Course Description

This course is designed as an introductory course in economics for students who are not taking economics as a major subject. It introduces the concepts and tools of economics with real-world examples. The primary objective of this course is to enable the students to understand and articulate reasoned views on some of the important social and economic issues faced by our society in general. Foundation laid in this course will help the students to take advanced courses in economics if they wish to do so.

Specifically, the course will discuss the working of the capitalist economy with historical and cross-country examples. The characteristics of goods markets, labour markets and credit markets and the major players in these markets will be discussed, highlighting the role of the rules of the game. We will also examine when and where markets perform and fail. Similarly, models that explain the decision-making and interactions among crucial economic players will be discussed with examples.

Course Instructor:

Sunil Paul , email: sunil [at] iitgoa [dot] ac [dot] in

Office: F2, IT Building

Phone: 832 249 0114

Office hours: by appointment

Teaching Assistants

Stanley James, email: stanley19274101 [at] iitgoa [dot] ac [dot] in

Suraj Kumar Das, email: suraj19274201 [at] iitgoa [dot] ac [dot] in

Meetings

  • Lectures (3 lectures per week, 50 minutes each)

    • Tuesday at 10.00 am

    • Wednesday at 08.00 am

    • Friday at 09.00 am

Course materials

Moodle

The course will be managed using Moodle page. Handouts, assignments and other details can be accessed in Moodle.

Slack

We will be using slack as our online discussion and interaction platform.

Required texts

  • Economy, Society and Public Policy (ESPP), CORE team.
    You can access ESPP by clicking here. You may download ESPP on your Windows OS or Mac book or Google Playstore.

Register on the website for a student account here

  • Charles Wheelan, Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science, 3rd ed. (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2019).
    We will also use CORE’s Doing Economics for exploring and playing with data using R programming. (Additional materials will be shared on the moodle course page)

Course Evaluation

Assessment plan

The course follows continuous evaluation plan, which includes:

  • Classroom participation. 80% attendance is mandatory for class interactions. Poor attendance may lead to FX grade

  • Assignments, quizzes and homework will be assigned from time to time.

  • Mid-term and End-term examinations

Grading Policy

  • Continuous assessment components (Quizzes, assignments, homework - 50% to 60%

  • Mid-Term examinations - 10% to 20%

  • End semester examinations - 20% to 30%

Class participation -10 points (over the above assessment components)

Expectations from Students

  • Workload: You may have to spend an average of 6 to 7 hours per week in addition to classroom interactions.

  • Academic Honesty: I expect that every student follows the highest standards of integrity and academic honesty. Discussions or any other types of peer learning are highly encouraged, but copying or any other form of plagiarism if detected, will be liable to disciplinary actions in accordance with the IIT Goa's policy for academic malpractices.

Course Policies

Eligibility and requirements

  • This is an open elective offered to 3rd-semester undergraduate students.

  • Course prerequisites: None

Late submissions:

There will be a penalty for late submissions. Please follow the deadlines to get full credits.

Course plan

An overview of topics covered in this course is given below.

  • Capitalism and democracy

  • Modelling social and economic interactions

  • Public policy: Goals and outcomes

  • Modelling individual preferences

  • Economic and political institutions

  • Labour market and product markets

  • Aggregate economy: Inequality and unemployment

  • Modern-day financial system: Key players and interactions

  • Role of Governments and Markets