Office hours: Wednesday 10-12 (or by arrangement with the Lecturer)

Office location: Nexus 10, Level 4, Room 4.46.

Each student is expected to attend two one hour lectures each week, and a one hour tutorial. A full timetable of the lectures and tutorials can be found on the Course Planner at: http://access.adelaide.edu.au/courses/search.asp

The lectures will be used to explain relevant concepts, theories, models and policies, whilst the tutorial time will be used to apply the acquired knowledge to active discussions. The tutorial contents will typically include a mix of real world and theoretical, quantitative and analytical, topic explorations which will be posted on MyUni prior to the tutorials.

Students are expected to study the course materials carefully and to fully engage in class discussions. All work discussed in both the lectures and the tutorials and any submitted material can form the basis for the final examination.

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

1. Identify and explain a range of contemporary economic issues which are currently subject to debate and controversy.
2. Identify, explain and apply contributions from a variety of prominent economists and various schools of thought to modern controversies relating to economic policy
3. Construct effective pieces of written work of a professional standard, to communicate the results of economic analysis to non-economists.
4. Present economic analysis to a diverse group of students and members of staff, making appropriate use of the available technology for the purpose.

There will be no designated main text book for this course. Reading and related resources will be provided throughout the course's duration in MyUni.

Further resources will be recommended during the course on MyUni.

All of the material related to the course, including the full details of each assessment task, will be available on MyUni.

Lectures and related reading mayterial should reinforce each other. You are strongly advised to keep up with the recommended reading. Ideally, you should be covering the recommended reading for each week prior to the lecture. You will find that the course will be far easier to follow if you do this on a regular basis.

Tutorials are intended to reinforce the lectures, and will require active participation from all students. Active tutorial participation will form part of the tutorial contribution assessment.

Lecture attendance: 2 Hours per week.

Tutorial participation: 1 Hour per week.

Home study expectation: 10 Hours per week.

The schedule will include topics of current importance for understanding how the present economic thinking may be "re-thought" taking into account the current state of economic thinking combined with the current state of some of the policy problems where solutions may be debated between economists and beyond. The course is planned to allow for the students to have a voice about (some of) the topics choice, as the course develops over the semester.

Possible examples may include:

How do we understand climate change and how it influences differently developed and less developed countries. What has economics to say about the use (or abuse) of natural resources? How is the burden distributed nationally and internationally?

In many countries we can see an intense ageing of the population taking place. By the middle of the 21st Century such countries will be needing a large proportion of their GDP to be dedicated to Social and Aged Care. How will this be provided and how will it be funded?

Technology is taking over many job activities. Will the traditional distinctions such as between "employees" and "employers" or between "producers" and "consumers" continue to be useful for understanding how we allocate scarce resources? Is the idea that we all have a "right" to work an idea that will survive the explosion of technology? 

Is the concept of education as an individual investment activity going to survive the changing production proceses? Who should be paying for training and education?

What is the role of public policy in regulating market structures? Is it the obligation of the state to control large national and multinational monopolies or oligopolies?

What is the purpose of housing policy? Is there an optimal level of home ownership? Should the rental market be regulated?

Why would we need a minimum wage? What would be its consequences? Should we go further and think about a basic/living wage as an entitlement?

Can we expect globalisation to persist in the future? If it does, in what form will this happen and who will benefit from it? What will be the role of debt in this context?

Some of these examples may not be followed up and other examples may be included as they may be raised during the progression of the course. 

An essential commonality between these questions questions is that they all question (in one way or other) the capacity of a model based on a well-functining market motivated by utility maximising individuals and profit maximising firms to deliver socially desirable economic and social outcomes, without state intervention. The course will take the student through exploring many questions and hopefully finding some answers, basaed more on evidence and common sense and less on opinion and dogma. The understanding that neither a "fully competitive market" nor a "fully planned economy" are very likely to offer any definitive, feasible and practical solutions will underpin the thinking of this course.

The minimum grade to pass this subject is a mark of 50% overall. There are no separate requirements for individual assessments.

Assessment Task	Task Type	Due	Length	Weighting	Learning Outcome
Tutorial participation	Collaborative; Formative	Weekly, ongoing	N/A	10%	1,2,4
Online quizzes	Individual; Formative	Weeks 4, 8 and 11	N/A	30%	2
Final Exam	Individual; Summative	Exam period	3 hours	60%	1,2,3
Total				100%

The minimum grade to pass this subject is a mark of 50% overall. There are no separate requirements for individual assessments.

1) Three online quizzes – (Due: Weeks 4, 8 and 11 and announced one week in advance). 30% Weight (10% each).

These are designed to assess the extent to which students have assimilated the materials covered during the previous four weeks, and to help students to prepare for the final examination.

2) Tutorial Participation. 10% Weight.

Students will be expected to participate actively in tutorials at all times. Assessment of Tutorial active participation will be explained to students at the beginning of the course.

3) Final Examination – 3 hours, Closed Book. 60% Weight.

Final exam (worth 60% of the final mark) The final exam will cover the entire course. All material from the lectures, the textbook and the tutorials is examinable.

Date: For details on examination location and date/time, please refer to the examination timetable, which will be published later in the Semester.

1. Online quizzes are to be conducted and submitted via MyUni. Failure to submit an assessment on time will lead to a zero mark.

2. Extensions and alternative assessment conditions will only be considered if they follow the relevant University regulations. It is the student's responsibility to contact their lecturer about such exceptional circumstances as early as is practically possible.