BSc Economics

This is a first year module covering macroeconomic principles. It seeks to provide students with the basic concepts and ideas prevailing in (mainstream) macroeconomic theory. It further seeks to introduce students to basic features of macroeconomic reasoning and to develop an understanding of the workings of economic systems. The interaction of macroeconomic variables and mechanisms will be examined for the short and long period, as well as within a closed economy and in terms of the relations between nations (open macroeconomics).

This is a first year module covering microeconomic principles. It deals with the question of how societies organise resource allocation and production through prices, and with the economic behaviour of individuals and individual institutions mediated by markets.

This is a session on essay writing for undergraduate students. It is meant to provide guidance for essay assignments, in the form of both readings, organising, strucutring and writing essay-based coursework. It is particularly aimed for Year 1 undergraduate (with minimal experience on essay writing), but could be openned up to other undergraduate years.

This module offers a survey of applied mathematical analysis useful for intermediate and advanced economic theory.

Comparative Growth: Theoretical Approaches offers an introduction to theories of economic growth and structural change with reference to major economies of Asia and Africa. It introduces students to issues of measuring development, growth trends, and debates on demographic factors, physical and human capital investments, roles of institutions, and the state and natural resources. The module is a co-requisite for Comparative Growth: Contemporary Debates and a prerequisite for Issues in Development Economics.

This is the one of two 15 credit modules at FHEQ level 4 to offer a survey of statistical techniques for economists and an introduction to working with economic data. It is the first half of the 30 credit module Statistics (153401015) which is broken up into two 15 credits in preparation for the semesterised calendar.

This module offers a survey of statistical techniques for economists and an introduction to working with economic data.

This module provides an introduction to the theory and practice of financial and management accounting in different national settings and organisational contexts. It introduces students to the concepts and principles of financial and management accounting. The course also provides students with an understanding of financial and accounting techniques, conventions and practice.

This module provides detailed analysis of company financial accounts and reports. It starts by introducing students to the different elements of financial accounts and in each case provides critical analysis of the purpose of the various accounts and reports, the main concepts and measures contained in the accounts and the underlying methodology used to construct the accounts.

This course provides an insight into how society has been conceived of in different places and times.You will read a broad range of classic texts of social theory from ancient China and classical Greece to eighteen century Enlightenment and onwards to the birth of anthropology and sociology as academic disciplines. You will attain a sense of the long conversation of social thought that preceded and produced the discipline of social anthropology. And you will be introduced to the art and skill of interpretation.

This module introduces students to key development theories and approaches. How have processes of transformation and change, ideas about progress, and the policy and practice of development unfolded around the world, over time? We consider major shifts in approaches to 'development', from colonial intervention, modernisation, dependency theory and developmentalism, to neoliberalism. Feminist contributions, participatory and decolonial approaches and post-development perspectives are also explored. 

What are the key contemporary issues in development? This module tackles questions of poverty and inequality; climate change and the environment; violence, conflict and humanitarianism; rural livelihoods and cities; labour and social justice; migration and displacement; and aid interventions. The factors shaping poverty, insecurity and inequality and debates about pathways to progress are considered throughout. 

Introduction to Political Economy moves through four stages. First, we ease our way in through some big scene setting questions. Second, different conceptual tools are explored for you to use and reuse, including liberalism, Marxism, gender analysis, and racial politics. Third, we examine how capitalism was built over the past half century, a story of bankers, bureaucrats, and barons who often made a mess of it. Fourth, all these insights are mobilised for dissecting hot current issues, such as the climate crisis (literally hot), the global financial crisis and its fallout, the politics of trade competition, socio-economic inequalities, consumerism, technology, the politics of work, and macro conversations on the future of capitalism. Bonus features include: a field trip to the City of London, one of the world's financial hubs; and social drinks (let’s extract SOAS resources for ourselves like true capitalists).

The module is organised around debates in four areas: (1) a set of scene setting questions to introduce the material; (2) conceptual frameworks, derived from the scholarly tradition of political economy and world politics, including liberalism, Marxism, gender-based approaches, and racial capitalism; (3) the post-WWII history of governing the capitalist system, including attention to finance, trade, development, and energy and the environment; and (4) contemporary issues transfixing the world economy, including the global ecological crisis, the global financial crisis and its fallout, the politics of trade regulation, socio-economic inequalities, new concerns around technology, the political economy of work, and macro debates on capitalism and its possible futures. Students are asked to think critically about how the politics of the economy is conceived, governed, and experienced, in particular through evaluating dynamics of power.

This is a session on employability and career planning for undergraduate students. The sessions aims to introduce students to career planning strategies and resources available via the SOAS Careers Service.

This module provides students with a thorough treatment of intermediate microeconomics theory, building on the foundation of Economic Principles (Micro) 155901495. Students will be expected to understand the defining assumptions and internal structures of the different analytical frameworks, including working knowledge of some of the most relevant mathematical formalisms. Conceptual and analytical rigour will be given priority over mathematical treatments. Topics to be discussed will include both neoclassical and non-conventional approaches to Consumer Theory; Production Theories and the Theories of Technical Change; Game Theory and Competition; General Equilibrium and Welfare Economics.

This module provides students with a thorough treatment of intermediate microeconomics theory, building on a plurality of analytical frameworks such as neoclassical, institutional, structural and critical economic theories. Students will be expected to understand the defining assumptions and internal structures of the different analytical frameworks, including working knowledge of some of the most relevant mathematical formalisms. Conceptual and analytical rigour will be given priority over mathematical treatments. Topics to be discussed in Term 2 will include both neoclassical and non-conventional approaches to Production Theories and the Theories of Technical Change; Theories of the Firm and Organizations; Competition; General Equilibrium and Welfare Economics; Asymmetric Information and Market Failures.

This module provides a critical and pluralist analysis of macroeconomic phenomena, such as inflation, unemployment, economic growth and productivity. Particular attention is paid to how these phenomena have been analysed by different schools of macroeconomic thought, but also how they interact with the ecosystem and how this interaction differs between the Global North and the Global South. The discussion of green macroeconomic policies and strategies are at the core of the module. The module also focuses on how the macroeconomy is interconnected with the financial system, both in general and in the context of the climate crisis.

The module focuses on how mainstream and heterodox macroeconomic theories and models analyse fiscal and monetary policy, economic growth, the interactions between inequality and macroeconomic performance, the drivers of financial fragility as well as open economy issues. The model also covers how gender and race have recently been introduced in the analysis of macroeconomic phenomena and policies. Throughout the module, theories and models are evaluated based on real-world examples. This permits a critical understanding of their relevance as well as of how they can be used as tools for understanding contemporary macroeconomic phenomena and designing macroeconomic policies.

The objective of this module is to provide students with a firm understanding of what the financial system does and how it is organised. It is designed to examine a broad series of topics, including what a financial instrument is and how it is valued; what a financial market is and how it works; what a financial institution is and how it operates. It equips students with the core principles of finance such as time has value, investors need to be compensated for taking risk and information is the basis for investment decision.

This module provides a critical overview of theoretical, empirical and policy issues relating to international trade and investment. It provides an introduction to the main theories of international trade, including standard neoclassical free trade approaches and more recent theories addressing imperfect competition, economies of scale, national competitiveness issues, and managed trade. It also discusses topics in international trade such as the effects of trade on income distribution and poverty, the debate about import substitution and trade protection, and alternative approaches to trade policy. Moreover, it analyses drivers of international factor movements, foreign direct investment, and the role of multinational corporations.

The objective of this module is to provide students with a firm understanding of financial global markets. The module will focus on topics including the role of finance in economic development, the relevance of different financial system structures, and the European Monetary and Economic Union.

This module is designed to introduce students to the major theoretical approaches and concepts in contemporary Development Economics. Both mainstream and heterodox approaches to Development Economics will be covered. Students will have the opportunity to critically engage with international development policy debates by unpicking the theories, frameworks and methods underpinning these debates. The module will apply theories to contemporary issues in low income countries, relying on a variety of case studies throughout.

This module provides an introduction to both classical and recent approaches in economic anthropology. Moving away from narrow understandings of economy, it will explore how economic life is embedded in social relations, cultural transformations and political action. This includes vital topics such as money and commodities, the gendering/racialising of labour, cultures of consumption, informal economies, indebtedness and finance. Finally, it will investigate how anthropologists are envisaging the future of economic life and alternatives to neoliberal austerity, and how an engaged anthropology can contribute to shaping alternatives.

This module is a Year 3 optional module for Economics Undergraduates. It aims at providing students with a thorough understanding of core economic policy challenges in the contemporary global economy, and to equip them with the theoretical and applied skills necessary to evaluate policy debates and challenges and contemplate policy solutions to such challenges.

The module introduces students to a diverse set of theories and methods to explore contemporary issues in the global economy. This is an application-based module, which will allow students to, on the one hand, productively engage on current debates in economics, and, on the other hand, coherently employ concepts and tools that they have learnt so far to study these issues. The module will be geared towards training students to use the economics tools at their disposal to systematically frame the problem and employ a diverse set of methods to analyse them.

This course introduces students to economic perspectives on environmental and development issues. The course covers various macro and microeconomic issues as well as economics of climate change.

“In the past decade, the United States’ economy grew by an average of 1.6% a year, the European Union’s by 1.7%, Latin America’s by 4.6%, East Asia's by 5.4% and South-East Asia's by 5.9%. The 21 economies of the largest trans-Pacific grouping, Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC), account for nearly half of global trade. The region comprises not only the world’s ‘factory floor’ but also its most important sources of services, technology and investments, and final goods markets,” writes Peter Petri, an international trade economist. Yet despite the much celebrated economic progress of the region and the potential to be reaped from it, there are clear strains and risks resulting from geopolitical and economic trends which impact businesses that operate here. This course consists of a set of core lectures which will introduce students to: (a) economic, political and socio-cultural theories and frameworks for understanding the context of business in the Asia Pacific region; and (b) the application of international business theories and frameworks to understand the decision-making processes of companies investing in the region.

This course builds technically on the second-year module, Econometrics, which is a prerequisite for this module. It also builds conceptually on the two second-year core modules: Microeconomic Analysis and Macroeconomic Analysis. The course is designed to provide students with a hands-on" environment. It aims to help students deepen and broaden their knowledge and understanding of econometric techniques needed for empirical analyses of both cross-sectional household-level data for micromodelling research and time-series data for macro and also financial modelling research. In addition, the course also aims to develop students' abilities in critical evaluation of what is taught in econometrics textbooks."

The objective of this module is to provide students with a firm understanding of what the financial system does and how it is organised. It is designed to examine a broad series of topics, including what a financial instrument is and how it is valued; what a financial market is and how it works; what a financial institution is and how it operates. It equips students with the core principles of finance such as time has value, investors need to be compensated for taking risk and information is the basis for investment decision.

This module provides a critical overview of theoretical, empirical and policy issues relating to international trade and investment. It provides an introduction to the main theories of international trade, including standard neoclassical free trade approaches and more recent theories addressing imperfect competition, economies of scale, national competitiveness issues, and managed trade. It also discusses topics in international trade such as the effects of trade on income distribution and poverty, the debate about import substitution and trade protection, and alternative approaches to trade policy. Moreover, it analyses drivers of international factor movements, foreign direct investment, and the role of multinational corporations.

The objective of this module is to provide students with a firm understanding of financial global markets. The module will focus on topics including the role of finance in economic development, the relevance of different financial system structures, and the European Monetary and Economic Union.

This module is designed to introduce students to the major theoretical approaches and concepts in contemporary Development Economics. Both mainstream and heterodox approaches to Development Economics will be covered. Students will have the opportunity to critically engage with international development policy debates by unpicking the theories, frameworks and methods underpinning these debates. The module will apply theories to contemporary issues in low income countries, relying on a variety of case studies throughout.

The Professional Placement in Economics involves students being placed within an organisation to participate in a specific element of research or practice related to their degree. The aim is that students’ prior and ongoing academic studies will inform and enrich their experience of professional practice, and the exposure to professional practice will in turn enhance their ability to analyse issues relating to Economics, Development Economics and Political Economy. The placement will also provide invaluable experience as students embark on careers after graduating. The Professional Placement in Economics module is offered as an optional module in the final year.

This module provides an introduction to both classical and recent approaches in economic anthropology. Moving away from narrow understandings of economy, it will explore how economic life is embedded in social relations, cultural transformations and political action. This includes vital topics such as money and commodities, the gendering/racialising of labour, cultures of consumption, informal economies, indebtedness and finance. Finally, it will investigate how anthropologists are envisaging the future of economic life and alternatives to neoliberal austerity, and how an engaged anthropology can contribute to shaping alternatives.

This course provides an introduction to the post-1950 evolution of the main economies of the Asia-Pacific region (China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and the ASEAN 10). It looks at macroeconomic issues, with a particular focus on growth, trade and investment flows, and fluctuations in economic indicators since the middle of the 1990s.

This course is about the economic structures, institutions and policy challenges in the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The course starts with a broad economic history of the region and goes on to address the emergence of the economic structures, resource endowments, and political economy institutions of the modern Middle East. The course highlights the specificities of the political economy of the region in a global cotext and covers selected aspects of economic policy in the contemporary period in these countries. The contemporary nature of the problems facing the MENA countries are addressed throughout the course.

This course looks at the interaction between China's economic transformation and world development since the late 1970s until the present time. The emphasis is on critically analyzing and assessing this interaction from alternative historical and theoretical perspectives.

This module explores economic development in post-colonial Sub-Saharan Africa, bringing together macroeconomic and microeconomic perspectives. It presents theoretical and policy-relevant debates that are of interest not only to those who want to learn about Sub-Saharan Africa specifically but also to those who are seeking to develop a global understanding of economic dynamics.