Economics BA Honours

Course content

What will you study on the BA Economics?

You will develop your understanding of the role and significance of economics across society as a whole and gain a thorough grounding in micro and macro economic theory and principles, alongside economic policy, which will provide a firm foundation in the study of economic systems.

You will learn to assign the application of economic theory to international trade and business; the impact of economics to decision-making; quantitative and computing methods applicable for economics and finance; and business across a number of chosen economic areas.

Modules

This module aims to provide you with an appreciation of basic microeconomic analysis as a basis for understanding the operation of a market economy, an awareness of the microeconomic effects of economic policy, and a good background in microeconomics to prepare the you for further microeconomic study.

This module aims to provide an appreciation of basic macroeconomic analysis as a basis for understanding the operation of a market economy, an awareness of the policy options and dilemmas facing the government as well as the macroeconomic effects of economic policy, and a good background in macroeconomics to prepare you for further macroeconomic study.

This module aims to introduce the analysis and interpretation of quantitative data. Topics include summary statistics, probability, random variables and probability distributions, statistical inference, point estimation and confidence intervals.

This module aims to introduce the basic mathematical concepts used in economic analysis. These include the basic properties of functions, univariate and multivariate calculus and matrix operations. The course serves as a basis for second year economics courses.

A 12-month placement is offered at the end of Year 1 and is worth 120 credits. The placement forms the basis for an assessed report based on the organisation in which you are attached. At the start of the placement you are allocated an individual supervisor from the university who provides individual support and advice for the duration of the placement and the project. All projects are double marked. Placements allow you to gain work experience and also to test out a function or area in which you think your career will progress after graduation. On many occasions the placement will help with your academic studies. They also provide good opportunities for networking, as a source for references and can even secure future employment after graduation with the employer.

Alternatively, you may opt to take one or two shorter placements, each worth 60 credits, between Year 1 and 2 and/or between Year 2 and 3. These shorter placements allow you to gain work experience but to still graduate after three years.

This module aims to provide you with an understanding of microeconomic theories that can be used to explain and predict the behaviour of consumers and firms. The module also aims to explore the nature of the firms and their markets, explain and evaluate theories of consumer and investor behaviour, and analyse and compare a firm’s production and pricing policies given profit maximisation and alternative business objectives. The module will also introduce you to specific topics in microeconomics such as asymmetric information and externalities.

This module aims to provide you with an understanding of the macroeconomic environment through a study of the models and techniques of macroeconomics at an intermediate level and an appreciation of current controversies with respect to the formulation, implementation and impact of macroeconomic policies.

This module aims to develop your ability and skills to analyse and critique on the purpose and effectiveness of current economic policies and their implications on all walks of lives. Research, analytical, communication, presentation and inter-personal skills will be sharpened through student-centred activities such as group discussion, regression analysis, debate, presentation and report writing. Awareness of current economic issues and policies and their economic underpinnings would be raised and emphasised. Ideas on how existing policies could be improved or modified would also be cultivated.

The aim of this module is to help you understand the basic principles of econometric analysis and how econometrics can be used to test economic theories. The module provides you with the skills to analyse data, estimate and interpret econometric models. The module will introduce you to a range of econometric techniques and their application using econometrics computer software including Excel and Gretl. This module provides the essential background for the third year Applied Econometrics module.

A 12-month placement is offered at the end of Year 2 and is worth 120 credits. The placement forms the basis for an assessed report based on the organisation in which you are attached. At the start of the placement, you are allocated an individual supervisor from the university who provides individual support and advice for the duration of the placement and the project. All projects are double marked. Placements allow you to gain work experience and also to test out a function or area in which you think your career will progress after graduation. On many occasions the placement will help with your academic studies. They also provide good opportunities for networking, as a source for references and can even secure future employment after graduation with the employer.

Alternatively, you may opt to take one or two shorter placements, each worth 60 credits, between Year 1 and 2 and/or between Year 2 and 3. These shorter placements allow you to gain work experience but to still graduate after three years.

The purpose of this module is to review elements of statistical/econometrics from a practical and intuitive viewpoint. In addition, it covers new topics on advanced time series, forecasting, binary choice models, count data model, instrumental variables in panel data models and selection methods, such as the bayesian model averaging. You should be able to recognise data problems, specify and estimate econometrics model for policy analysis and be able to undertake empirical research individually and independently. You will also have the opportunity to learn econometrics package "R" in the computer labs.

This module provides balanced coverage of the key concepts of international trade theory and its policy applications in the world economy. The aims of this module are to develop your knowledge and analytical tools to explain patterns of trade and specialisation using the classical models such as Ricardo and Heckscher-Olin and the more recent models of monopolistic competition. You will learn to identify welfare gains from trade and the effects of international trade on income distribution. The module also provides the basis to evaluate key issues in trade policies, the WTO, and trade agreements.

The module aims to provide you with an understanding of money, monetary standards and the monetary sector as well as the evolution of monetary and banking economic theory and the seminal controversies since Hume and Bagehot. You will gain the ability to apply monetary theory to public policy in a domestic and international context, and investigate emerging and current issues of monetary policy and banking. You will analyse public policy and safety of the financial system and develop specialist knowledge suitable for further development via postgraduate study or professional employment.

This module aims to allow you to develop an understanding of the process of financial risk management in banking, including financial markets and instruments, derivatives, various bank risks and their management, financial crisis and securitisation, regulations, and the effect of accounting standards. This module provides you the opportunity to develop risk modelling skills, analytical and numerical skills in banking risk management practice.

This module provides a comprehensive exposure to the insights and methods of behavioural and experimental economics. The module consists of two parts; the first is aimed to provide a formal framework for the analysis of strategic interactions, and as such is designed to introduce the main solution concepts in Games of Strategy. The second part is intended to assess the predicted power of the different solution concepts when it comes to actual human behaviour and real experimental data. Recent findings from behavioural and experimental design are discussed and departures from equilibrium predictions are rationalised using alternative solution concepts. Applications and everyday examples are provided of problems facing individuals, groups and organisations when making economic decisions in a complex world.

The module aims to provide you with a set of tools to analyse the effects of social networks on employment, inequality, productivity and labour mobility and migration. You will become familiar with theories, methods and techniques used by labour economists and will have the opportunity to apply them to topics of interest. For example, you will learn techniques developed for social network analysis to identify the human resources strategies that would maximise productivity in the workplace. The first part of the course is designed to provide a broad overview of social network techniques and their applications to the labour market. The second part of the course will focus on human capital investment, employment, productivity, discrimination in the labour market and labour mobility and migration.

This module aims at developing your knowledge in microeconomic theories that can be used to explain and predict problems in economic development faced by developing countries. The aims of this module are to provide analytical tools to develop your critical thinking on economic aspects of the development process in low and middle-income countries. You will learn to analyse a range of problems in economic development and to identify advantages and disadvantages of public policies aiming at solving or reducing these problems.

This module consists of three parts; the first will provide you with an advanced understanding of the principles of experimental design in experimental economics. In the second part, you will learn special issues concerning current topics in experimental economics. The third and final part will introduce the field experiments and Randomised Control Trials (RCTs).

This module aims to build your knowledge of banking. It approaches banking from an economic perspective (but with some basic accounting included) with an aim to explore the complexity and integrated nature of financial systems with emphasis on the UK and the USA, identify and assess different systems of allocating funds for economic development, and develop your ability to apply introductory risk management tools and techniques in banking. It will also investigate emerging issues and contemporary trends in banking theory and practice.

This module aims to develop your knowledge of firm strategic behaviour in markets. The course builds on the Intermediate Microeconomics module from Year 2. The aims of this module are to provide analytical tools for you whereby you can understand concepts such as market concentration, monopoly power, price discrimination and firm strategic interaction in markets. You will learn how location is an important determinant for firm markets power and provides a strategic advantage to a firm. You will learn to evaluate key issues about market structure and their implications for different strategies as well as to apply economic theory to the decision making process of firms.

You can find more information about this course in the programme specification. Module and programme information is indicative and may be subject to change.