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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2022/2023

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Economics : Economics

Undergraduate Course: The Chinese Economy: Past and Present (ECNM10079)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Economics CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis course aims to provide a selective but in-depth review of the academic literature on China's economic development, in both historical and contemporary context. It is targeted at students with some knowledge of economic theory and econometrics at the undergraduate level. Some key topics will include the Great Divergence of Europe and China during the nineteenth century, the institutional underpinnings of China's recent growth miracle, as well as the implications of this growth for today's global economy.
Course description The first part of the course will be an economic history of China pre-1949. Here we will take a comparative approach to classic questions such as why China did not become the world's first industrialised economy (the so-called Needham Puzzle). This will be followed by a brief examination of China's planned economy during 1949-1978, including the Great Famine and the Cultural Revolution. The second part of the course will try to explain China's recent growth miracle, focusing on key institutions such as dual-track liberalisation, fiscal decentralisation and bureaucratic incentives. Finally, we conclude by studying the implications of this growth for the global economy, primarily through the channel of greater trade integration.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Students MUST have passed: Economics 2 (ECNM08006)
Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesVisiting students must have an equivalent of at least 4 semester-long Economics courses at grade B or above for entry to this course. This MUST INCLUDE courses in Intermediate Macroeconomics (with calculus); Intermediate Microeconomics (with calculus); and Probability and Statistics. If macroeconomics and microeconomics courses are not calculus-based, then, in addition, Calculus (or Mathematics for Economics) is required.
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Not being delivered
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. A knowledge and understanding of key concepts, debates and models relating to China's transition from a planned to a market economy, along with relevant empirical evidence on and policy implications of those models and a deeper understanding of recent research activity in some more specialised areas.
  2. Research and investigative skills such as problem framing and solving and the ability to assemble and evaluate complex evidence and arguments.
  3. Communication skills in order to critique, create and communicate understanding and to collaborate with and relate to others.
  4. Personal effectiveness through task-management, time-management, teamwork and group interaction, dealing with uncertainty and adapting to new situations, personal and intellectual autonomy through independent learning.
  5. Practical/technical skills such as, modelling skills (abstraction, logic, succinctness), qualitative and quantitative analysis and general IT literacy.
Reading List
None
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Research and Inquiry
B1. The ability to identify, define and analyse theoretical and applied economic problems and identify or devise approaches to investigate and solve these problems.
B3. The ability to critically assess existing understanding of economic and social issues, the limitations of that understanding and the limitations of their own knowledge and understanding of those issues.
B4. The ability to question the principles, methods, standards and boundaries of economic knowledge

Personal and Intellectual Autonomy
C1. The ability to be independent learners who take responsibility for their own learning, and are committed to continuous reflection, self-evaluation and self-improvement.
C4. The ability to collaborate and debate effectively to test, modify and strengthen their own views.

Communication
D1. The ability to make effective use of oral, written and visual means to critique, create and communicate understanding.
D2. The ability to further their own learning through effective use of feedback.
D3. The ability to use communication as a tool for collaborating and relating to others.

Personal Effectiveness
E1. The ability to manage tasks and also skills in time-management.
E4. The ability to work effectively with others, capitalising on their different thinking.
Additional Class Delivery Information 1 x 2:00 hour lecture per week for 10 weeks, plus 5 hours of tutorials to be arranged in addition.
KeywordsChinEcon
Contacts
Course organiserDr Liang Bai
Tel: (0131 6)51 5946
Email:
Course secretaryMiss Becky Guthrie
Tel:
Email:
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