Master
2024/2025
Economic Theory
Type:
Elective course (Politics. Economics. Philosophy)
Area of studies:
Political Science
Delivered by:
Department of Theoretical Economics
Where:
Faculty of Social Sciences
Mode of studies:
offline
Open to:
students of one campus
Instructors:
Daur Zukhba
Master’s programme:
Политика. Экономика. Философия
Language:
English
ECTS credits:
3
Contact hours:
28
Course Syllabus
Abstract
This course aims to make graduate students familiar with the major concepts, theories, and debates in basic economics, bough micro and macro theory. The course is intended to help a student to enter the universe of economics and its applications and interdisciplinary relations in particular with politics and philosophy. This allows students with different levels of basic education and background to prepare for further effective study of the courses in PPE program.
Learning Objectives
- Goal of this course is to make students familiar with the major concepts, theories, and debates in basic economics, bough micro and macro theory. Learning Objectives - to provide students with economic way of thinking; - to present basic theories of economics; - introduce the students to core concepts and standard methodological tools that lay the foundation of modern economics and political analysis and decision making.
Expected Learning Outcomes
- analyzes the impact of opportunity costs; builds production possibility curve (PPC).
- analyzes the influence of the relationship of such macroeconomic variables as interest rate, money supply, price level, demand for cash, demand for goods, production level of the economy. reveals the consequences of changes in one or more of these values on the shift of the intersection point of the LM and IS curves, the level of production (and income) in the economy, as well as the corresponding interest rate level.
- applies the basic theoretical concepts to explain the measures of the implemented macroeconomic policy, as well as to develop possible proposals for its development
- applies the concept of general economic equilibrium. Including uses the Pareto efficiency concept and the Edgeworth box model
- Build individual demand curves, "income - consumption" and "price - consumption".
- calculates indicators of economic growth; compares monetary and fiscal instruments of stabilization policy and analyzes the consequences of their application on real statistical material
- calculates indicators of employment and unemployment, loss from unemployment
- calculates production costs and carries out economic justifications for choosing the minimum effective size of the enterprise and the optimal capacity of the existing enterprise
- calculates the optimal output of a competitive and non-competitive enterprise; substantiates the pricing policy of the enterprise in conjunction with the degree of product differentiation and the industry-wide situation
- determines (analytically and graphically) the optimal consumer bundle
- determines equilibrium parameters of a macro-system based on the Keynesian Cross model in a recessionary and inflationary gap, calculates the multiplier and propensity to consume and to save
- determines injections and leakages in the circular flow model; on the basis of macroeconomic identities calculates nominal and real macroeconomic indicators
- determines the value of individual and market supply and demand; analyzes their dynamics under the influence of price and non-price determinants; calculates price and cross elasticity of supply and demand
- on the basis of the AD-AS model determines equilibrium indicators taking into account supply and demand shocks
- uses the understanding of the knowledge frontier achieved by modern economic theory and the prospect of its expansion to solve applied issues related to ethics, state and economic policy
Course Contents
- Topic 1. Economics as theory and as applied science. Thinking like an economist.
- Topic 2. Is Marginalism an applicable theory?
- Topic 3. Demand, supply and their interaction
- Topic 4. Firm’s theory
- Topic 5. How do work market structures
- Topic 6. General equilibrium of competitive markets and its failure
- Topic 7. The Keynesian revolution as a response to market failures
- Topic 8. Aggregate Demand and Aggregate Supply
- Topic 9. Keynesian and classical concept of macroeconomic equilibrium.
- Topic 10. IS - LM model
- Topic 11. Economic Growth and Cycles
- Topic 12. Employment policy and the role of regulation in ensuring labor market equilibrium.
- Topic 13. Government macroeconomic policy
- Topic 14. Economic theory frontiers
Assessment Elements
- Writing of short essaysStudents are expected write short essays which describes applications of learned concepts, theories in real situations
- Solve tasks and cases.Solving tasks and practice-oriented cases with argumentation of the student’s own point of view.
- Participation in discussionsParticipation in discussions on the topics of the discipline's program. Students are expected to study recommended literature before sessions and to participate in discussions with the lecturer and other students. ( 10% of the final grade.)
- Final Control work
Interim Assessment
- 2024/2025 1st module0.5 * Final Control work + 0.1 * Participation in discussions + 0.3 * Solve tasks and cases. + 0.1 * Writing of short essays
