The purpose of this course is to show you why it is important to look beyond the borders of the economic discipline. This becomes obvious when we study real world problems that typically cannot be studied, analysed and understood from a monodisciplinary perspective. In this course, we therefore address three real world questions in economics. What drives individuals to do the things they do? Why are some countries rich and some poor? And what is the function and role of the financial system in our economy? With these three, big questions we cover real world issues that have been in the centre of the economic discipline since its beginning and cover the fields of micro, macro and financial economics. Most of the basic economics related to these questions is assumed known from your Bachelor. In this course, we show that other disciplines and research methods can usefully be applied to come to a richer understanding of the phenomena under study.
Learning objectives
The student acquires a deeper insight into economic decision-making and its role in the process of economic growth and development and the way scientists of all disciplines have made contributions to help understand this process. Upon finishing this course, the student can:
• Put economic behaviour, growth and finance in a historical perspective;
• Appreciate the contributions of historians, geographers, anthropologists, political scientists, and even philosophers to understanding these phenomena;
• Describe the different theoretical and empirical problems that occur when analysing real world (economic) problems from a multidisciplinary perspective;
• Effectively collect and analyse relevant (new, additional) literature to answer key questions in building a (more or less) unified and micro founded theory of economic behaviour, growth and development;
• Critically evaluate and come up with alternative creative and sensible solutions for the urgent real world economic challenges we face.
• Write for non-academic audiences in an accessible and scientifically responsible way about the topics of the course.
• Write such suggestions down in a convincing way in the limited space a newspaper will allow.
Exit requirements
• Being able to look at real world economic problems from a multidisciplinary perspective.
• Working with others at an academic level in an interdisciplinary and/or multidisciplinary context and/or within international teams
• Communicating in English at an academic level.
The course will focus on the development of the essential skills academic reasoning and working, oral presentation and writing.
Format
Lectures and pre- and postdiscussion sessions.
Assessment method
• 1 essay (35%);
• 1 editorial (35%);
• Participation in discussions (peer assessment, 30%);
In case online access is required for this course and you are not in the position to buy the access code, you are advised to contact the course coordinator for an alternative solution. Please note that access codes are not re-usable meaning that codes from second hand books do not work, as well as access codes from books with a different ISBN number. Separate or spare codes are usually not available.
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