Form C4
1. Course
Code
5. School
7. Delivery:
Location &
Semester
Heriot-Watt University - Course Descriptor
C20PW
2. Course
Title
Management and Languages
Edin
X
Sem 1
8. Pre-requisites
9. Linked Courses
(specify if synoptic)
10. Excluded Courses
11. Replacement Courses
Introduction to Public Sector and Welfare Economics
3. SCQF
Level
6. Course
Co-ordinator
10
4. Credits
15
Prof. Karen Turner
SBC
Orkney
Dubai
IDL
Collaborative Partner
Approved Learning Partner
Sem….
Sem………..
Sem…..
Sem….
Name…………………….....Sem..…...
Name …………………………………Sem………..
C28IE
N/A
Code:
12. Degrees for which
this is a core course
Date Of Replacement:
13. The course may be
14. Available as an Elective?
Yes
X No
UG only
X
PG only
UG & PG
delivered to:
15. Aims
* The broad aim of this course is to provide students with a basic level of understanding of the role economics can pay in public policy and spending evaluation, ranking and
decision making.
* This will involve introducing students to the subject area of normative or welfare economics, which concerns the evaluation of consequences of particular types of policy
changes, determining a basis according to which various policy proposals may be ranked and thereby coming to a judgment concerning the desirability of different options
for society.
* This involves extending on basic neoclassical microeconomic frameworks that students have encountered in previous courses, such as public goods, externalities and
other sources of market failure. Here we place them in the context of providing a rationale for the existence of government.
* However, in this class students will be introduced to new concepts and frameworks, including considering utility versus welfare, individual versus social welfare, efficiency
versus equity, value judgments and the Pareto principle, compensation criteria and social/public choice.
* Students will also be introduced to one of the main analytical techniques used in policy evaluation at all levels of government. This is social cost benefit analysis, which
differs from conventional CBA through the types of costs and benefits included (in the presence of market failure), their valuation (based on social rather than opportunity
costs and determining shadow prices where market prices do not exist or are incorrect) and type of discount rate used (the social discount rate, reported in the UK Green
Book). This class will serve employability aims through reference to practical 'real world' applications of SCBA to supplement and complement the textbook theoretical
framework.
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Form C4
Heriot-Watt University - Course Descriptor
16. Syllabus
The course consists of a mixture of lectures and seminars. Lectures will cover topics including the economic rationale for government; Pareto optimality; efficiency, equity,
the compensation principle, and the social welfare function; market failures, public goods and externalities; public choice; and social cost benefit analysis.
17. Learning Outcomes (HWU Core Skills: Employability and Professional Career Readiness)
Subject Mastery
Understanding, knowledge and cognitive skills
Competence in applying the basic theoretical constructs and frameworks of welfare and public economics that will allow graduates to play an active
role in the process of public policy evaluation and ranking. Practical knowledge of the application of social cost benefit analysis as a tool employed at
all levels of government in assessing whether to undertake a particular project/spending programme.
Scholarship, enquiry and research (research-informed learning)
Understanding of how welfare economics has evolved over the years, and of how academic economists' expertise differs from but interacts with that
of government economic advisers.
Personal Abilities
Industrial, commercial and professional practice
Recognising and appreciating the role economists can play in making value judgements regarding the benefit of society as a whole where market
failures exist.
Autonomy, accountability and working with others
Preparation for potential future employment as a public sector economist (e.g. the UK Government Economic Service) or in the private sector where
public sector decision making and/or policies have a direct impact (e.g. public sector supply chain activity or delivery of public projects).
Communication, numeracy and ICT
Ability to present information in a form understandable by peers and by non-academics.
18. Assessment Methods
19. Re-assessment Methods
Method
Duration of Exam
Weighting (%)
Synoptic courses?
Method
(if applicable)
Coursework & Continuous
assessment
Examination
20. Date and Version
Date of Proposal
11/03/13
Diet(s)
(if applicable)
30%
2 hours
Duration of Exam
None
Exam
2 hours
Decemb
er
70%
Date of Approval by
School Committee
Date of
Implementation
Version
Number
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