, individual households and businesses, and smaller movements of money. In this course, you'll pick up the basics of supply and demand, consumer behavior and marketing, monopolies and competition, oligopolies, strategic behavior of businesses, the labor market, even land and rent. You may not be balancing your checkbook in this course, but you will understand how businesses do it, and what it really means when you call someone a monopoly—and how it compares to the monopolies of the past, whether it's more or less similar than you expected. IE Business School - Understanding Economic Policymaking - Professor Gayle Allard -The decisions and movements of money by large governments and public organizations can be confusing to say the least, and it's easier to rise up in outrage than to stop and consider why the money moves where it does and who actually benefits from it. This course is designed to help you understand those processes, how the media uses financial information to inform the public, and what terms like GDP and inflation really mean on a global scale. You'll study the current and ongoing international financial crisis and how governments around the globe are responding, along with the success (or lack thereof) many of them are seeing in response to their policies. Before the end of the course, you'll try your hand at policymaking for a hypothetical nation, and see how your own philosophies and decisions pan out for the people of your fictional nation. University of East Angila - The Secret Power of Brands - Professor Robert Jones - From Apple and Samsung to Google and Microsoft to McDonalds and Taco Bell, brands have huge marketing power and mind share. Merely uttering the name of a company inspires imagery and specific messages in consumers' heads inspired either by their own marketing efforts or by their competition, and competing brands don't just drive incredible sales, but fierce competition among champions of those brands who aren't even employed by the companies that own them. This course examines the power of brands and branding, why brands matter so much and how they have such incredible sway over people—even when those people say that branding and marketing doesn't matter to them. You'll learn directly from marketing experts at companies like Google and Virgin, and open up topics of branding and marketing that are still controversial and under research. University of California, Irvine - Fundamentals of Financial Planning - Finance and economics are all well and good when they're on a large scale and have nothing to do with your household, but what about your personal finances? This self-led, anytime financial planning course is designed to help you walk through the basics like budgeting and balancing your own books all the way up to investments, estate planning, insurance, and retirement. The course covers topics that a professional financial planner would discuss with you, and by the time you've worked your way through its 22 modules, you'll ideally have a strong handle on your personal finances—and be a better consumer of financial information and services from others.