Economics and Society will introduce you to the analysis of policy and social issues from an economics perspective. We will explore the use of economic concepts and models to explain real-world phenomena, especially applying economics to issues in everyday life. Along the way we will also cover a broad range of policy-relevant topics including education, health, social security, labour markets, sustainable environmental policy, trade and globalisation, property rights (including intellectual property rights), and the economic functions of government.

This paper will prepare you to make thoughtful comments on economic and policy issues, and to be active and informed participants in policy debates.

ECONS102 Economics and Society complements ECONS101 for economics majors and minors, as well as providing a solid grounding in microeconomic principles for other students. No previous background in economics prior to the paper is necessary or assumed.

IMPORTANT: Although ECONS102(HAM) is offered as a FLEXI paper, FLEXI assessment is only available to students who are unable to attend on-campus. Students who want to complete FLEXI assessment will need to make an application to do so. The application form is available on the ECONS102 Moodle page. Other than in exceptional circumstances, only applications that are received by Monday 17 July will be considered.

We strongly believe that your learning will be greatly enhanced and your experience of the paper will be more positive if you complete the paper on-campus. As we will note in the first lecture, based on data from recent trimesters, students who attend on-campus do substantially better than students who do not.

The paper involves a series of lectures and tutorials. Students will also be expected to engage in a significant amount of reading outside of class time. Extra credit for some assessments is only available for attendance at lectures.

Lectures

Lectures set up much of the theory, and develop the economic models, that will be applied during the paper. Attendance at lectures is a key factor in the success of students in this paper. In addition, there are opportunities for extra credit that will only occur during lectures. Lectures are recorded and available via Panopto for you to refer to later.

Tutorials

Students are expected to attend one tutorial each week. Tutorials will cover practical aspects of the topics, and provide an opportunity for students to receive feedback on assessments, and to ask questions about lecture material. Attendance at tutorials is not compulsory. However, tutorial completion forms part of the assessment for this paper. Tutorials will commence in the first week of teaching.

Students may select a tutorial time by clicking on the Tutorial signup link near the top of the ECONS102 Moodle page. Tutorial signup opens in the second half of enrolment week. Please select a tutorial time as soon as possible, to avoid missing out on your preferred time.

Please note that tutorial times are subject to the availability of tutors, so some tutorial times that are listed in theonline timetable may not be available.
All tutorials will only be offered on-campus. Tutorials will not be recorded.

FLEXI tutorials

Students who have been approved for FLEXI assessment (see above) must complete the tutorials in their own time. For feedback and credit for tutorial completion, FLEXI students must email their tutorial answers to the lecturer (mcam@waikato.ac.nz) by Wednesday 3pm each week. Files should preferably be sent in pdf format or as good-quality photos from a mobile phone. The lecturer or tutor will then email comments and feedback to each student directly.

Online support

The paper is supported online through Moodle, and the class has its own Facebook group, which you are encouraged to join and make use of.

Miller, R.L., Benjamin, D.K., and North, D.C. (2018). The Economics of Public Issues (20th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. (also available from the High Demand Collection at the library). This book is also available as an e-text. Second-hand copies of earlier editions include different material and will not be suitable.

Gans, J., King, S., Byford, M., and Mankiw, G. (2021). Principles of Microeconomics (8th Asia-Pacific ed.). Melbourne: Cengage Learning. (also available from the High Demand Collection at the library). Second-hand copies of the 4th or 5th editions will also be suitable. This book is available as an e-book from the University of Waikato Library, so you should not need to purchase it unless you want to have immediate access to a hard copy.