Economics

Teaching is provided through lectures, classes and supervisions and you can expect between 10 and 15 lectures each week in the first year.

Assessment is through formal written examinations that take place at the end of each year, and the compulsory dissertation in Part IIB. Typically, you have one three-hour exam for each paper covered that year. There is also a project within the Econometrics paper in Part IIA.

Part I provides an introduction to the subject, a common core of knowledge which can subsequently be extended. There are five compulsory papers:

• Microeconomics
• Macroeconomics
• Quantitative Methods in Economics
• Political and Sociological Aspects of Economics
• British Economic History

Through these papers you cover topics such as supply and demand, the role of prices and markets, employment, inflation, the operation of financial institutions and monetary policy.

The Quantitative Methods paper provides an introduction to the use of mathematical and statistical techniques in economics, and is assessed by a written exam.

Part IIA consists of three compulsory papers:

• Microeconomics
• Macroeconomics
• Theory and Practice of Econometrics

You also take one optional paper, chosen from:

• International Trade and Development
• Modern Societies
• Mathematics and Statistics for Economists
• Labour
• Analysis of Modern Politics
• International Relations

Through these papers you acquire a knowledge and understanding of a range of key topics and analytical techniques in microeconomic and macroeconomic theory, develop knowledge of key econometric techniques, and learn the IT skills needed to undertake a project in applied econometrics. An optional paper in a supporting discipline enables you to undertake more advanced papers in Part IIB.

The final year consists of two compulsory papers:

• Microeconomic Principles and Problems
• Macroeconomic Principles and Problems

In addition, you take two optional papers and write a compulsory dissertation of 7,500 words.

One of the objectives of the final year is to extend your knowledge of economic theory and train you to apply this theory to practical issues and public policy. Therefore, the optional papers available can vary from year to year but recent examples include:

• Economic Theory and Analysis
• Banking, Money and Finance
• Public Economics
• The Economics of Developing Countries
• Industry
• Theory and Practice of Econometrics
• World Depression in the Interwar Years
• The Politics of Europe
• The Political Economy of Capitalism
• The Family

For further information about studying Economics at the University of Cambridge see the Faculty of Economics website.