Description
Economics is the science of allocating scarce resources to maximise people's welfare. Economists study both the microeconomic decisions of individuals, business and government, and the macroeconomic behaviour of the economy as a whole. Two specialisations provide a professional education in economics: economics and economics policy, and mathematical economics and econometrics. Both specialisations are designed to encourage logical thought and detailed analysis of economic issues that can be adapted to a range of careers.
Double degrees
The Bachelor of Economics can be taken in combination with the following course:
Completing a double degree course allows you to graduate with two awards; Bachelor of Economics degree and the degree awarded by the partner course. The requirements for the award are the same whether the award is earned through a single or double degree course. You should refer to the relevant double degree handbook entry for the specific requirements.
Specialisations
Economics and economic policy
The specialisation in economics and economic policy provides an advanced knowledge of the theories explaining and analysing the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services and focuses on how individuals, households, firms and governments interact and how economies work, with an emphasis on economic policy. Microeconomics examines the behaviour of buyers and sellers in the economy, from the microeconomic policy perspective; while macroeconomics analyses the entire economy and issues affecting it, including unemployment, inflation, economic growth, and monetary and fiscal policy, helping to predict economic fundamentals and provide macroeconomic policy advice.
Mathematical economics and econometrics
The economic system is too complex to be analysed descriptively. Most economic decisions require strategic thinking, prediction of expected responses corresponding to each decision and the modelling of complex interactions among multiple economic agents. Mathematical modelling of economic interactions and the use of econometric techniques to evaluate the validity of these models using observed data, have transformed economics into a scientific discipline. This specialisation will be attractive to students with well-developed analytical abilities. Students will use mathematics to learn principles of economics, and to develop skills to formulate economic theories in a mathematical form that can be confronted by data. They will also learn econometric methods that enable them to estimate and test these models using empirical evidence and to quantify economic predictions.
Outcomes
These course outcomes are aligned with the Australian Qualifications Framework level 7 and Monash Graduate AttributesAustralian Qualifications Framework level 7 and Monash Graduate Attributes (http://www.monash.edu.au/pubs/handbooks/alignmentofoutcomes.html).
Upon successful completion of this course it is expected that you will be able to:
- be critical and creative scholars who
- produce innovative solutions to problems
- apply research skills to business challenges
- communicate effectively and perceptively
- be responsible and effective global citizens who:
- engage in an internationalised world
- exhibit cross-cultural competence
- demonstrate ethical values
- demonstrate broad knowledge and technical skills in the area of their specialisation and be able to provide discipline based solutions relevant to the business, professional and public policy communities that we serve, in particular:
- graduates with the economic and economic policy specialisation will have an extensive knowledge of both economic theories and additional fields of specialisation, including mathematical modelling and/or econometrics, with an emphasis on applying core economic theories and analytical tools to economic policy outcomes
- graduates with the mathematical economics and econometric specialisation will have acquired the ability to formulate testable economic propositions in diverse and complex economic settings and to evaluate the empirical validity of such propositions
- construct conceptual frameworks and use these to analyse complex issues in the corporate sector, government and the professions.
Professional recognition
Some specific or additional units may be required for professional recognition. Refer to the Monash Business School professional recognitionprofessional recognition (https://www.monash.edu/business/future-students/undergraduate-study-options/after-you-graduate/professional-recognition) page for more information.
Structure
The course develops through the four themes of foundation commerce knowledge, specialist discipline knowledge, capstone experience, and elective study.
Part A. Foundation commerce knowledge
These units will provide you with a comprehensive study of economics and econometrics disciplines and the impact they have on multi-discipline decision-making in organisations. The units consider the impact on the business, professional and public policy communities.
Part B. Specialist discipline knowledge
These units will develop your capacity as a critical and creative professional who is able to apply your knowledge of a specialised area to provide discipline based solutions to commerce and economic policy.
Part C. Capstone experience
The capstone unit is designed to consolidate the knowledge and skills acquired throughout the study of your specialisation.
Part D. Elective study
This will enable you to further develop your knowledge of economics or commerce more broadly, or select any units from across the University in which you are eligible to enrol including to complete a major or minor from another course.
If you are enrolled in a double degree course, these elective units are used in fulfilling part of the requirements of the other course.
Requirements
The course comprises 144 points, of which 96 points must be focused on economics and 48 points are used to provide additional depth or breadth.
The course develops through three themes: Part A. Foundation commerce knowledge (24 points), B. Specialist discipline knowledge and Part C. Capstone experience (72 points), and Part D. Elective study (48 points).
Elective study may be at any level, in choosing you must complete no more than 10 units at level 1 (60 points) and at least 6 units (36 points) at level 3, of which at least 4 units (24 points) must be from those offered by the Faculty of Business and Economics at the Clayton campus.
The course progression mapcourse progression map (http://www.monash.edu.au/pubs/2019handbooks/maps/map-b2031.pdf) provides guidance on unit enrolment for each semester of study.
Units are 6 points unless otherwise specified.
Part A. Foundation commerce knowledge (24 points)
You must complete:
- ECC1000 Principles of microeconomics
- ECC1100 Principles of macroeconomics
- ETC1000 Business and economic statistics
- ETC2410 Introductory econometrics
Part B. Specialist discipline knowledge and Part C. Capstone experience (72 points)
Economics and economic policy specialisation
You must complete:
a. The following three units (18 points):
b. Three units (18 points) from List A below and two units (12 points) from List A or List B below:
List A:
List B:
- ECC2300 Current issues in macroeconomic policy
- ECC2360 Environmental economics
- ECC2450 Sports economics
- ECC2600 Behavioural economics
- ECC2610 Game theory and strategic thinking
- ECC2800 Prosperity, poverty and sustainability in a globalised world
- ECC3640 Economics of climate change
- ECC3800 History of economic thought
- ETC3410 Applied econometrics
c. Four units (24 points) selected from those offered by the Faculty of Business and Economics at Clayton and not already completed
Mathematical economics and econometrics specialisation
You must complete:
a. The following three units (18 points):
b. One of the following pairs of mathematics units (12 points):
- ETC2440 Mathematics for economics and business and ETC2520 Probability and statistical inference for economics and business
- ETC2440 Mathematics for economics and business and ECC2610 Game theory and strategic thinking
- MTH1020 Analysis of change and MTH1030 Techniques for modelling
- MTH1030 Techniques for modelling and one of either MTH2010 Multivariate calculus or MTH2021 Linear algebra with applications
c. Three units (18 points) from the following or any unit not taken in (b) with at least two units at level 3:
- ETC2520 Probability and statistical inference for economics and business
- ETC3410 Applied econometrics
- ETC3450 Time series analysis for business and economics
- ETC3460 Financial econometrics
- MTH2032 Differential equations with modelling
- MTH3051 Introduction to computational mathematics
- MTH3140 Real analysis
- MTH3241 Random processes in the sciences and engineering
d. Four units (24 points) selected from those offered by the Faculty of Business and Economics at Clayton and not already completed.
Part D. Elective study (48 points)
These are free elective units and may be used to develop further depth and breadth in economics or could be units chosen from other business areas or from across the University (including to complete a major or minor from another course), as long as you have the prerequisites and there are no restrictions on admission to the units. The units may be at any level, however, no more than 10 units (60 points) are to be completed at level 1 in the course.
Enrolment in Faculty of Business and Economics units at campuses other than your campus of enrolment is subject to there being spare capacity after students from that campus have enrolled. You should also be aware of travel and timetabling limitations.
Free electives can be identified using the browse units tool and indexes of units in the current edition of the Handbook. Majors and minors can also be identified using the Handbook indexes. The level of the unit is indicated by the first number in the unit code; undergraduate units are those that commence with the numbers 1-3. You may need permission from the owning faculty to enrol in some units taught by other faculties.
If you are in a double degree course, some units required for the other degree can also be credited as electives towards the economics degree.
Progression to further studies
Successful completion of this course may provide a pathway to the one year honours program B3701 Bachelor of Commerce (Honours). To be eligible to apply for the Bachelor of Commerce (Honours), you must have achieved a distinction grade average (70 percent) or above in 24 points of studies at level 3. In addition, some particular units may need to be taken for admission to honours.
