Undergraduate Economics 2016-2017

This course is an introductory course in microeconomics where we study the decision making of individual actors (consumers, employees, firms, governments, etc.) in an economy.  Actors must make decisions about behaviours because they face scarce resources, but often they find that trading with other actors in markets can increase the wellbeing of all parties.  This course models and examines the nature of these interactions, highlighting when they work well and when they fail to increase wellbeing and what might be the solution to these failures. 

This course is an introductory course in macroeconomics  where we study the behaviour of the economy as a whole. Whereas microeconomics focuses on individual markets, macroeconomics addresses the “big issues” such as unemployment, inflation, economic growth, and financial crises. Macroeconomics is a lively subject, full of discussion and debate, as economists and policymakers take different views on macroeconomic issues, their causes and appropriate policy responses.  Issues such as: Is the economy growing? What causes unemployment and how can we reduce it? How can we avoid recessions? When is inflation a problem? Are banks lending too much?

This course builds on and is a natural extension of EC 1006. By examining in a more rigorous way concepts introduced in EC 1006 students will develop further their analytical skills and they will obtain a better understanding of consumers and producers behaviour, market structure as well as the effectiveness of economic policy.  The course is designed to appeal to all students interested in economics. This includes students who may wish not to enter into any further studies of economics, as well as students who may wish to continue studying economics at the honours level.

This course focuses on macroeconomic policy in a global economy. The first part builds an open-economy Keynesian model to investigate what determines the effectiveness of fiscal and monetary policies, and how exchange rate regimes and capital mobility impact on policy effectiveness. The second part investigates what determines the level of macroeconomic activity and its growth over time. The final part looks at what determines inflation and unemployment. This intermediate level course uses live lectures to develop your analytical skills evaluating economic policy in a rigorous and technical way to equip you with the skills needed for honours level study.

This two parted course aims to develop the students’ practical analytical skills and economic problem solving abilities. The first section deals with mathematics in an economic setting. It should enable the student to apply mathematical problem solving techniques to relevant economic issues. Material covered includes differentiation, unconstrained and constrained optimisation, integration and matrix algebra. The second section is dedicated to statistical methods in economics. It seeks to introduce the students to a variety of statistical concepts, relating among others to probability and distributions. It systematically develops hypotheses testing and regression analysis to enable analysis of real world data.

This course will offer an in-depth analysis of the key theories of international trade and investment and international macroeconomics. At the end of the course students will be able to identify the major tendencies characterising the global economy – such as for example the geographical fragmentation of the vertical production chain and offshoring – and their implications for international specialisation, employment and welfare. Students will also be able to understand and assess the effects of trade and macroeconomic policies and the functioning of the multilateral trading system on countries’ position in the world economy and on firms’ internationalisation decisions.

One important issue in environmental economics is the control of externalities, where one firm’s or one individual’s actions affect other people. The course addresses this topic focusing on pollution and climate change as key examples. A second topic involves the study of exhaustible resource markets, including issues such as the determinants of  the long run price of oil and the sustainable use of natural resources. Other issues related to energy and the management of common property resources such as fisheries  may also be discussed.

The course is intended  primarily  for honours undergraduates in Economics.

The cities and regions of various countries have had different economic experiences.  This course seeks to explain why this is the case using spatial economics. In particular, the course focuses on the existence and growth of cities, the processes of urban change, suburbanisation, urban crime and ethnic segregation within cities.  Theories that explain differences in the rates of economic growth, rates of regional migration and levels of unemployment across regions are also examined.   

This course examines key themes of economic theory as applied to health care. First, it explores the alternative systems for organising and financing health care and second, the main techniques of health care evaluation. Finally, it critically examines the link between social inequality, socioeconomic status and health. It does so by focusing on the fact that how well and how long one lives is strongly formed by one’s place in the hierarchies build around educational attainment, labour market experiences, occupation and income.

The course aims to provide students the basics of econometric theory and teach them a range of different estimation techniques that can be applied in practice when working with data. The first part of the course will focus mainly on teaching a working knowledge of basic methods and principles of econometric theory, while the second part will focus more on a sequence of specific problems involving the specification, estimation and interpretation of econometric models. Students participating in the course will have the opportunity to solve theory exercises and to estimate econometric models in a computer lab using actual data.

The purpose of this course is to expose students to the methodology of experimental economics and to give an overview of some of its uses in different areas of Economics, namely the functioning of markets, the effects of institutions on the decisions of economic agents, and to address public policy issues. The course is designed so as to allow the student hands-on experience of participating in experiments.

This course develops mathematical methods for analyzing economic decisions and equilibrium behaviour at an advanced undergraduate level. One of the goals is to help prepare students for postgraduate work in economics. A good understanding of the methods studied in EC2003 and EC3023 is essential, since the course builds on and extends the mathematical and analytical skills developed in these courses to examine in a more rigorous way several key areas in microeconomics such as individual consumer and firm choices, decision-making under uncertainty, and applications of game theory.

The dissertation presents students with the opportunity to apply their knowledge and research skills of Economics to an individual piece of research, focusing on a topic which has been chosen by the student and approved by the Dissertation coordinator and Dissertation supervisor. Over the course of the Dissertation, with guidance from the supervisor, the student will study a particular topic, conduct a literature review of relevant material, select appropriate theoretical and/or empirical methods to address the topic and write a final analysis in the form of the Dissertation of up to 10,000 words.

This course focuses on the design, implementation and evaluation of various aspects of economic policy. It aims to develop a deep understanding of how the techniques of applied economic policy evaluation both draw upon economic theory and are implemented in practice and to develop a critical appreciation of their associated strengths and weaknesses. The course will include a range of micro- and macro-policy applications to develop students’ skills in applying relevant techniques to real world problems.

This course examines the history of economic ideas and the evolution of the main schools of economic thought from the eighteenth century to the present day. It traces the development of modern economic thought and discusses the evolution of economic ideas through the important traditions. The course provides a bird's eye view of the main controversies in the discourse in economics and discusses their policy implications with regard to their contemporary relevance.

This course focuses on two key issues of economic policy debate, namely economic growth and monetary policy. The emphasis is on the recent developments in macroeconomic theory with particular reference to current problems. The first part of the course deals with economic growth, probably the primary issue of concern to economic policy makers today. The second part of the course focuses on issues related to the workings of a monetary economy. This course is an advanced, technical course, which aims to provide a sound base for those wishing to pursue postgraduate study or a career in economics.

The dissertation presents students with the opportunity to apply their knowledge and research skills of Economics to an individual piece of research, focusing on a topic which has been chosen by the student and approved by the Dissertation coordinator and Dissertation supervisor. Over the course of the Dissertation, with guidance from the supervisor, the student will study a particular topic, conduct a literature review of relevant material, select appropriate theoretical and/or empirical methods to address the topic and write a final analysis in the form of the Dissertation of up to 10,000 words.