COURSE OUTLINE
Course Title: Principles of Economics
Course Code: ECON1000
Credits: 3
Year: 1
Course Description:
This course covers both introductory microeconomics and macroeconomics. The objective of this course is to introduce learners to the basic tools and concepts of economics. Participants will be exposed to the core principles of economics: the role of incentives, the idea of scarcity, how to measure the cost and benefit of a choice, the opportunity cost of a decision, what is a market, and the purpose of prices. The course will also introduce the tools and models used by economists. Thus the course covers how markets work (and when they do not work) and how consumers and producers make decisions. Finally, the course applies these tools and concepts to explain the determination of economic outcomes and in so doing introduces and explains common economic variables such as GDP, inflation, unemployment and the balance of payments.
At the end of this course, learners will be able to apply the core principles of the methodology of economics in everyday use, evidenced by the ability to assess and interpret public issues and events with the mindset of the economist.
Course Objectives:
At the end of the course, students will be able to: Knowledge
1. Define the basic concepts of economics
2. Discuss the core principles that economists use to understand observed phenomena
3. Demonstrate how observed economic phenomena exemplify the core principles of economics through examples
4. Examine how individuals, firms and households make decisions, by reviewing market models
5. Analyze the forces of demand and supply and how they interact to determine an equilibrium price
6. Predict how and why equilibrium prices might change and their impact on resource allocation
7. Explain and analyze the market model
8. Identify the presence of market failures and select appropriate corrective policies
9. Examine in general the underlying factors that cause changes in macroeconomic variables such as inflation, interest rates, exchange rate, GDP and unemployment, and the linkages between these variables
10. Explain how fiscal policy operates, its advantages and disadvantages
11. Analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the operations of monetary policy
12. Evaluate how changes in macroeconomic variables affect government policies and the effects on market participants and social and economic programmes
Skills
13. Apply the market model to interpret price changes in the local and global market
14. Explain and apply the production possibility frontier
15. Measure and interpret how people react to changes in the key economic variables
Attitudes
16. Make informed decisions in their day-to-day processes using the core principles of economics
17. Appreciate how the relationship between aggregate demand and aggregate supply contributes to the cost of living index
