1. To enable students to demonstrate an understanding of the core principles of microeconomics including:
The dynamic nature of supply and demand;
The efficient operation of markets and when they fail;
How firms reach output decisions, interact and attain levels of profit under different market conditions.

2. To enable students to demonstrate an understanding of the core principles of macroeconomics including:
The aggregation of demand and supply in the economy to measure an economy's output;
The business cycle and behaviour and interaction of the big macroeconomic indicators: Growth; Unemployment; Inflation; Balance of payments & Exchange rates;

3. To enable students to demonstrate an understanding of the global economic environment.

4. To enable students to understand the impact of modern economics on day-to-day business operations.

(LO1) An understanding of the central economic problem (scarcity) and the nature of economics;

(LO2) An understanding of how the market price of goods and services is determined by supply and demand and how markets respond to changes in circumstances, measures of responsiveness and price control;

(LO3) An understanding of how firms’ costs of production and revenue are considered to find points of profit maximisation;

(LO4) An understanding of different Market environments – Specified by degree of competition in industries (perfect competition, monopoly, monopolistic competition, oligopoly); as well as strategic interactions arising such as game theory and price discrimination;

(LO5) An understanding of why markets fail to achieve social efficiency;

(LO6) An understanding of the theory of the whole economy 1 (macroeconomic objectives; the national income);

(LO7) An understanding of the theory of the whole economy 2 (aggregate supply and demand, short-term fluctuations, economic growth);

(LO8) An understanding of the global economy, the gains from international trade as well as the arguments for restricting trade.

(S1) Adaptability

(S2) Problem solving skills

(S3) Numeracy

(S4) Commercial awareness

(S5) Organisational skills

(S6) Communication skills

(S7) IT skills

(S8) International awareness

(S9) Lifelong learning skills

(S10) Ethical awareness

Teaching Method: Lecture
Scheduled Directed Student Hours: 24
Attendance Recorded: No

Teaching Method - Seminar
Description: In-class seminars
Scheduled Directed Student Hours: 10
Attendance Recorded: Yes

Self-Directed Learning Hours: 116
Description: To fulfil the requirements of the module students must attend all seminars, do the specified reading and work through the continuous assessment assignments. Students must take responsibility for clarifying any areas of difficulty with the module leader in class, during office hours or by appointment. It is also important to complete the specified reading and in particular should read and work through the specified chapters of the textbook. There will be NO HANDOUTS, the module handbook, workshop solutions and practice test papers must be printed by students. You are advised to print the lecture slides in handout form or make an electronic copy and bring to lectures to make annotative notes

Costs Information: Students will not incur specific additional costs as a result of taking this module.

This module is a pre-requisite for the following modules:
ECON228
ECON233
ECON242
ECON307
ECON325
ECON333
ECON337

Skill/Other Attribute 1: Ethical awareness
How this is developed: Ethical considerations of market structures and international trade are considered during this course.

Skill/Other Attribute 2: Lifelong learning skills
How this is developed: The Lecture & Tutorial Workshop structure is based around the demonstration -> interrogation of learning cycle of learning.

Skill/Other Attribute 3: International awareness
How this is developed: Applied examples are considered throughout the syllabus.

Skill/Other Attribute 4: IT skills
How this is developed: This course uses an IT based assessment system, students will be instructed on the use of interactive web-platform elements in le cture 1 and learn interactively throughout.

Skill/Other Attribute 5: Communication skills
How this is developed: Throughout the course the working of the economy is demonstrated using words, diagrams and appropriate symbols.

Skill/Other Attribute 6: Organisational skills
How this is developed: Students are expected to organize their own learning within the guidelines given.

Skill/Other Attribute 7: Commercial awareness
How this is developed: All topics apply theory and models to contemporary case studies.

Skill/Other Attribute 8: Numeracy
How this is developed: Problem solving skills is developed through the development of ability to think logically, to appreciate the significance of the relationships between relevant economic variables, the consequences of specific changes, to think through a sequence of steps of an economic argument. This is applied in both case study examples and in numerical approaches to problems.

Skill/Other A ttribute 9: Problem solving skills
How this is developed: Problem solving skills is developed through the development of ability to think logically, to appreciate the significance of the relationships between relevant economic variables, the consequences of specific changes, to think through a sequence of steps of an economic argument. This is applied in both case study examples and in numerical approaches to problems.

Skill/Other Attribute 10: Adaptability
How this is developed: The ability to think logically, to appreciate the significance of the relationships between relevant economic variables, the consequences of specific changes, to think through a sequence of steps of an economic argument is developed in application of models to case study examples.

References are in each case to the chapters in Sloman, J. and Garratt, D., Essentials of Economics
1. The economic problem and the framework of economics: Chapter 1.
2. Demand, supply and market price: Chapter 2.
3. Market responsiveness and market adjustment: Chapter 3. & Consumer choice: Chapter 4.1
4. Supply – costs, revenue and profit maximisation: Chapter 5.
5. Degrees of competition – market structure: Chapter 6.
6. aggregate demand and business cycle: Chapter 9.
7. Macroeconomics – aggregate supply and economic growth: Chapter 10.
8. Money and interest rate: Chapter 11.
9. Output, unemployment and inflation: Chapter 12.
10. Macroeconomic policy: Chapter 13.