Access Economics 2016-17
Access 2016-17
ECONOMICS
Tuesdays, 7.00-9.00pm
(Please note: this information is provisional and could be subject to change.)
Course Outline
This course offers an introduction to the academic discipline of Economics. It is designed to
encourage you to develop an awareness of some of the core areas of economic theory and
practice. This course is aimed to prepare you for a full-time course in Economics. During the
course, we shall cover some basic concepts of Economics. These will include some core
topics from both microeconomics and macroeconomics.
The Course
The course will be taught in four sections. A very brief outline is given below:
Section 1: It will include some basic concepts of demand, supply and equilibrium.
Section 2: Costs of production will be discussed along with consumer and producer surplus.
Section 3: It will comprise of the theory of consumer choice along with definition and
measurement of the national income.
Section 4: Finally, some important topics like savings, investment and inflation will be
analysed in the final section.
Class Format
The course will take the form of weekly two-hour classes generally consisting of lectures.
Sometimes the class may have a mix of both lectures and interactive discussions. There will
also be some informal tests to make you better prepared for the class tests and the final
examination.
Recommended Books
There are many introductory books in Economics but as a general introduction and good
background, Principles of Economics (6th edition) by Mankiw (2011) is recommended as the
main textbook. It should be mentioned that any earlier recent edition of this book can also be
used.
Although any formal textbook on Economics and any recent edition of them can be used in
addition to the main textbook, a few names (including the main textbook) are given below for
your convenience:
Mankiw, N. G. (2011) Principles of Economics, 6th edition (South-Western Cengage
Learning, 2008).
Samuelson, P. A. and W. D. Nordhaus (2009) Economics, 19th edition (McGraw-Hill, 2009).
Mankiw, N. G. and M. P. Taylor (2008) Economics, 2nd edition (South-Western Cengage
Learning, 2011).
Lipsey, R. and A. Chrystal (2007) Economics, 11 edition (Oxford University Press, 2007).