Undergraduate - UnitECC2800 - Prosperity, poverty and sustainability in a globalised world

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2015 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 3, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Business and Economics
Organisational Unit	Department of Economics
Offered	Clayton First semester 2015 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Dr Simon Angus

Synopsis

This unit examines the process of economic development and its effects on prosperity, poverty and sustainability. The unit begins by studying the sources of prosperity via economic growth in the modern era, with particular reference to the Great Divergence in incomes that started during the 1800s. Second, the unit asks why some economic systems have prospered, whilst others have declined by turning its attention to disparate experiences of world-wide economic growth such as poverty and starvation. Finally we study the effects and prospects for future economic development in the context of environmental sustainability and climate change.

Outcomes

The learning goals associated with this unit are to:

to introduce economic analysis as a key tool in understanding global movements of capital, labour and goods and services
to use this analysis to identify the underlying causes of economic prosperity, poverty and environmental degradation in the modern global economy
to critically analyse the sources of globalisation at the beginning of the 20th century and in the modern era
to equip students with the economic tools to assess current ideas that aim to alleviate global poverty and secure environmental sustainability.

Assessment

Within semester assessment: 50%
Examination: 50%

Workload requirements

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. Independent study may include associated readings, assessment and preparation for scheduled activities. The unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

Chief examiner(s)

Dr Simon Angus