BAM4012 - Business Economics

Objectives:

On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:

(1) explain the main economic processes involved in resource allocation in a market economy and apply the main principles of economic analysis;
(2) identify and explain the principle determinants of business revenue and business costs and analyse their inter-relationship;
(3) explain the nature and functioning of different market structures and analyse the behaviour of business organisations within these different markets;
(4) employ appropriate economic analysis to analyse the economic and welfare implications of different forms of market behaviour and of policies designed to influence such behaviour;\
(5) outline the evolution and principles of economic management and analyse the macro economic environment within which businesses operate.

Content:

Models of resource allocation: theories of price determination and market behaviour: basic microeconomic concepts involved in the supply and demand model including static and dynamic equilibrium. Markets for goods and factors.
Theories of consumer demand including analysis of demand elasticities: demand and business revenue. The theory of business costs especially scale/cost relationships. Business motivation and equilibrium analysis.
The theory of the firm: different market structures and the competitive process especially the analysis of imperfect competition. Cost, output and profit outcomes under different market structures. Alternative theories of the firm.
Elementary welfare economics and policy issues: e.g. competition policy, privatisation and regulation, the problem of externalities.
Contemporary economic management: the changing role of government, policies towards growth, inflation, unemployment and the balance of payments, the impact of policy on the business sector and economic management of the business environment.

Learning and Teaching Information:

The module will be delivered with a core of weekly lectures supported by weekly small group tutorials. In tutorials all students in the group will be expected to discuss questions issued in advance based on common set reading.

Lecture
Contact hours 20
Number of groups 1

Tutorial
Contact hours 18
Number of groups 5

Assessment:

001 Seminar Presentation Report (sem 1 or 2) 40%
002 Assessed essay 1 x 1500 words (sem 1) 30%
003 Assessed essay 1 x 1500 words (sem 2) 30%


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