Economics (Industry)

Each year, students receive specific training by the Management School Careers Team, to prepare them for the graduate labour market. In the first year the focus is on growing the student’s awareness of labour market dynamics and his or her professional aspirations and inclinations. The second year focuses on goal setting, action planning, and developing a personalised career plan. The third year focuses on one-to-one sessions with career advisors. The Career Team is based in the Management School, organises events with employers and alumni, and coaches students on how to best perform in the graduate job market through seminars, surgeries, mock interviews and one-to-one advice.

This module provides an introduction to the core concepts and methods of econometric analysis and their applications in economics, business and finance. More specifically, it examines different types of economic data and ways to handle them, the specification of econometric models and their estimation and testing, with a focus on the classical linear regression model. The approach pursued in the course is an intuitive and practical one, where special attention is paid to the application of econometric techniques to real-world data, interpretation and evaluation of the results of the estimation, and the ways in which they can be used to inform business and policy decisions.

An important part of the module is the training in the use of the specialized econometrics software EVews to gain the ability to analyse and assess empirical results. This module equips you with a set of tools and technical skills needed to conduct applied econometric research for the purposes of writing a dissertation or other assignments with an empirical component. The ability to apply econometric methods and evaluate the results represents an essential part of undergraduate training in economics and finance, and is in high demand in the era of big data and business analytics.

Economic problems are often addressed using mathematical models. The aim of this module is to provide you with training in the mathematical skills which are an essential part of the economist's toolkit, and which are needed to successfully complete further modules in Economics. The module assumes no prior knowledge of mathematics beyond GCSE.

On successful completion of this module, you should have a knowledge and understanding of analytical methods, in particular model-based ones. The interpretation of the results derived from the modelling process in the context of economic problems and phenomena and their use in the decision-making process.

The objective of the course is to train students to use macroeconomic models to understand real-world economic phenomena. The students will learn how to interpret macroeconomic data and understand the implications of economic policies. The course will put emphasis on major issues related to economic growth, the causes of economic fluctuations, and the effectiveness of economic policy. We will investigate the link between financial openness and economic growth, and we will explain why emerging countries experience capital outflows. We will study the impact of the exchange rate regime on the effectiveness of fiscal policy, we will rationalise the increase of current account deficits in Europe after the beginning of the nineties, and we will analyse the cause(s) of cross-country differences in hours worked.

The module requires basic knowledge of basic calculus, logical thinking and problem-solving skills.

Various topics of interest to prospective managers are covered within this module, including production and demand, competition and strategic behaviour, advertising and distribution, capital budgeting and inventories, the foreign exchange market, the economics of the multinational enterprise and the politics of corporate economics. The module provides knowledge of aspects of microeconomics relevant to general management, and also emphasises techniques and tools of analysis alongside relevant theory.

The module is designed to as an introduction to aspects of the firm and its environment which are of particular relevance to management. The topics selected aim to bridge the gap between the traditional approach to managerial economics and the more modern study of the organisation.

The course provides students with general knowledge and understanding concerning social research and particular methods and methodologies that lie within the positivist and interpretivist paradigms. It is primarily aimed at students from across the management school that are planning to undertake an industrial placement and/or a dissertation in their final year of study. This module helps to prepare you to undertake your own research with a view to highlighting different research approaches and techniques that are used in the production of knowledge.

The module provides an insight into the various ways research can be undertaken and the implications of different approaches. We will examine the conceptual and practical complexities of undertaking research in practice. Initially you will be introduced to research methods and that are most commonly employed in business and management research. The module will then examine the methodological approaches and paradigms that are linked with these methods and the assumptions that underpin positivistic and interpretivist approaches. The final part of the module explores how this understanding can be used in writing your research proposal and dissertation.

This module focuses on the role of governments within the economy, looking at the extent to which they can intervene in markets and in other areas such as climate change. It builds your skills in evaluating the effectiveness of economic policies, and provides insights into the difficulties of decision-making in collective-choice environments.

This module helps you improve your strategic thinking. Over the course of this module, you will learn how to use ‘games’ to model strategic situations in the real world, and how to analyse and find out solutions to these games in situations in which players are intelligent and rational. Games including “normal form games”, “extensive form games”, “Bayesian games”, “repetitive games”, and “games with correlation device” will be introduced. Opportunities for playing games with the lecturer and other students will also be provided. The module requires a basic knowledge of algebra, calculus, and economics.

Perhaps more formative for the modern British state than any before or since, the years 1660 to 1720 saw Britain’s territorial boundaries and infrastructure forged; with constitutional monarchy, expanding state bureaucracy, and political parties as its principal tenets. During the same period, political power in England changed hands; new political personnel operated within novel political institutions and voiced innovative political economies. Making of Modern Britain will also challenge participants to analyse and debate formative changes to British literature, commerce, art, and architecture, as well as to discuss the changed relationship between Britain and the world during this period. Participants will therefore receive a broad understanding of late seventeenth and early eighteenth century British history; they will also develop expertise in the following subfields: cultural, art, political, parliamentary, global, economic, constitutional, gender, and business history.

This module introduces a range of debates about the social and cultural status and impact of advertising.

From a sociological perspective it explores:

• Advertising in the nineteenth century
• The practices of contemporary advertising agencies
• Advertising controversies
• Advertising regulation
• Methods of textual analysis for advertisements
• Gender and advertising
• Challenges to advertising and the subversion of advertisements
• Sociological accounts of branding and ‘promotional culture’

Students on this module will gain a critical understanding of sociological and cultural perspectives on advertising, methods of analysing advertising, and the role of advertising and discourses of consumerism in shaping identities.

In your first year you'll apply for placements in business or industry, and will take a module to prepare you for the placement year. The whole of your third year will then be spent working in a paid placement, supported by the Careers team. Near the end of the placement, you'll submit a proposal for your dissertation topic, inspired by your experiences during the placement year, which you'll complete in fourth year under the supervision of an academic tutor.

This module equips students with experience of working within a business environment. You are expected to acquire not only knowledge of business problems and practices, but also experience of interpersonal relationships within a business context. The dissertation is undertaken during the work placement year.

Each year, students receive specific training by the Management School Careers Team, to prepare them for the graduate labour market. In the first year the focus is on growing the student’s awareness of labour market dynamics and his or her professional aspirations and inclinations. The second year focuses on goal setting, action planning, and developing a personalised career plan. The third year focuses on one-to-one sessions with career advisors. The Career Team is based in the Management School, organises events with employers and alumni, and coaches students on how to best perform in the graduate job market through seminars, surgeries, mock interviews and one-to-one advice.

Behavioural Economics is the interface between economics and psychology. It is one of the fastest-growing fields in economics, and since the past decade, it is regarded as a standard tool for policymaking. The course will survey the empirical tools used by behavioural economists and in particular lab and field experiments. We will explore behavioural biases affecting economic and financial decision making, and the role of trust and cooperation in teamwork. We will discuss models and experimental results explaining how we make decisions in various contexts such as choice under uncertainty, intertemporal choice or decision making in a social framework.

Current Issues in Economics is a course which is designed to familiarise you with contemporary policy issues. The broad curriculum and the range of issues that will be discussed include the crisis in social care, job retention schemes, the Great Resignation following Covid-19, Brexit, interest rate policy, government debt and the returns to education. During this course, you will prepare a number of reports on a selection of these topics. These will include contemporary data and analyses and will be accessible to policymakers and industry leaders. For one of these reports, you will also deliver a podcast or video log to enhance your verbal presentation skills. There is no formal examination for this module; assessment is via the reports and the video log/podcast.

This module introduces up-to-date knowledge and understanding of the quantitative analysis of economic data based on machine learning and big data methods. We will overview statistical learning and how to use statistical software R for adequate use of data visualisation and manipulation techniques.

Key topics include linear regression, classification, resampling methods (cross-validation and the Bootstrap), Ridge Regression and The Lasso, Tree-Based Methods (Decision Tree, Bootstrap Aggregation (Bagging) and Random Forests), Support Vector Machines, Deep Learning and Neural Networks.

This course focuses on the economics of growth and development, both from a theoretical and empirical perspective. Using examples from developing countries, it explores wide-ranging, policy-relevant topics such as investments in health, education and infrastructure, microeconomics of credit markets, corruption and other determinants of economic development.

This course explores how income and wealth inequality arises and how we can potentially “tame” it. It also provides ways to measure inequality and evaluate inequality numbers we see in the media or academic studies. The course aims to stimulate critical thinking by examining the existing theory and applying it to real-world examples and data. The topics covered include skill accumulation, discrimination, luck, mobility, wealth accumulation and the role of bequests. Optional for year II or final year students. The module requires algebra, elementary calculus, introductory econometrics and logical thinking.

This applied module is an introduction to the economics of health and health care and will develop your awareness of the main policy issues in this field. It provides a comprehensive set of economic tools for critically appraising fundamental issues in the economics of health while offering a broad overview of the UK’s National Health Service and other health care systems around the world. The emphasis is on the use and interpretation of microeconomic models and the latest empirical evidence.

This module builds on basic microeconomics concepts to explore competition between firms and the evolution of market structure. It focuses on understanding the way firms make decisions and the effects of those decisions on market outcomes like prices, quantities, the type of products offered, and social welfare. The module first introduces basic concepts in Industrial Organisation to study imperfect competition and the determinants of market power. It then proceeds to analyse important topics in competition policy, such as cartels and merger policy.

The module requires an understanding of intermediate microeconomics (especially production/cost theory), basic concepts of game theory, and basic calculus.

This course provides an introduction to the economics of International Business and their key role in the global economy, incorporating the analysis of internationalising firms and multinational enterprises (MNE). Its conceptual foundations derive from the critical application of relevant economic theories and addresses policy issues highlighting the economic, strategic and financial challenges facing businesses that operate across international borders in a multiple exchange rate environment.

The course covers a range of important topics that facilitate a deeper understanding of the determinants and implications of the activities of international firms in the global economy. These topics include: global trends in research and development (R&D) and implications; the Global Factory, global value chains and the decline of the global firm; the growth and employment effects of international business; and exchange rates, risk and international financial management.

This module develops your understanding of concepts and theories of international trade and factor flows, with particular reference to the way in which such material can inform policymaking. Topics covered include the Ricardian model, the Heckscher-Ohlin model, international trade under imperfect competition, outsourcing and offshoring, trade models based on heterogeneous firms and multinational firms, and trade policy under perfect and imperfect competition. Throughout the module we emphasise the applicability of the models learned, and their relevance to real-world events. Examples include the relationship between labour productivity and wages, opinions toward free trade, and the impact of immigration.

Focusing on the microeconomics of labour and personnel, this module covers topics such as the economics of migration, wage determination, job search and labour market discrimination.

There is a particular emphasis on principal agent problems in human resources and the design of incentives within firms.

Economics theory is used to analyse the operation of labour markers and assess the empirical evidence. Areas covered include:

• the firm's demand for labour
• labour supply at an individual and aggregate level
• causes of wage rigidity
• the economic impact of trade unions
• inflation and unemployment

Policymakers at Central Banks lie in a unique position to influence economic activity. This module examines the role of monetary policy in influencing the expectations and behaviour of agents in the economy and the implications this has for outcomes such as inflation, GDP and household welfare. Students will focus on applications of monetary theory to central banks problems and the recent objectives of the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee. Topics include Central Bank independence, inflation targeting and the zero lower bound on interest rates, money creation and quantitative easing, and the macroeconomics of pandemics.

This module presents an overview of the interactions between the government, firms, and citizens, using a mix of theory and empirical work. Sometimes, markets are not efficient, and government intervention is necessary. Sometimes, markets are efficient, but equity concerns create the need for government. There is often a tension between the socially optimal policy and the outcome of the democratic process.

Some questions we study in this module:

• What is the role of government in the economy?
• Is it fair to redistribute money through taxation?
• Are some taxes better than others?
• How to deal with pollution, discriminations, and other inefficiencies of the market?
• How to make multinational companies pay taxes?
• Is there such a thing as an ideal voting system?

This module addresses contemporary debates in sociology and cinema by focusing on a single film each week. Its overall aim is to employ cinema for the purpose of social diagnosis.

The module engages with cinema as a social fact, before linking together cinema (producing images of the social) and sociality (socialisation of the image) for analysis.

This module looks at how theoretical and empirical methods can be applied to the growing field of sports economics.

It helps you to understand the particular characteristics of labour and product markets in professional sports, and what implications these have for economic analysis. You will also learn more about how theoretical and empirical work in the economics of sport can be used to inform policy issues, including competitive structures in sports leagues, free agency and player mobility, and the financing of professional sport. You will also gain insights into how betting markets function and why people gamble on sports.

Global capitalism is at crossroads. It faces a deepening crisis in the world of work, its engine of growth is sputtering out while the climate emergency is aggravating. For some the 2008 recession, COVID-19 and the 2022 cost-of living of crisis offered tragic glimpses of the world that is to come if radical change is not pursued. How can we govern a world characterised by perpetual emergencies and chronic economic crises? Can capitalism be reformed? What does it take to address inequality, precarity or biodiversity collapse? What are the challenges and constraints faced by governments today? The module offers an opportunity to discuss these questions by examining a range of political economy approaches to the study of global capitalism. In doing so the module analyses the most important transformations of the past 50 years that radically transformed the global economy and the issues they raise for economic policy. It examines the constraints, limits and opportunities facing the governance of the global economic order and explores the governing dilemmas that arise in the era of so-called late capitalism.