Introduction to Economics (20626)

• Academic year: 2010-2011
• Year: 1
• Term: 1
• Number of ECTS credits: 6 Student hours: 150

Syllabus

Introduction to Economics is a core course in the Faculty of Law curriculum. Its objective is to familiarise students with the main issues affecting economies as a whole, as well as introducing them to the basic behaviour of economic agents. The course should therefore be viewed, above all, as an indispensible complement for Labour Relations studies where economic theory is concerned.

The course aims to assist students to understand how families and companies make decisions and interact in the market (microeconomics), and also to enable them to understand how the result of interaction among all these agents shapes economic aggregates, how the aggregates are formed and are related to each other and how they simultaneously affect the group made up of families, companies and markets in one country or a group of countries (macroeconomics).

As can be seen, microeconomics and macroeconomics deal with everyday problems, so it is very important for students to follow economic affairs by reading newspapers or magazines which deal with economic subjects such as economic development or issues related to competition.

Topic 1. The object of economic analysis

Topic 2. Markets: supply and demand

Topic 3.  Production costs

Topic 4. Market structures

Topic 5. The labour market

Topic 6. Prices and incomes

Topic 7. Production and growth

Topic 8. The aggregate demand - aggregate supply model

Topic 9. Elements of international economics