Economics

Course summary

Economics is a study of human behaviour in making choices about scarce resources and their distribution amongst competing uses. In Economics, we study who gets what and why. In microeconomics the focus is how firms, consumers and the government interact in specific markets, how the price of bananas and mobile phones is determined, whether alcohol should be taxed more, or whether education should be provided for free. In macroeconomics we look at the economy as a whole and how governments and central banks try to achieve optimal levels of employment, inflation, economic growth and trade. Economics is an analytical lens through which we can perceive and explain the world, so the course is very applied, always referring to the latest economic news. Economics is also about developing balanced views. Often there is no single right answer and we instead have to explore the trade-offs between one outcome and another.