Undergraduate Course: Productivity, Growth and Development (ECNM10088)
Course Outline
| School | School of Economics |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This is a macroeconomic course on economic growth and historical development, in which we look at the causes and consequences of economic growth. We will study the role of factor accumulation, technological change and innovation in explaining patterns of productivity, growth in economic activity and comparative development in the modern era. We will look at aggregate and firm level evidence on the productivity and economic growth. We will also explore the impact of technology diffusion on growth and cross-country income differences in the growth process. Another theme we will consider is the role of institutions in growth and historical development. We will examine growth over the longer run and examine the characteristics of different growth epochs, transitions between different epochs and unified growth models that seek to explain them. A final theme is the relationship between technological progress, the labour market and inequality. The aim is to introduce you to the research literature on these topics, and to enable you to understand the strong interplay between theory and empirical evidence. |
| Course description |
Topics covered are likely to include: Growth, convergence and income differences; Institutions and historical development; Innovation and growth; Firms, productivity and growth; The labour market, inequality and growth; Factor income shares and growth; Technology diffusion, openness and growth; Growth epochs and unified growth.
The course is taught through a programme of lectures, seminars and tutorials ¿ I envisage that these will be discussion based. Part of the course content requires students to familiarise themselves with technical material, and knowledge of elementary calculus, statistics and econometrics will be assumed.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting 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); Probability and Statistics; and Introductory Econometrics. 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:
- A knowledge and understanding of key concepts, issues and models in economic growth, along with empirical evidence on and policy implications of those models and a deeper understanding of recent research activity in some more specialised areas.
- Research and investigative skills such as problem framing and solving and the ability to assemble and evaluate complex evidence and arguments.
- Communication skills in order to critique, create and communicate understanding and to collaborate with and relate to others.
- 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.
- Practical/technical skills such as, modelling skills (abstraction, logic, succinctness), qualitative and quantitative analysis and general IT literacy.
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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 |
One 2 hour lecture per week, plus tutorials. |
| Keywords | Productivity |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Richard Holt
Tel: (0131 6)50 8350
Email: |
Course secretary | Mr Daniel Harrington
Tel: (0131 6)51 5936
Email: |
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