Overview
This unit encompasses a broad ranging introduction to economic theory and analysis as well as a study of some applications of economics to economic systems and to enterprises. You will be required to study microeconomics (how individual businesses and sectors operate) and macroeconomics (how an economy works as a whole). You will also be required to gain some understanding of why institutions are very important in an economy, and how internal and international trade creates economic wealth. Key goals in the unit will be to raise awareness of the importance of economic systems, introduction to the different fields of economic theory that are relevant to business, and develop some analytical skills. If you have successfully completed the unit ECON20023 you should not enrol in this unit.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
There are no requisites for this unit.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 1 - 2017
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes – in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University’s Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback – Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Evaluation survey
Tutorial questions need to be available on Moodle.
Tutorial questions are available to students via Moodle.
Each week students are sent an email outlining which questions from the textbook will be covered during the tutorial.
Feedback from Informal feedback.
Aplia is hard to navigate.
Consider changing Aplia to online quiz.
Aplia has been removed from the quiz.
- evaluate the theory of demand and supply in relation to price determination and examine some cases of market failure
- critically compare and contrast the characteristics of different market structures regarding the allocation of resources
- explain the macroeconomic concepts and demonstrate their application to study inflation and unemployment
- examine monetary and financial systems, the role of international trade, exchange rates and balance of payments issues and communicate these in economic terms.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
1 - Online Test - 10% | ||||
2 - Written Assessment - 30% | ||||
3 - Examination - 60% |
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
1 - Knowledge | ||||
2 - Communication | ||||
3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills | ||||
4 - Research | ||||
5 - Self-management | ||||
6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility | ||||
7 - Leadership | ||||
8 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures |
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | |
1 - Online Test - 10% | ||||||||
2 - Written Assessment - 30% | ||||||||
3 - Examination - 60% |
Textbooks
Economics for Today
5th Asia-Pacific Edition (2016)
Authors: Layton, A., Robinson, T. and Tucker, I.B.
Cengage Learning
Australia
ISBN: 978-0-17-034700-6
Binding: Hardcover
Additional Textbook Information
Paperback includes eBook and CourseMate online materials. You can purchase only an eBook with CourseMate online resources from: https://www.cengagebrain.com.au/shop/isbn/9780170378253
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: American Psychological Association 6th Edition (APA 6th edition)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
g.williams@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Introduction to the economic way of thinking, production possibilities and opportunity cost
Chapter
1 & 2
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Basics of the market mechanism: demand and supply analysis
Chapter
3 & 4
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Elasticity of demand and supply and production costs
Chapter
5 & 6
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Perfect competition and monopoly
Chapter
7&8
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Monopolistic competition and oligopoly.
Chapter
9
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Policy issues: housing affordability and climate change
Chapter
10
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Macroeconomic fundamentals: GDP and business cycles
Chapter
11&12
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Inflation and unemployment. A simple model of macro economy
Chapter
13&14
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
The monetary and financial system
Chapter
15
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Macroeconomic policies
Chapter
16&17
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
International trade and finance
Chapter
18
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Review Week
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Online Test
The first assessment covers microeconomic topics (Chapters 1 – 9).
It is worth 10 marks and has to be done online. The link is provided on the unit Moodle website.
Vacation Week Monday (10 Apr 2017) 11:45 pm AEST
No late submissions will be accepted without an approved extension.
Marks will be released on the due date.
Assessment criteria include: correct calculations, correct diagrams. More details are provided on the unit Moodle website.
- evaluate the theory of demand and supply in relation to price determination and examine some cases of market failure
- critically compare and contrast the characteristics of different market structures regarding the allocation of resources
- Knowledge
- Communication
- Cognitive, technical and creative skills
- Self-management
2 Written Assessment
The second assessment is a research essay (3000 words). It is worth 30 marks.
Further details of the assignment are available on the unit Moodle site (Assessment block).
Research essay requires a significant research to be undertaken and will take some time to develop a quality answer.
Penalties (5% of the total available marks for the assessment for each calendar day (full or part) it is overdue) will apply for any late submissions without an approved extension.
Note: No submissions, including the ones automatically submitted by Moodle, will be reverted to draft after the due date. More information about Moodle submission is provided on the unit Moodle website.
Week 7 Monday (24 Apr 2017) 11:45 pm AEST
Penalties will apply for any late submissions without an approved extension.
Monday (8 May 2017)
Only those students who submit assignments on time can expect this return date.
Assessment criteria include: clear explanations of key points of economic theory, evidence of research for case studies and correct in-text referencing following the APA referencing style. More details are provided on the unit Moodle website.
It is important that you familiarise yourself with the Plagiarism policy. The following information is from the Academic Misconduct Procedure Policy available from CQUni website: http://policy.cqu.edu.au/Policy/policy_file.do?policyid=1244.
"Plagiarism – the presentation of work, ideas or data of others as one’s own, without appropriate acknowledgement and referencing. Examples of plagiarism include: the inclusion of one or more sentences from another person’s work without the use of quotation marks and acknowledgement of the source (note that acknowledgement of the source without the use of quotation marks around any copied text still constitutes plagiarism); the use of one or more sentences from the work of another person where a few words have been changed, or where the order of copied phrases/sentences has been changed; copying the work of another student, with or without their agreement; copying tables, graphs, images, designs, computer programs and any other data, ideas or work without appropriate acknowledgement and referencing.
Plagiarism includes self-plagiarism which is the presentation of one’s own work for more than one assessment, without acknowledgement and referencing. Examples include: the reuse of all or part of one’s own work that has already been given academic credit, without acknowledgement. Unless use in a particular instance specifically excludes self-plagiarism, the term ‘plagiarism’ should be regarded as also including self-plagiarism. These procedures apply to students in taught courses: students in independent (one year) Honours degrees, research Masters and PhD courses are covered by the Research Plagiarism Procedures".
- evaluate the theory of demand and supply in relation to price determination and examine some cases of market failure
- critically compare and contrast the characteristics of different market structures regarding the allocation of resources
- Knowledge
- Communication
- Cognitive, technical and creative skills
- Research
- Self-management
Examination
Dictionary - non-electronic, concise, direct translation only (dictionary must not contain any notes or comments).
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.