Overview
Introduction to concepts central to understanding market economies, including allocation of scarce resources, consumer and business reactions to changing market conditions, and the application of economic principles to personal and business decision-making.
Have you ever stopped to wonder at how easy it is, given you have the cash or credit, to go out and buy almost anything you want? How is it that such a wide range of goods and services are produced in roughly the right amounts, often at surprisingly low cost, and then distributed to the people who want them?
This paper builds an understanding of how, and how well, our market-oriented economy gets this done. We use a variety of simple yet revealing graphical models to study the mechanics of markets and the market system and to evaluate market outcomes. We identify factors that can inhibit markets functioning and evaluate public policies used to counteract these inhibitors, both in individual markets and in the macro economy. In particular, we study issues around international trade, business strategy, competition policy, the environment, taxation, and cycles in exchange, interest, unemployment and growth rates.
About this paper
| Paper title | Economic Principles and Policy |
|---|---|
| Subject | Business Studies |
| EFTS | 0.15 |
| Points | 18 points |
| Teaching period(s) | Semester 1
(On campus)
Semester 2 (On campus) |
| Domestic Tuition Fees ( NZD ) | $1,053.30 |
| International Tuition Fees | Tuition Fees for international students are elsewhere on this website. |
- Restriction
- BSNS 104, PTWY 111
- Schedule C
- Arts and Music, Commerce, Science
- Notes
- This is a required paper for BCom from 2017 (to be taken in place of BSNS104 by students completing under earlier regulations).
Students with appropriate NCEA results may apply to the Department of Economics to be exempted from BSNS113. - Contact
- More information link
- View more information on the Otago Business School's website
- Teaching staff
Semester One: Professor Ronald Peeters Terry Kerr
Semester Two: Mark Millin Terry Kerr- Textbooks
7th Asia-Pacific Edition published in 2018 of Principles of Economics by Gans, King, Stonecash, Byford, Libich and Mankiw, published by Cengage.
- Graduate Attributes Emphasised
- Critical Thinking, Research, Interdisciplinary Perspective, Scholarship, Ethics, Global Perspective, Cultural Understanding, Environmental Literacy.
View more information about Otago's graduate attributes. - Learning Outcomes
- Students who successfully complete the paper will:
- Understand how market economies work and apply this understanding to make better business and personal decisions
- Be able to explain how a market economy allocates scarce resources, how consumers and firms respond to changing market conditions, and the factors that affect market efficiency
- Be able to identify cases of market failure (e.g. pollution), to evaluate the effects of such market failure and analyse alternative policy responses, and to analyse how these responses affect businesses
- Be able to apply the principles of economics to business and personal decision making
- Develop an understanding of the relevance of economic analysis to environmental issues
- Develop an awareness of the international economy