Contemporary Issues in Economics, Finance and Business 2

Module code: EC1026

This modules builds on the foundations of introductory economics and is designed for  you if you want to apply economic models and methods to some of the most pressing questions facing economies today. In the first half of the module, we focus on unemployment and inflation and the ways they shape people’s lives, particularly in developing economies.

You will learn about the different types and causes of unemployment, the costs it imposes, and how economists measure and analyse it, before turning to inflation: how it is measured, why it matters, and how it affects households unevenly. A central theme throughout is how economists gather evidence on these questions. You will be introduced to experimental and field-based methods, including randomised trials, that are used to test economic ideas and evaluate real-world policies. Through interactive lectures and workshops, you will examine both historical and contemporary episodes, work with real data, and learn to evaluate the policies designed to address them.

The second half of the module focuses on credit and financial markets. We begin with the credit market: borrowers, lenders, and the rate of interest. We then consider how debt, money, and banking fit together, including the role of commercial banks and central banks in money supply and monetary control. From there, we move to financial markets, looking at financial assets, asset price bubbles, and financial crises. Workshops are hands-on: you will prepare presentations, read and analyse newspaper articles, and work with real data to make sense of these issues and judge how they play out in practice.

We will use modern CORE Econ textbook sources to support your learning. The Economy 2.0: Macroeconomics and The Economy 1.0 provide accessible introductions to the macroeconomic and financial concepts at the heart of the course, while Economy, Society, and Public Policy and Doing Economics: Empirical Projects will guide you in conducting data analysis on real-world data. We will also draw on Experiencing Economics for classroom experiments in which you take on the role of a decision-maker in an economic model. By the end of the course, you will have a solid foundation in applied macroeconomics and finance, ready to analyse and engage with the economic debates that shape policy today.