Faculty of Faculty of Business and Law
Module Handbook
|
Module Name: Applied Economics |
|
Module Code: UMED94-15-3 |
|
Module Leader Name: Damian Whittard |
2022/23
The handbook is a guide for students in the Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance. The information in the handbook can also be found in a number of other electronic or paper sources and the document provides links to the definitive data sources wherever possible.
Please note that the electronic version of the handbook will be kept up to date and you will be notified of any significant changes. If you have taken a hard copy of any information please remember to refer back to the electronic version to ensure that you are working with the most up to date information.
Contents
3. Module specific information 4
4. Module Teaching Timetable 6
Module team information
Module leader: Damian Whittard
Room: 3X220
Module tutor: Ozer Selcuk
Room: 3X101
The times of office hours is:
Monday 9.00 – 10.00
Tuesday 14.00 – 15.00
External examiners from other institutions are appointed to each module to act independently and work with the module team in the management of threshold academic standards. The external examiner appointed to this module is can be found at https://www2.uwe.ac.uk/services/Marketing/about-us/cas/Ext_Exam_Institutions_Roles.pdf
Module enhancement
A strength of this module, is the fact that the lectorials and tutorials have been designed around student centred group active learning, which does benefit from face-to-face interactions. We have continued to develop the interactive activities for this year’s cohort.
Module specific information
https://info.uwe.ac.uk/modules/listEntry.asp
Introduction
Welcome to Applied Economics!
This module will train you to think like a professional economist and help you hone the analytical skills which should help you forge a successful career in the modern business environment. You will be asked to consider a variety of contemporary economic challenges and encouraged to consider which theories and tools would be most useful to provide you with a deeper understanding of different phenomena. We will also challenge you to consider which approaches are the most appropriate to meet the needs of different stakeholder.
This module uses economic theories to explore contemporary issues. Throughout the module we will take a case study approach applying economic theory and models to deepen knowledge and understanding of current real world economic events. Students will be encouraged to think critically and analyse different economic issues using both conventional as well as other alternative and less mainstream approaches. We will examine several distinctive ways of looking at human behaviour, both individually and collectively, and analyse the implications of these approaches for our understanding of economic and social organisations.
The three core themes that run through this module are:
Pluralism – throughout the module you will be presented will alternative theories and perspectives from which you consider the economic challenge at hand.
Application – you will be introduced to different tools and techniques used by economists and asked to apply them to gain a deeper understanding of the economic issue under investigation.
Stakeholder engagement and communication – as an economist, you will be encouraged to be flexible in your approach in order that you can meet the needs of different stakeholders (e.g. private and public sectors). You will also be encouraged to consider how to communicate your analysis to make the greatest impact on the different target audiences.
Module overview
The aims of the module are to enable you to:
have an enhanced understanding of economic principles and how they can be applied to real economic situations;
think critically about the nature of economic theory and its practical applications;
understand the relationship between economic problems and policies;
critically apply economic theory to contemporary policy issues;
The learning outcomes are as follows:
The identification, interpretation and evaluation of a range of economic theories and their applicability to ‘real world’ problems.
Interpretation and synthesis of macroeconomic data and the influences and ideologies underpinning the development of macroeconomic theory.
Evaluation of the success or failure of macroeconomic policy packages.
Identification and analysis of the role that private and public sector organizations play within the economy with respect to pricing, efficiency and dynamism
Critical analysis of the relationship between policy and regulation, and actors within a market economy
Research, explain and rationalise the behaviour of productive organisations with respect to pricing and output.
In addition, there are several transferable skills, which are formally and informally assessed and include the ability to:
write clearly and concisely, and present an argument logically and succinctly;
prepare effectively for pre-set assignments and unseen examinations by researching;
synthesise, analyse and apply facts, concepts and theories;
manage time effectively, so as to optimise knowledge and understanding of a syllabus;
apply general concepts in specific contexts.
Module Teaching Timetable
|
Week Beginning |
Lectures |
Lectorial: Consolidation |
Tutorial: Thinking like an economist |
|
|
30 January 2023 (wk 29) |
Block 1: Production and growth
|
Introduction to module & Measuring the economy. What do we mean by economic growth? How do we know if we are growing? How can we compare the performance of different economies? Are there any costs to growth? |
National Accounts, Circular flow of income, AD/AS and Productivity growth |
The Bean Review and review of the productivity puzzle |
|
06 February 2022 (wk 30) |
Managing the economy What are the wider objectives of macroeconomic policy? How has macroeconomic theory developed over time? What are the tools available to manage the economy? |
Apply fiscal policy and monetary policy to address current macroeconomic challenges |
The economic cost of the Russia-Ukraine conflict |
|
|
13th February 2023 (wk 32) |
Using FDI as a tool for development How does FDI impact Economic Growth? What determines FDI? What are the main theories of FDI? Should an economy pursue a policy of increasing FDI? |
FDI investment and its impact on home and host economies |
Assess the relevance of traditional and modern theories in explaining real world international investments |
|
|
20th February 2023 (wk 31) |
The state of the UK economy and its current challenges Guest presenter from the Bank of England |
Preparing for the assignment – the merits of FDI as a tool to drive economic development. |
Preparing for the assignment – Introduction to the West of England Economy (a productivity analysis) |
|
|
27 February 2023 (wk 33) |
Block 2: Is there more to life than growth? |
The state of the West of England economy and its current challenges Guest presenter from the West of England Combined Authority |
Does economic growth make us richer or poorer? Should economic policy focus so heavily on delivering economic growth? Should we priorities of other measures of social welfare? |
Easterlin paradox, relative income effects, Hedonic treadmill |
|
6 March 2023 (wk 34) |
Block 3: Tools |
What is the “Micro Economic Problem” for which Applied Economics is the answer? Do we talk to policy makers? What are the different ways we apply economics to ‘real world problems’? |
What do you know about economics (based on your two and a half years with us)? How do you use it? |
Measuring the economy and Science |
|
13 March 2023 (wk 35) |
What are the tools of the Applied Economist? How do we measure economic stuff? What is a black box? Are some models useful? What is economic evaluation? |
Economic Evaluation and Economic Methodology |
Public Choice Game – is economics policy [just] a technocratic [pragmatic] activity? |
|
|
20 March 2023 (wk 36) |
Block 4: Health and markets |
Is Health a factor of production? If so, what does it produce? Wealth, welfare or inequality? What is the role of Economics in understanding the provision of healthcare? |
Factors of Production, Human Capital, Outcomes and Outputs, Equity |
Constructing a conceptual framework for investments in health – trading health for wealth? |
|
27 March 2023 (wk 37) |
How do we distribute resources for health services? Is it like pizza or the commons? Is the market a meaningful concept? How do you do an economic evaluation of spending on healthcare? |
Markets, outcomes/outputs, welfare |
Evaluating the importance of market mechanisms for general healthcare spending – inputs and outcomes |
|
|
3rd April to 16th April – Easter Holiday |
||||
|
17 April 2023 (wk 40) |
How do firms behave in markets related to health care? Is entrepreneurship important? What is the value of public-private partnerships? How much would you invest in vaccination production? |
Theory of the firm, Entrepreneurship |
Investing in vaccination |
|
|
24 April 2022 (wk 41) |
Revision – assessment briefing |
revision – prep for online exam |
revision – prep for online exam |
|
Module Structure
Teaching Blocks 1 and 2
The initial two teaching blocks (1 and 2) will be taught by Damian Whittard. Both teaching blocks take a macro economic perspective of some of the biggest policy challenges. In previous years, students have had the chance to present and debate these live issues with policymakers from organisations such as the House of Commons and Office for National Statistics. At the time of writing we are working to secure presentations from the Bank of England and the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership, in order to show you how the work of an economists influences policy at both the national and local level. More information will be made available on this via BlackBoard once arrangements are confirmed.
Teaching Blocks 3 and 4:
The following two teaching blocks (3 and 4) will be led by Dr Ozer Selcuk. Teaching Block 3 is intended to encourage the students to start thinking like a professional micro economists. It will introduce them to the tools and techniques that economists have at their disposal and allow them to consider the role of the economists in influencing policy. Teaching Block 4 then gives students an opportunity to develop their theoretical and practical knowledge and apply these new perspectives and analytical approaches to understand one of the greatest challenges of our time, delivery of health services.
Throughout the whole of the module, we will be getting you to consider and provide potential solutions to key economic questions of our day. Alternative theories will be presented and debated with the aim of developing critical thinking and engagement. Moreover, the role of government policies will be discussed and assessed.
The objective of the module is to give you an opportunity to develop your understanding of economic issues that are relevant to you, not only in the context of your degree, but in the context of your future employment opportunities and working life.
The teaching and learning methods used in this module are a combination of lectures, lectorials, tutorials and private study. In the lectures we will introduce the main theories. Lectorials and tutorials will complement lectures and facilitate debate on the policy issues raised in lectures. The lectorial will focus on consolidating and extending your understanding of the theoretical material presented in the lecture. The tutorials will be where we want to encourage you to start thinking and acting as a professional economist. Activities will vary, but this will be the time when we will be asking you to synthesise the available information and come up with your suggestions to address the change under discussion.
Lectures
This module takes a case study approach, applying economic principles to analyse contemporary issues. Lectures, take place weekly and these sessions are designed to provide a framework for discussion and analysis. The intention is that the lecture series provide insights into the theories that underpin current issues and debates in economics. Lectures set out the context in which a more detailed examination is undertaken in the lectorials.
Lectorials and tutorials
Lectorials and tutorials take place weekly on Tuesday morning. From time-to-time, lectorials will also be used to introduce new perspectives and frameworks, but the general structure of lectorial and tutorials sessions are that they are designed to be interactive. Therefore in order to get the most out of the sessions, you will need to contribute to the debate and discussion.
We will use a number of tools to help stimulate the discussion. Please note, to encourage discussion and debate, we will be directly asking questions to individual students, so be prepared to formulate a response at all times – please note, this requires that you do the reading and prep work before attending the lectorials and tutorials.
This approach is known as the Socratic method of teaching. It is a tried and tested approach in academia. It’s strength is that it encourages active learning the development of critical thought. It does, however, require a high degree of trust between the lecturer and student, as well as between the student peer group themselves. Therefore I encourage you all to make these sessions a supportive environment for discussion and debate and come along prepared to engage, share your thoughts and ideas, and be prepared to respectfully challenge and be challenged by your peer.
We are aware that some students may find this approach taxing, so please let me know outside of the lectorials if you do not wish to be asked a question directly. However, it is our assessment that you will benefit by engaging with this process. As a Level 3 student in your final semester who is about to embark on a professional career, it is important that you are given the opportunity to discuss, debate and influence; all skills which are highly valued in the workplace.
I would like to reassure all students that this will be a safe environment for you to develop these skills. It is not our intention to ask questions to embarrass anyone and remember there is never a right answer, just opinions! Any responses, sought and given will be treated with respect by lecturer and peers alike.
Private Study
Please remember you will have to do a substantial amount of work outside of the formal teaching programme in order to earn a good grade (by which I mean a first or upper second class mark). Plan to work one additional hour (reading, preparing for lectorials/ tutorials, etc) for every hour spent in class.
Blackboard will be used. However, Blackboard will only provide you with a skeleton of the module and is not a substitute for watching the recordings of the lectures ahead of engaging in the lectorials and tutorials, or for private study and reading.
Also, try always to be active and not passive in your learning. Keep thinking! Don’t just attend the lectures you should also take notes. This will help you better engage with the material. Listen actively to what the lecturer says and think about what’s been said. After the lecture, look back over your notes and think about them again. Re-writing your notes, it is a great way to clarify the material and to find things you need to work on.
When you read articles or books, make notes. Don’t just copy stuff down but scribble notes on the page: comments, questions, queries, and things to look at again. Active learners do better than passive ones.
Staff Responsibilities
Staff will endeavour to produce useful, interesting and thought provoking lectures, which are well informed by up-to-date secondary literature and, where appropriate, by visual aids. In lectorials the tutors will lead the session and provide activities for students to actively engage with. We also hope to generate and sustain discussion while at the same time recognising the students’ responsibility to contribute and stimulate debate. We will be available to discuss your work on a one-to-one basis at specified times. In addition, the tutors will make time to discuss issues raised by the group in the regular weekly slots.
This module deploys a mix of formative and summative assessment. Formative assessment takes various forms and will occur throughout the module; it will include online quizzes. Summative assessment will take the form or a written essay and written examination. The first opportunity for summative assessment is a 2000 word essay. The written examination will assess the entire learning outcomes.
Summative assessment
Component A:
An online take home open book exam. Students will chose two questions from four. The exam will be in two parts and the student must choose one question from each part.
Component B:
Students will pick a case study for a short essay on an economic issue. The aim is to analyse the issue from the perspective of conventional ‘textbook’ economics (Length 2000 words.).
Essay question:
Critically review the available evidence of both the drivers and impact of regional FDI.
Use this knowledge to suggest policies you believe the West of England Combined Authority should follow in relation to FDI and explain why.
Assessment weighting: 50% of total module mark
Size or length or assessment1: 2000 words
Module learning outcomes assessed by this task:
1. The identification, interpretation and evaluation of a range of economic theories and their applicability to ‘real world’ problems.
2. Interpretation and synthesis of macroeconomic data and the influences and ideologies underpinning the development of macroeconomic theory.
3. Evaluation of the success or failure of macroeconomic policy packages.
4. Critical analysis of the relationship between policy and regulation, and actors within a market economy
Completing your assessment
What am I required to do on this assessment?
You are part of a team reviewing the merits of FDI as a tool to drive economic development. As such, you have been asked to write a short report on the drivers of FDI and its potential impacts on a regional economy, using the West of England as a case study area. As such, you are required to apply theoretical knowledge and empirical evidence to make coherent recommendations as to which policies the West of England Combined Authority should pursue in relation to FDI.
In your written assignment, you need to:
Set the question within a theoretical context. As such you should critically evaluate the competing theories of FDI and assess their strengths and weaknesses in relation to understanding patterns of regional FDI.
Discuss the potential impacts of FDI on regional economies. In this section you may wish to focus on both the positive and negative impacts, primarily focussing on the host economy (i.e., West of England). However, FDI also has effects on the home country (the country from which the FDI originated), so it may also be appropriate to spend some time discussing the potential effects on the home countries.
The final section should suggest some policies that the West of England Combined Authority may wish to implement in relation to attracting/restricting FDI to the region. The policies you choose to pursue should follow on from your assessment of the potential impacts.
Marking Criteria (weight in in brackets)
The submission is clearly and concisely written in an appropriate style with appropriate Harvard referencing (for a third year UG student) and is within the word limit (10%)
Critical evaluation of different theories and empirical studies relating to the regional drivers of foreign direct investment (30%)
Critical evaluation of different theories and empirical studies on the impact of regional foreign direct investment – (30%)
Ability to analyse the evidence in order to suggest suitable economic development policies for the West of England region – (30%)
Submission details
Please note that the submission deadlines are absolute and based on UWE server time, therefore you are strongly advised to submit work well ahead of the deadline dates to avoid situations where penalties could be incurred. Penalties are imposed if a submission is made up to 24 hours after the deadline, and the highest mark you can receive will be the minimum pass mark (if the assessment is passed). After the 24 hours have passed, the work will not be accepted for marking.
The submission of the coursework is online via BlackBoard, the format of the document should either be a word document (.doc) or a PDF (.pdf).
Submission date
The hand-in date is Wednesday, 15th March 2023, by 2pm.
Each assessment you submit will be returned to you with written feedback consisting of comments made by tutors which enables students to understand how they have met the defined assessment criteria and identify areas for further improvement. The period for providing feedback will not normally exceed 20 working days (excluding University closure days over Easter) following the deadline for submission of the assessment concerned. This period may be shorter or longer for some forms of assessment. Where the period is greater than 20 working days, students will be informed of the deadline and the rationale for the extension. Outcomes which have not been confirmed by an examining board shall be considered as unconfirmed.
Date of submission feedback: Monday 24th April 2023 (please note, deadline for returning marking, includes the university shut down over Easter and the five-day late submission window)
Additional information and reading strategies
Readings will be provided via BlackBoard for each theme. The readings will be available at least one week in advance of each theme.
You are encouraged from the outset to explore the wide variety of material contained in the library, which can be equally useful when preparing for a session or writing the essay. You are strongly encouraged to think about and use contemporary material; use news media and journal articles which publish the latest economics stories and research. Such articles are extremely useful because they concentrate on a specific issue or debate. The last few years have been somewhat politically and economically eventful and we do not think that is about to end. Where relevant we will post news articles and commentary which you will be expected to read before workshops.
Be on the lookout for articles on interesting and relevant topics. A few of the possibly useful sources available appear below:
British Economy Surveys
Office of National Statistics (ONS) data, forecasts and articles (other developed countries will have their own bureaux producing similar material)
Oxford Review of Economic Policy
Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin
Office for Budget Responsibility
Also European Central Bank, Federal Reserve, etc.)
Publications such as The Economist and broadsheet newspapers will have information, comment and analysis that is far more immediate than any academic text can be; most also have web-based material with useful search facilities. Information (text and data) on individual economies and regions can be found from the major international organisations – United Nations, OECD, World Bank, IMF, EU all of which have web-based resources. Governments of major states will also produce material on their own economy, though the independence of the source needs to be considered.
Library
The University Library is a valuable resource; please make an effort to familiarise yourself the best way to access services during the pandemic. You are encouraged to use the web (with appropriate referencing), especially scholarly databases, and other research tools. To access this:
Go to the library webpage at http://www.uwe.ac.uk/library/
An important economics databases is Econlit
A guide to referencing can be found at: http://www1.uwe.ac.uk/students/studysupport/studyskills/referencing.aspx
The University’s policy on word count can be found:
http://www1.uwe.ac.uk/aboutus/policies.aspx
On the whole the module will be taught with reference to journal articles which at times can appear difficult to understand. Please do not worry if you do not understand all of the article, particularly those with complicated models and equations, but focus on understanding the overall meaning.
Some tips on reading journal articles:
– Understand the general meaning of the article first.
– Don’t expect to understand everything at once. Sometimes if an article is important to your work, you may need to read it several times to really grasp it.
– See the wood and don’t focus on the trees. Don’t get bogged down with detail at first: that can be dealt with on a second reading. This point is particularly important with articles containing mathematics. Don’t spend hours struggling with the maths and stats: it is good if you do understand them, but often it is sufficient to simply know the results of a study. You can go back to it if understanding the methods employed is important to you.
– Keep a record of what you’ve read. Note the name, date, title and journal source. Jot down some main points. What is the article saying? What is its importance? Why is it useful to you? How does it fit into your study?
Referencing tools can help a lot with organising reading and references.
If you can adopt these tips, they become habit. Your study will be greatly enhanced if you do so.
Communication
Throughout your time with us, you will receive regular communication from your module leader, tutors and administrative staff, and it is your responsibility to ensure that you read everything that you are sent, and act upon it where appropriate.
The main communication channel used is Blackboard for all the modules you are currently studying. Blackboard provides the main communication channel for module specific information and these too should be checked regularly for new content and announcements.
Please see http://info.uwe.ac.uk/myUWE/guidance/default.asp for further information on all aspects of your myUWE portal.
Advice and support
There are a range of facilities and services available to go to for advice and support depending on what the issue is. Remember, asking for help at the earliest possible stage will help you in the long run. Your first point of call should always be your Academic Personal tutor, as they will be able to sign post you to the right services and will be able to deal with specific matters relating to teaching and learning. If you are not able to contact your Academic Personal tutor for any reason go to an Information Point, details of which can be found at http://www1.uwe.ac.uk/students/informationpoints.aspx
Student support advisers are available and can also be contacted through the Information Points, see http://www1.uwe.ac.uk/students/academicadvice/studentadvisers.aspx
for information on how they might be able to help.
However, you are more than welcome to talk to other members of UWE staff depending on who you feel most comfortable talking to.