We teach undergraduate and graduate students applied economics.
Our teaching and research stress the importance of markets and
institutions on political and socioeconomic outcomes.
Program Goals
To stimulate students intellectually through the
study of Economics and to lead them to appreciate its applicability to a range
of problems and its relevance in a variety of contexts.
To develop familiarity with the major facts and
institutions of the United States economy, other national and regional
economies and the world economy.
To develop a fundamental understanding of modern
economic theory, of its scope and limitations, and of its applications in the
interpretation of facts and the formulation of policy.
To equip students with basic but relevant
mathematical and statistical skills.
To develop in students the ability to apply the
knowledge and skills they have acquired to the solution of theoretical and
applied problems in economics, and an appreciation of the appropriate level of
abstraction in the construction of models used as solution tools.
To develop in students, through the study of
economics, a range of transferable skills that will be of value in employment
and self-employment.
To generate in students an appreciation of the economic
dimension of wider social and political issues.
The Department provides opportunities for students to develop
and demonstrate knowledge and understanding, qualities, skills and
other attributes in three areas: Knowledge and Understanding;
Intellectual Skills; and Key Practical Skills. These outcomes are
supported and assessed through the following:
Teaching and learning methods that enable outcomes
to be achieved: Lectures, student-led tutorials, student
presentations, essay and problem-solving coursework, provocative
lectures from visiting scholars, guided self-study, and use of
computer-related learning.
Assessment methods that enable outcomes to be
demonstrated: Assessment by examination, coursework (essays and
problem-solving exercises) and group discussion seeks to determine
the following:
how well students understand what is asked of them;
how effectively they select their arguments;
how relevant, clear and coherent are their
explanations;
how successfully they use and interpret evidence;
the extent to which they show evidence of
independently acquired knowledge; and
their ability to use a variety of information sources,
including electronic media.
A. Knowledge and
Understanding:
Core principles of microeconomics, namely: consumer
theory, exchange, production, market organization, political economy and
market failure.
Core principles of macroeconomics, namely:
income-expenditure and IS-LM models with open economy and government,
inflation, wage and price stickiness and alternative contemporary paradigms.
How to interpret statistics and apply probability
methods in situations involving risk.
Core principles from a set of well-defined specialist
areas within economics.
Analytical methods and model-based argument and the
nature of and reasons for different methodological approaches.
Relationships between verbal, graphical, mathematical
and statistical representations of economic ideas and analysis.
How to apply core economic theory and reasoning to
topics of practical interest to governments, firms, households and other
institutional and social groups.
How to discuss and analyze government policy and to assess the
performance of the U.S. and other spatially-defined economies.
