Introduction to Economics, basic course

Aim

After completing the course, the student should be able to:

• give an account of the basic economic problems and the basic assumptions
• explain what determines demand, supply, and price in a market and what can cause these to change
• account for companies' various production and cost relationships
• account for individuals' trade-offs between benefits and costs associated with different choices
• discuss the functioning of the labour market, causes of unemployment, and labour market policy
• discuss what is behind the rise of international trade
• account for the construction of a country's national accounts and macroeconomic target variables and the meaning of various indicators of the macroeconomic situation
• explain how different forms of discrimination can lead to inefficiencies in markets
• at a basic level interpret and apply graphical and simple mathematical analysis
• at a basic level apply economic models to analyse economic problems

Content

The course covers basic economic theory in both microeconomics and macroeconomics. The course begins with the basic prerequisites of the economy, the actors in the market, and the assumptions of rationality, demand, supply, and equilibrium price as well as various disturbances in the market. Then consumer and producer theory, how actors, individuals, and companies make decisions to maximise benefits or minimise costs, and how factor markets work, are covered. Furthermore, companies' cost relationships are treated.

Within macroeconomics, the national accounts and their structure are treated as well as other concepts that relate to a country's economic situation and how these can be used to interpret the macroeconomic situation. Furthermore, the emergence of international trade is addressed, as is the way the labor market functions, the different types of unemployment, and their causes. Different forms of discrimination and potential inefficiencies that can arise in markets as a result of discrimination are also subjects covered in the course.