Undergraduate Course: Political Economy (ECNM10060)

Course Outline
School	School of Economics	College	College of Humanities and Social Science
Course type	Standard	Availability	Available to all students
Credit level (Normal year taken)	SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate)	Credits	20
Home subject area	Economics	Other subject area	None
Course website	None	Taught in Gaelic?	No
Course description	Economic policy cannot be understood by studying markets alone and, to be successful, it must take politics into account. The political game is very multifaceted. Voters choose politicians based on information from the media, politicians and special interest groups. Politicians choose policies based on advice from vested interests, and carefully consider future elections and their post-political careers. Politicians organise into political parties and committees that involve bargaining and internal voting. The course begins by examining the philosophical difficulties of evaluating the efficiency of political decision-making. This is followed by several theories of electoral competition, which are used as a basis for understanding the decisions of voters, politicians, media publishers, and special interest groups. The course takes a formal mathematical approach to specifying preferences, strategies and predicting equilibrium outcomes.

Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites	Students MUST have passed: Economics 2 (ECNM08006)	Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations		Other requirements	None
Additional Costs	None

Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisites	Visiting students should usually have at least 3 Economics courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this) for entry to this course. This MUST INCLUDE courses in Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, and Introductory Econometrics. We will only consider University/College level courses.
Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus?	Yes

Course Delivery Information

Delivery period: 2014/15 Semester 1, Available to all students (SV1)			Learn enabled: Yes	Quota: None
Web Timetable	Web Timetable
Course Start Date	15/09/2014
Breakdown of Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info)	Total Hours: 200 ( Lecture Hours 20, Summative Assessment Hours 3, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 173 )
Additional Notes
Breakdown of Assessment Methods (Further Info)	Written Exam 80 %, Coursework 20 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Exam Information
Exam Diet	Paper Name	Hours & Minutes
Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May)		2:00
Main Exam Diet S1 (December)		1:00

Delivery period: 2014/15 Semester 1, Part-year visiting students only (VV1)			Learn enabled: Yes	Quota: None
Web Timetable	Web Timetable
Course Start Date	15/09/2014
Breakdown of Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info)	Total Hours: 200 ( Lecture Hours 20, Summative Assessment Hours 1, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 175 )
Additional Notes
Breakdown of Assessment Methods (Further Info)	Written Exam 40 %, Coursework 60 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Exam Information
Exam Diet	Paper Name	Hours & Minutes
Main Exam Diet S1 (December)		1:00

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
Ability to understand and use economic concepts in the analysis of political processes. Ability to employ main economic tools (optimisation, theories of adverse selection ad moral hazard, Bayesian games). High-level understanding of democratic institutions including voting rules, independent policy advisors, and the media.

Assessment Information
Class exam (December Diet) - 20% Degree examination (April/May Diet) - 80% Visiting Student Variant Assessment class exam - 40% 2 x essays (30% each)

Special Arrangements
None