Undergraduate - UnitECS1101 - Introductory microeconomics

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	South Africa First semester 2015 (Day) South Africa Summer semester A 2015 (Day)

Synopsis

An introduction to the study of economics; consumer behaviour; demand and supply and the operation of markets; market efficiency and welfare; welfare effects of international trade; public sector economics; the behaviour of firms and the organisation of an industry; market structures - perfect competition and monopoly; economies of the labour market.

Outcomes

The learning goals associated with this unit are to:

understand the theoretical foundations of economics
understand generic skills essential for progression to upper level units by applying rigorous thinking and understanding to analytical geometric models
appreciate economics as an evolutionary science and its ability to address, in a microeconomic framework, the persistent social and economic problems confronted by society
demonstrate in individual summative assessment task the acquisition of a comprehensive understanding of the topics covered in this unit.

Assessment

Within semester assessment: 40%
Examination: 60%

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 Kwame Osei-Assibey

Prohibitions

ECB1101, ECF1100, ECG1101, ECW1101, ECP1100