module specification

The Social and Political Aspects of Economics module integrates economic history and political economy subjects to form a coherent learning programme. The combination is adapted to first year (level 4) Economics students. Integrated approach means that you will be equipped to view issues in the real world from a variety of contrasting perspectives.
You will learn to distinguish key economic schools and their historic development. You will understand the timeline and reasons of the major global economic recessions of 20th and 21st century. Furthermore, you will study four industrial revolutions and will be equipped to understand the current industry 4.0 and its implications to future economic and social development. You will be introduced to modern economic theories on Economic Growth (such as Porter and Solow) and learn to relate to previous lessons on evolvement of economic schools, industrial revolutions (Innovation), and business cycles. You will gain understanding of the interactions between economic theory and political processes and the ways in which economics and politics are inescapably intertwined. You will be equipped to recognize the role of political & social institutions in economic growth.
Overall objective of the module is to obtain skills to apply Economic theory to the analysis of real-world events. Module complements Microeconomics and Microeconomics as it is designed to provide students with knowledge on how the theory learnt translated and can be used in the real-world cases. Module introduces key concepts of Economic History and Political Economy – with emphasis on economic recessions, business cycles and economic growth.

Available for Study Abroad? YES

This module is concerned with the history of economics and foundations in political economy.
Weekly topics
1. Economic history (18th-19th century) and Classical school of Economics.
2. Economic history (20th-21st century) and Keynesian school of Economics.
3. Industrial Revolutions: theory and practise
4. Business Cycles and Economic Recessions
5. Economic Growth: modern theory
6. Enhancement week (practical workshop on data collection)
7. Foundations of Political Economy
8. Rational choice theory
9. Collective choice and Collective action
10. Political Economy of Development: theory and practise
First week introduces economic history from 17th century (beginning with Adam Smith) until the 19th century (industrial revolution). These lessons are related to classical economics school approach toward economic growth. Second week introduces economic history of 20th and 21st centuries and focuses on key concepts of Keynesian economic school. Third week study is on Industrial Revolutions – the periods when countries become rapidly rich and generates massive divergence in the standard of living around the globe. The aim is here is to familiarize students with the past events and study current wave of industry 4.0 and whether it has the same level of effects on the productivity (productivity problem). Fourth week study is focused on major Economic recessions of the 20th and 21st century (including but not limited to the Great Depression 1932; the 1973 Oil crisis, the dot.com 2000s crisis, and the Global Economic Recession 2007-09, and the most recent Covid-19 pandemic). The goal is to familiarize students with the economic theory of business cycles, and practical aspects of the main causes and effects of economic crises. On the fifth week the modern Economic growth theories are introduced (Porter model of economic development and competitive advantage, and Solow model of long-run economic growth and importance of Innovation and productivity). Students are introduced to PESTLE framework.
The Enhancement week is devoted to practical workshop on macroeconomic data collection and analysis.
Week number seven is dedicated for Introduction into Political Economy: What is political economy and its key concepts, how politics and policy affect economic growth? Week number eight if focused on Rational choice theory: What are the basic assumptions of rational choice? How can the tools of microeconomics be applied to the study of politics? Why do citizens vote? Week number nine is devoted for topic on Collective choice and Collective action: How can rational actors choose and implement their actions jointly? Why is it so hard for rational actors to choose and to cooperate? What insights do we gain from analysing small group cooperation? How can these insights be applied to large groups? What is a collective action problem? How can cooperation among strategic actors be enticed? Final week number ten focuses on Political Economy of Development: foundation theory of development economics and study of growth-miracles such as Singapore, and post-communist era economies, issues related to least developed economies, e.g., how can African development be studied with the tools of political economy?
The topic flow is chosen so that students first gain foundation in historic events and learn to apply the theoretical knowledge to real-world events. This course is based on a reading list rather than a textbook. The readings differ with each topic and combine theoretical books and empirical case studies readied individually for the seminars.

Teaching is structured around a 2-hour lecture and a 1-hour seminar session per week.
Lectures will be structured with the focus on theoretical frameworks and present explanatory examples of real-world cases. Lectures are designed t help students understand and juxtapose the economic theories learned each week. The objective is to prepare students for independent economic analysis and understanding of key economic events (economic recessions and economic growth spurs as well as influence of political environment). The teaching and learning activities in the seminar session will be structured along the principles of problem-based learning. Students will be introduced specific case study and additional fact-based materials to complement the lecture materials. Lecturer will encourage discussion and active participation in the lectures as well the seminars. Participation in debates and speaking in class- will help students build public speaking skill and expressing their own opinion in a concise manner. Lecture notes and other resources will be made available to students on the virtual learning platform.
Teaching, learning, and assessment activities are designed to develop and strengthen analytical skills of students and provide them with a good knowledge base to understand and analyse key economic and political events. Academic reading skills will be reinforced studying theoretical textbooks as well as practical case-studies, economic reports, and relevant online resources). Skills of data analysis will be developed in the assessment as students will be required to collect and analyse a specific set of macroeconomic data. Academic writing skills are developed during the assessment report writing. Public speaking and presentation skills are reinforced during debates in lectures and seminar sessions as well as at the assessment. Overall, students’ critical and independent thinking, contrasting economic theories, problem-solving, reflection and creativity are developed in this module.

Upon completion of the process of learning students will be expected to:
1. Understand key concepts and timelines in the history of Economics and be able to distinguish the two major schools of economics (Classical and Keynesian schools).
2. Understand and analyse causes and outcomes of major global economic recessions.
3. Understand key concepts of political economy and be able to relate political (policy) effects to economic reasoning.
4. Be able to collect data on key macroeconomic factors (such as GDP, Economic growth, Unemployment, Inflation, and R&D investments) and conduct practical historic and forward-looking analysis of this data.

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Core textbooks
Economics / John Sloman, Dean Garratt, Jon Guest
Published in: 2022
Database: London Met University Library Catalogue
By: Sloman, John

https://research.ebsco.com/c/d5khri/search/details/3lmn7ya5s5?q=Sloman%2C%20John%20%20Economics%20AND%20%28PT%20BOOK%20OR%20PT%20EBOOK%29

An Introduction to Political Economy / Vincent Bladen
Published in: 2016
Database: London Met University Library Catalogue
By: Bladen, Vincent

https://research.ebsco.com/c/d5khri/search/details/ei4wljrb?q=Political%20Economy%20Introduction%20AND%20%28PT%20BOOK%20OR%20PT%20EBOOK%29

Economic History
Kindleberger, Charles P., and Jean-Pierre Laffargue. Financial Crises: Theory, History, and Policy. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1982. ISBN: 9780521243803.
Allen, R, C (2011), Global Economic History: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press
Robert C. Allen (2012) ‘Technology and the Great Divergence: Global Economic Development Since 1820’. Explorations in Economic History