Some of the questions this course will help students answer are:
How does 'scarcity' force societies to make economic decisions?
What are the alternative ways societies have attempted to allocate resources to address their needs?
What are markets? To what extent, are markets an effective mechanism for supplying goods and services to a society?
What are the strengths of a market economic system?
Why do markets fail?
How effective have governments been when using market and non-market solutions to correct for market failure?
What do economists mean by the word "market"? Are markets always the best mechanism for supplying goods and services? Justify your answer.
What are the
major advantages and disadvantages of a country using a market system to
allocate resources?
Compare the methods of allocating resources in market economies and centrally planned economies. Have the centrally planned economies of Eastern Europe failed? Justify your answer.
In
what ways do government intervene in the workings of the their economies?
Why do they intervene?
Use
the three allocation questions to differentiate how each of the three main
types of economic systems allocate scare resources to satisfy human wants
and needs.
Use
a theoretical example to illustrate the concept of consumer sovereignty.
What factors have emerged in the past decades to limit the practical
application of this idea? Explain.
Under
what circumstances might a traditional and a command economic system be
preferable to a market system as the primary method of allocating scarce
resources?
Locate
a news article that you believe illustrates either a comparison between the
various methods of allocating resources or is a good example of either a
traditional or command system at work today.
Prepare a 350 - 450 word commentary explaining the connection between
the economic theories discussed in this section and issues presented in your
article.
How do the laws of Supply and Demand help determine the price and quantity of goods and services in a market system?
Use
an example of your choice and appropriate graph(s) to illustrate the
theoretical ideas concerning demand.
Your answer should include: the
relationship between price and quantity, reasons for the downward slope of
the demand curve, and likely causes and implications of a shift in the
demand curve.
Use an
example of your choice and appropriate graph(s) to illustrate the
theoretical ideas concerning supply.
Your answer should include: the
relationship between price and quantity, reasons for the upward slope of the
supply curve, and likely causes and implications of a shift in the supply
curve.
What factors determine the price and income elasticities of demand for a product? Why might firms and governments be interested to know the price and income elasticities of demand for various products?
The price of a good is one determinant of its demand. How does the effect of a change in a good's price differ from the effect of a change in any of the other determinants of demand? Use examples to illustrate your answer.
Use micro-economic ideas which you have studied, such as supply, demand and elasticity, to explain why the prices of basic commodities are likely to be less stable than those of manufactured products.
In what circumstances might it be useful to know the price elasticities of demand of various goods and services?
Many governments intervene in the markets for agricultural products. Why do they do this, how do they do it, and what are the consequences?
Give examples of circumstances where maximum (ceiling) and minimum (floor) prices might exist, or might be introduced. Using supply and demand analysis, discuss the consequences of such prices.
What are the main barriers to economic development in developing countries? What policies could be used to promote sustained growth in developing countries?
What are the main goals of a government's national economic policy? To what extent do these goals contradict each other?
What are the social costs of unemployment?
What are the various methods of measuring national economic performance?
What is money?
What are the causes and effects of price instability?
To what extent can government policies promote economic growth?
What are the consequences of government attempts to promote growth?
How are price changes measured?
Is monetary policy more effective than fiscal policy in stabilizing prices.
Are Supply Side Policies more effective than Keynesian or Monetarist policies?
What do you understand by policies aimed at the demand side of the economy and policies aimed at the supply side? Why have some government in recent years chosen to reject demand side policies in favor of supply side policies?
What are the barriers to economic growth in a developed country?
What are the causes of regional unemployment? What measures may be taken to reduce this problem?
Explain why an efficient and reliable banking system is economically important both nationally and internationally.
What are the main macro-economic objectives of the government of a mixed economy? In what ways can these objectives conflict with each other?
Why is inflation considered harmful to an economy? What policies could a government use to combat it?
Does the behavior of commercial banks affect the rate of inflation.
How would a difference in levels of withdrawals in an economy affect economic activity?
What are the implications of a country switching its emphasis from direct taxation to indirect taxation?
Should governments become involved in the determination of wage rates?
What are the social costs of unemployment? Can unemployment ever be completely cured?
What are 'supply side' economic policies, what are they supposed to achieve, and how successful are they?
What are the causes and consequences of inflation? What policies would you recommend to cure the various types of inflation in an economy?
What is economic growth? Why might one country grow faster than another?
What are the benefits of international trade?
How do various external and internal factors determine a nation's exchange rate?
Why and how do countries adopt projectionist trade policies?
What are the pros and cons of nations integrating their economies more closely?
How has the structure of the international trading systems affected people around the world?
How might a depreciation of its exchange rate affect the Balance of Payments of a country?
Analyze the effect of import tariffs and quotas on the prices, output and efficiency of a country's industry.
What is a trading block and why are they becoming increasingly important in world trade? How are the less developed countries likely to be affected by the trend?
What are the benefits of international free trade? In view of these benefits why do so many countries practice protectionism?
Is
a persistent deficit on the current account of the Balance of Payments
necessarily a cause of concern in a country?
Explain your answer?
To what extent can government policies promote economic growth?
What are the consequences of government attempts to promote growth?
What is Sustainable Economic Development?
Why have some nations not developed as fast as other nations?
What are the barriers to economic development in developing nations?
What policies can be adopted to promote sustained Economic Growth & Development?
To what extent is Globalization helping to improve the standard of living of the people of the less developed world?
What is the role of the Developed World in promoting Economic Development?
How have growth and development strategies impacted the global environment?
Differentiate
between economic growth and development.
Explain how each is measured and explain how each affects the quality
of life of the people of a nation.
Describe a fictional LDN. Use at least five characteristics to explain why you rank your nation among the Less Developed in the World. Cite specific data (mythical) to support your ranking (i.e.. per capita GNP = USD 300 per year).
Analyze the uses and limitations of GNP / GDP as a measure of quality of life of a nation's citizens. Include: how these measurements are compiled, goods and services not included, distribution of goods and services, and other quality of life indicators in your analysis. List five other measures of standard of living. Justify your selection.
Use the Human Development Index and the Physical Quality of Life Index to measure the economic development of three countries of your choice. Explain any differences in the relative ranking of the three countries you have selected. Which do you believe produces a more accurate measure of economic development? Why?
Prepare your own index to measure economic development. You must include at least five different statistical measures, devise a system of weighting, and justify why you each its relative importance within your index and why you believe these are the best suited to measure economic development. Use your index to rank the four countries of your choosing from least to most developed.
Summarize the arguments which indicate that the world faces a food crises and those which dispute this contention.
What are the reasons for the increasing urbanization in less developed countries. Summarize the short and long run problems associated with this phenomenon.
Why do many less developed nations have such a large underground economy? What are the positive and negative consequences of this?
Explain the three most significant reasons for the health problems of many LDN's.
Define the terms 'national income' and 'economic welfare'. Does an increase in national income always lead to an increase in welfare?
If Country A has a larger Gross Domestic Product than Country B, does it necessarily follow that the citizens of Country A have a higher standard of living?
Does foreign aid have a significant role to fulfill in the less developed countries?
'Bayona' is a less developed country which has received large amounts of aid from the developed world. Write an essay for the attention of the government of Bayona showing the economic costs and benefits of accepting different types of aid.
Why, in many developing nations, do we have a high level of rural to urban migration, when there is a high level of urban unemployment?
What factors might cause the prices of primary products from many less developed countries to fluctuate? How could a reduction in the prices of primary products affect the less developed countries which export them and the more developed countries which import them?
What is a trading block and why are they becoming increasingly important in world trade? How are the less developed countries likely to be affected by the trend?
What are the main barriers to economic development? How could these barriers be overcome?
Explain
how both international trade and international aid can help a less developed
country to become more developed. Which
is the most effective, trade or aid, and why?