Module description
This module introduces students to the main debates and issues in the study of economics, situating those debates and issues in political context at domestic and international levels.
The module starts by thinking through fundamental issues in the study of economics: what economics itself is, and what we mean when we talk about the economy. As well as covering the basic statistical tools that are most often used to describe economic activity, we see how such tools often miss out crucial elements, failing to adequately value the natural world and care work for example.
We then move on to look at the key institutions of the economy, namely the market, the individual, companies and the state. Here we gain more familiarity with the language of economics and some of the main competing theories on offer. We ask questions like ‘how well do markets allocate resources?’, ‘how do individuals make economic decisions?’, ‘can companies become too big?’, ‘do states help or hinder economic growth?’, all the while thinking through the political implications of different answers to these questions. Term 1 then ends with three weeks focused on economic growth. In the first, we ask why economies grow and whether anything can be done to improve growth rates. We then move on to examine how economists think about the relationship between economic growth and issues of environmental harm and inequality.
Term 2 shifts gear to look in more detail at questions of economic policy at domestic and international levels. We start by unpicking the types of goals governments pursue in domestic economic policy and the tools that they have at their disposal. Then, we take in the two major traditions of macroeconomic thought, Keynesianism and the monetarist/inflation targeting paradigm, seeing how the debate between these positions remains fundamental to understanding how states manage periods of economic crises such as the 2008 global financial crisis, or the 2020/21 pandemic.
In the final section of the module, we then move on to look at international economics understood as the flow of goods, money, and people around the international economy, presenting a variety of ways of explaining those flows and relating them to issues in international relations. First, we learn some of the basic principles we use to understand the interactions of these flows – the balance of payments and exchange rates, for example. Then, we look at international trade, examining how economics thinks about the balance between free trade and protectionism in different contexts. After that, we spend two weeks on the international monetary system, learning about how different monetary systems work, and how they relate to international political conditions, before spending a week examining economic migration. The module concludes by taking a wide-angle view on the relationship between economics and politics at the international level. We examine the various ways in which increased international economic integration has produced a set of distinctive tensions in global politics.
You do not need to have studied economics before taking this module. But if you have never studied economics before (and even if you have) we would recommend reading Ha-Joon Chang’s 2014 book Economics: A user’s guide for an entertaining and readable overview of some issues and ideas.
Assessment details
1 X 2000 Word Policy Review (50%) and one 2 Hour In Person Examination (50%)
Educational aims & objectives
- Examine the core issues and debates in International Economics.
- Introduce students to essential concepts and terms of art for the study of International Economics.
- To communicate the evolving character of International Economics from diverse perspectives, with a particular emphasis on questions of public concern and policies in practice.
- To provide students with an introduction to the main skills, academic and other, that are necessary for the BA International Relations programme.
Learning outcomes
At the end of the module students will:
- Have developed a broad understanding of international economics, including key terminology and main debates.
- Be able to identify the relationship between issues of international economics and political context at domestic and international levels.
- Have acquired specialised cognitive and analytical skills such that they are able to identify assumptions and concepts underlying economic theories, and begin to identify their strengths and weaknesses.
- Be able to identify and develop their own enquiries, within defined guidelines, into central problems in international economics, through the collection and analysis of authoritative sources, and be able to communicate solutions informed by these sources in appropriate formats.
- Have begun to reflect upon their own learning, becoming aware of their own capabilities and engaging in development activity through guided self – direction.
- Have demonstrated awareness of the ethical issues inherent to the study of International Economics, and relate these to personal beliefs and values.
Teaching pattern
One-hour lecture and one-hour seminar, weekly
Indicative teaching schedule
Week 1: What is economics?
Week 2: What is the economy? – The GDP view
Week 3: What is the economy? – The social reproduction view
Week 4: Key institutions – The market
Week 5: Key institutions – Individuals
Week 6: Key institutions – Companies
Week 7: Key institutions – The state
Week 8: Global growth – Theories and causes
Week 9: Global growth – Economy vs. environment?
Week 10: Global growth - Inequality
Week 11: Policy – Monetary and fiscal policy levers
Week 12: Policy – Keynesianism then and now
Week 13: Policy – Monetarism and inflation targeting
Week 14: Policy – Global finance
Week 15: Global flows – Introduction
Week 16: Global flows – Goods
Week 17: Global flows – Money I
Week 18: Global flows – Money II
Week 19: Global flows – People
Week 20: Global flows – Politics
Note that this teaching schedule is indicative and subject to change
Suggested reading list
Core texts
-
- Chang, H.J. (2014) Economics: A User’s Guide (London: Pelican)
- Hill, R. and Myatt, T. (2010) The economics anti-textbook: a critical thinker’s guide to microeconomics (London: Zed Books)
- Fischer, L. et al. (2018) Rethinking economics: an introduction to pluralist economics (London Routledge)
- Begg, D. et al. (2011) Economics, 10th edition (London: McGraw and Hill)
- Backhouse, R. (2002) The Penguin history of economics (London: Penguin)
- Skidelsky, R. (2009) Keynes: the return of the master (London: Allen Lane)
- Krugman, P. et al (2011) International Economics: Theory and Policy, 9th edition (Harlow: Pearson)