Economics is divided into two streams: microeconomics and macroeconomics. Microeconomics focuses on the behaviours and interactions of economic agents, such as firms, households, and individuals. Macroeconomics looks, firstly, at the economy as a whole, especially the behaviours of aggregate measures, such as gross domestic product (GDP); measures of economic welfare; the quantity of capital, labour, and material and energy resources used; the quantity and nature of the wastes generated; the unemployment rate; the inflation rate; exchange rates; and interest rates. Secondly, macroeconomics considers how these aggregate measures vary with the business cycle and respond to government policies, ecological disturbances, institutional changes, international trading arrangements, and society’s values and individual behavioural patterns.

The course provides an overview of both microeconomics and macroeconomics. Throughout the course, we will consider contemporary economic issues through the lens of real-world economics and their relevance to strategic decision-making, organisational management, and economic, social, and environmental policy-setting.

On successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

1	Understand key economic concepts, principles, and analytical tools, as well as the ‘language’ and ways of thinking employed by real-world economists
2	Apply key microeconomic and macroeconomic principles and analytical tools to make better managerial decisions and communicate solutions convincingly to both economists and non-economists
3	Understand economic policy issues and their relevance to management decisions
4	Articulate economic conditions and policy issues and why they are relevant to management
5	Understand the roles that governments and markets can play in improving the welfare of our society

Hubbard. R.G; Garnett. A.M; Lewis. P; and O’Brien. A.P.: “Essentials of Economics", Fourth Edition 2018, Pearson Australia, Sydney.
Paperback ISBN: 9781488616983
eBook ISBN: 9781488620225

In addition to the assigned readings from the prescribed text, you may find it useful to access information from other sources. A number of introductory economics texts have been written over the past decades. Some of these books are held in the Ngee-Ann library. Please feel free to browse through the available books for alternative explanations of the relevant concepts.

It is also recommended that you read relevant articles published in the business section of major newspapers (such as “The Straits Times”) or business magazines (such as “The Economist”) regularly. This may help you to better appreciate the link between economic theory and its application to real life.

Economic data and commentary pertaining to Singapore can be viewed from http://www.singstat.gov.sg  and http://www.mas.gov.sg .
Economic data and commentary pertaining to Australia is available at http://www.abs.gov.au and https://www.rba.gov.au/ .

Other useful pages on the World Wide Web are as follows:

Economist.com
www.economist.com 

International Monetary Fund
www.imf.org 

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
www.oecd.org 

The World Bank
www.worldbank.org 

This course makes use of MyUni for the posting of course materials, assessment tasks, and important announcements. It is expected that all students will regularly check the MyUni course website, and regularly check their university email accounts or re-direct them to an account that they regularly check.

Further details about the online delivery of this course can be found on MyUni.

The approach to teaching and learning in this course is to firstly develop the concepts of Economics through a series of lectures on the topics as outline. These concepts will then be expanded by each student attempting a set of “Review Questions”, by discussion and assignment tasks. Students are encouraged to engage in discussion and to ask questions as they arise in order to clarify a point or seek an understanding of how a concept is applied to the “real world”.

Due to the intensive nature of the course students should prepare for each topic by reading the Chapters as suggested in the course outline. In addition students should attempt all the review questions. In general it is anticipated that students should spend one hour of preparation and review for each hour spent in each intensive. On top of this students are asked to complete a Case Study which will take some considerable time working with-in a group. It is difficult to quantify the time the assignment will take to complete and it will depend on the enthusiasm of each group for the task.

A summary of the lecture schedule is provided on pages 2 and 3 of the Course Outline which appears in the Course Folder. In addition to attending lectures you will be asked to complete a set of review questions for each topic and undertake three separate units of continuous assessment. You are encouraged to participate in the analysis of the events of economic importance during each of the intensives.

There are no specific requirements associated with this course beyond those already discussed in this section.

Assessment	Percentage of Total Mark
Individual Assessments	20%
Case Study (Group Assessment)	30%
Final Exam	50%

Group assessment tasks have a maximum 30% weighting. A minimum of seventy precent (70%) of the total value of a course’s assessment will be devoted to individually submitted work, which may be in the form of assignments, examinations or presentations.
In addition to achieving a course mark of at least 50%, students need to attain an average of fifty precent (50%) across all the individually assessed items, considered as a whole, in order to pass the course.

Attendance:

Statutory obligations in Singapore are such that attendance in person is a compulsory condition of passing a course. Our specific requirements are that students must attend at least 80% of class sessions to be graded for that course. For these purposes each intensive weekend is defined as comprising 5 sessions with 1 on Friday evening and 2 on each of Saturday and Sunday.

Each course in total comprises 10 sessions; Students must attend a minimum of 8 sessions to be eligible to be given a grade for the course. Students failing to meet these requirements will be automatically graded 0% Fail (F) on their transcripts.

Completion:
To gain a pass for this course, a student must achieve at least 50% overall with a minimum of 45% for the overall individual components. Students not achieving this requirement will have a fail (F) recorded as their final grade.

Assessment Overview:

Assessment of this subject takes two forms: Self-assessment and formal assessment. Each topic contains questions which will allow you to test your knowledge and understanding of the material presented. These questions are designed to stimulate your interest in the topic and to gain an understanding of the applications of the relevant concepts. You are encouraged to read questioningly and to be critical of statements presented. Time will be allocated in each session for consideration of the topic questions and to discuss issues raised. Formal assessment will take the form of two written assignments, a case study and a final examination.

Assignments: (20% of the course marks)
Two short assignments would be completed during the class sessions. These assignments will account for 20% of the course marks. The first assignment worth 10% would consist of twenty multiple choice questions, which must be completed by each student during the class session on 17th July, 2016 The second assignment worth 10% would be completed by each student during the class session on 7th August, 2016. There is no word limit to the second assignment but the assignment must be completed within the allocated time.

Assessment criteria for Second Assignment; (10% of the course marks)

1. Demonstrated understanding of the relevant Economics concepts and theories.

2. Quality of the analysis and presentation.

3. Communication of ideas by making use of all available tools including the relevant diagrams.

4. Clarity of expression, including accuracy of terminology used.

The case study would be completed by students in small groups (2-4 students in a group). This will involve critical assessment of an industry of your choice. The word limit will be 5,000. The exercise will account for 30% of the course marks. The case study must be completed by Thursday 19th August, 2016. Guidelines for the case study are as follows.

Guidelines for the Case Study:

The aim of this exercise is to apply economics concepts to critically analyse an industry of your choice.

While completing the cases study you may consider yourself as a consultant who has been approached by a firm or an investor to undertake an analysis of the market trends in a particular industry. The firm may be considering an investment within the industry and is in the evaluation phase. As the principal researcher/consultant you have been handed the brief. You may wish to form a team of 2-4 colleagues in order to prepare the required report.

Select an industry in which you have a particular interest. You should aim to analyse the market trends over a 5-10 year period. Therefore choose carefully as availability of information is a major consideration.

You should then use this information and the concepts studied in the course to prepare your report. Please refer to the attached notes on report writing to gain an understanding of how the report should be structured.

The report should address the following questions.

1. Within the industrial group describe trends in relation to production, number of participants, prices, competition both domestic and from imports, employment, investment and profitability.

2.Determinants of changes in demand and supply.

3.The impact of technological change and economies of scale.

4. Pricing strategies and interaction between firms.

5. The nature, extent and impact of Government policies.

6 You opinion as to whether the industry represents an area of potential investment for your client.

Assessment criteria for the case study;

In your report you and your team should demonstrate

1. An understanding of the relevant economic concepts.

2. An ability to conduct good quality analysis and evaluation of the recent market trends and futures in the industry.

3. An ability to communicate ideas effectively by means of organisation of the content of the report.

4. Clarity of expression, including accuracy of terminology used.

Three Hour Open Book Final Exam: (50% of the course marks)
The exam will cover all main topics studied during the class sessions. The exam would mainly consist of discussion questions that can be answered by making use of appropriate diagrams while referring to the relevant concepts discussed.

Presentation of Assignments:

Please must retain a copy of all assignments submitted.

Please attach an ‘Assignment Cover Sheet’, which is signed and dated by you before submission.

All group assignments must be attached to a ‘Group Assignment Cover Sheet’, which must be signed and dated by all group members before submission. All team members are expected to contribute approximately equally to a group assignment.

Additional Assessment

If a student receives 45-49 for their final mark for the course they will automatically be granted an additional assessment. This will most likely be in the form of a new exam (Additional Assessment) and will have the same weight as the original exam unless an alternative requirement (for example a hurdle requirement) is stated in this semester’s Course Outline. If, after replacing the original exam mark with the new exam mark, it is calculated that the student has passed the course, they will receive 50 Pass as their final result for the course (no higher) but if the calculation totals less than 50, their grade will be Fail and the higher of the original mark or the mark following the Additional Assessment will be recorded as the final result.