Economics

Course summary

Economics teaches students to think logically and to use theories to understand how economies operate. The basic economic problem, of how we divide up scarce resources and how decisions about how best to do this affect us all, is at the core of the subject – in other words who gets what and why? The subject, therefore, studies all of society and the activities of various groups and institutions within it, including consumers, firms and the government. This involves studying how markets allocate scarce resources, the effects of competition and government intervention. The macroeconomic part of the course is what most people associate with economics. This includes the study of economic growth, inflation, unemployment and international trade and the difficulties the government faces when it attempts to steer the economy towards a particular economic objective.