Dr Vassilis Monastiriotis COW 2.05

This course is available on the MSc in Political Economy of Europe. This course is not available as an outside option.

This course is for students with little economic background. Students from other departments are welcome if space permits.

This is a crash-course in economics targeting students with no previous knowledge of economics. The aim of the course is to provide students with a background in economic theory sufficient for MSc courses within the European Institute. Students with some knowledge of basic theory are welcome to sit in, but in lectures priority is given to ensuring that non-economists reach the required standard. The course follows the themes covered in standard Economics textbooks (undergraduate level), but the approach is to focus on key concepts and approaches that are of relevance to discussions concerning the political economy of Europe, using a combination of activities, including instructive lectures, seminar-like discussion and in-class ‘experiments’. Starting with the main premises of economic analysis (scarcity, equilibrium, etc), we review the main approaches/theories (Keynesianism, monetarism, etc), and examine the central issues of market structure / firm behaviour (profit maximisation, monopolistic competition, etc) and economic behaviour of individuals (preferences, consumption, demand/supply, etc). We then move on to open-economy macroeconomics and policy (trade, exchange rates, public debts, etc) and consider a series of other special topics (labour economics, welfare economics, industrial economics, etc). 

20 hours of lectures in the MT.

J Stiglitz & J Driffill, Economics, Norton, 2000 (or later editions); P Krugman & M Obstfeld, International Economics, Addison Wesley, 2003.

There is no examination for this course. A Moodle course provides tailored case studies and material for self-assessment.