| Unit name | Economic Analytics |
|---|---|
| Unit code | ECONM0010 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Dr. Johnson |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
Econometrics with Python |
| Units you may not take alongside this one |
None |
| School/department | School of Economics |
| Faculty | Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
Why is this unit important?
This unit is designed to equip students with state-of-art knowledge on economic insights that would be useful for a data scientist. The material will cover basic economic reasoning for industry and business, including consumer demands, firms pricing strategies, strategic reasoning, economics of trade, and financial markets. The goal is to prepare students with fundamental knowledge in economics so that they can have in-depth understanding for the optional economic field courses taught in TB2. The training will be quantitative in nature but with a focus on key concepts in economics. At the core is a model of economic interaction that builds on goal-oriented behaviour from individual consumers and firms, in a competitive environment where price-mechanism is used to determine resource allocations, together with a framework to think about international trade and financial markets. The main learning objective is to equip students with a framework to approach various real-world problem from the economic perspective to find a solution.
How does this unit fit into your programme of study?
Within the program, this unit will complement the unit Econometrics with Python by providing conceptual frameworks with which to guide the empirical and data analytics methods. This is essential for the training for a data-science tooled economist. Moreover, this unit will be an important foundation for optional economic field units in TB2, which will use concepts and frameworks learned from here to build on specific applications. For example, the Empirical Industrial Organization unit will need the model of strategic interactions to study industry pricing, the Development Economics or Labour Economics units will need the framework that conceptualizes market mechanism and allocations with market prices.
An overview of content
The unit includes two parts: the conceptual framework includes modern consumer theory and consumer demand, monopoly and oligopoly pricing,
and game theory; it also covers financial markets and foundations for international trade.
First the conceptual frameworks. In consumer theory, students will learn how to derive demand functions from the underlying choice data, which is a
fundamental step for companies to understand their market and potential customers. Then, students will learn two benchmark models of price competition, the Cournot model where companies compete on the quantity margin and the Bertrand model where companies compete on the price margin. Finally, students will learn a general framework of economic interaction, Game Theory and its basic solution concept, the Nash equilibrium. The course will also cover international trade and financial market by extending the basic analytical framework by adding labour specialization and markets with financial claims.
Finally, the unit will also connect to the empirical methods taught in the Econometrics with Python unit. In particular, this unit will provide the
conceptual breakthrough that allow students to recognize the potential endogeneity problem in many social interactions, where the one variable is
jointly determined by another through equilibrium conditions.
How will students, personally, be different as a result of the unit
Students will be able to analyse events in the real world from an economist’s perspective, that is, to uncover the underlying economic motivations and to
make predictions on future behaviour through the use of the conceptual framework as well as the empirical methods to feed data into that framework.
Learning Outcomes
At the end of the unit a successful student will
1. Derive the consumer demand in a concrete application, to solve for
equilibrium prices in various oligopoly competition models, and to find Nash equilibrium in games.
2. Formulate and articulate equilibrium reasoning in various context, such as industrial organization, trade, and financial markets, and recognise potential endogeneity problem from relevant economic data.
Large group lectures will be mainly used to introduce conceptual frameworks and their motivations. This will be supplemented by online asynchronous materials to help understanding and revision, and a reading list that contains both academic papers and news articles to enhance learning and applications.
Small group classes will serve two purposes. First, it allows the tutors to engage in rigorous model derivation as a role-model in a face-to-face environment that would develop students’ analytical skills of the economic models covered in the lecture. Second, it allows an opportunity to have an in person discussion of how these models can be used to understand/change the real world economic practices.
Tasks which help you learn and prepare you for summative tasks (formative):
There will be various sets of formative assessments designed to give students prepare the summative assessments and provide feedbacks throughout the term. These assessments include practice exercise questions that aim at checking and deepening understanding of the various models introduced, and discussion questions that allow students to apply the models to examples in real life contexts. Both will be discussed in small group classes.
Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):
Exam (90 minutes) (100%).
Assesses both learning outcomes
When assessment does not go to plan
Exam (90 minutes) (100%)
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. ECONM0010).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
