Level 6 undergraduate Economics and Finance modules

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The following is a list of all Level 6 modules, followed by individual module details.

ECN302 Corporate Strategy

15 credits, Level 6, Semester A

Prerequisite: ECN214

Description: This module provides an overview of corporate strategy in a global context and will enable students to become familiar with the core concepts of: External environmental analysis; models of internal and external analysis, analysis and management of resources; analysis of corporate strengths and weaknesses; knowledge management; development of strategic choice; elements influencing implementation of strategy.

ECN322 Topics in Econometrics

15 credits, Level 6, Semester A

Prerequisite: ECN225

Description: This module develops the knowledge of econometric methods that are useful in the analysis of economic phenomena and financial markets. The module is suitable for students with interest in theory and empirical applications of econometrics and for students considering master studies. The topics considered may differ over years. Candidate topics are maximum likelihood estimation, GMM estimators, panel data, limited dependent variable models, ARCH and GARCH models, structural change and time series.

ECN325 Economics Project 2

30 credits, Level 6, Semester A and B

Overlap: ECN326

Prerequisite: ECN206 or ECN211

Description: This is an expansion of ECN326.

ECN326 Economics Project 1

15 credits, Level 6, Semester A or B

Overlap: ECN325

Prerequisite: ECN206 or ECN211

Description: Independent work on a topic in economics, which can be of a theoretical or applied nature and can involve the use of any appropriate techniques.

ECN331 Industrial Economics

15 credits, Level 6, Semester B

Prerequisite: ECN211, ECN214

Description: This module deals with intra-firm behaviour and industrial organisation. Topics covered in past years include: performance pay, Coase's theory of the firm, price discrimination, quantity competition, differentiated products, cartel formation, antitrust policy, advertising, research and development, and entry deterrence.

ECN336 Applied Econometrics

15 credits, Level 6, Semester A

Prerequisite: ECN224

Description: This module provides students with a “hands-on” environment in which they learn how to analyse real economic data by applying economic theories and econometric methods in combination. The module also aims to develop the students' abilities in data collection, information gathering from a wide range of reading and critical evaluation of what is taught in textbooks. The module assessment is through coursework only.

ECN344 Economics of Technology and Innovation (Economics of Innovations)

15 credits, Level 6, Semester B

Prerequisite: ECN211

Description: This module examines the challenges and the opportunities that technological innovation and information management present companies and managers. The emphasis is on the development and application of conceptual models that clarify the interactions between information management, technological change, competition, firm positioning, and the structure and development of internal firm capabilities. Topics addressed include: understanding information technology markets, technology discontinuities, technology forecasting, network externalities and standards competition, profiting from innovation, new market entry strategy, and organizing to innovate.

ECN346 Business Cycles

15 credits, Level 6, Semester B

Prerequisite: ECN206

Description: The module aims at evaluating how business cycle theories perform when confronted with business cycles stylised facts. The theories are presented based on a micro-founded intertemporal model of the economy that provides understanding on how different types of shocks cause macroeconomic fluctuations.

ECN351 Environmental Economics

15 credits, Level 6, Semester B

Prerequisite: ECN111

Description: Sustainable and unsustainable development; the economic determinants of population growth; strategies of population control; intertemporal resource management; renewable and exhaustible resources; global warming, ozone depletion and acid rain externalities and the control of pollution; economic management of forest resources; the exploitation of the sea.

ECN352 Public Economics

15 credits, Level 6, Semester B

Prerequisite: ECN211, ECN214

Description: This module aims to show how economic theory can help us to design and evaluate public policy. The main focus of the module is to familiarise students with basic notions, models and results of Public Economics. Primary attention will be given to the expenditure side of the economy, especially to externalities, public goods, social choice and local public goods. We take examples from environmental and tax policy as well as the analysis of projects and inequality.

ECN355 Macroeconomic Policy

15 credits, Level 6, Semester A

Prerequisite: ECN206

Description: This module presents the theoretical underpinnings of modern macroeconomic policy, providing a critical understanding of the policy debate and knowledge of the tools of the trade. Topics covered include: fiscal policy, temporary vs. permanent tax changes, policy sustainability, money creation, seignorage, inflation, monetary policy rules, UK monetary arrangements, and liquidity traps.

ECN356 Labour Economics

15 credits, Level 6, Semester B

Prerequisite: ECN111

Description: Topics include: the supply of labour; the demand for labour; labour market equilibrium; human capital and signalling; labour market discrimination; trade unions; compensating wage differentials; incentive pay; labour mobility; unemployment; labour market policy.

ECN358 Futures and Options

15 credits, Level 6, Semester B

Prerequisite: ECN226

Description: The module starts with the operation of forward and futures markets, paying a particular attention to arbitrage considerations. It then discusses the use of options in hedging and speculation and how to derive price bounds and the put-call parity for options. The last topic concerns elements of stochastic calculus and its application to the Black-Scholes model for option pricing.

ECN361 Advanced Microeconomics (Advanced Micro)

15 credits, Level 6, Semester A

Prerequisite: ECN211, ECN214

Description: This module aims to help students to bridge the gap between undergraduate and postgraduate economics. It is therefore strongly recommended for all students who are considering continuing to a taught Masters degree in Economics. The module will attempt to develop students' capacity for strategic reasoning via the translation of economic stories into simple models, spelling out every step of each argument in detail. Topics covered include individual decision making, efficiency of competitive market economy and causes of market failure, social choice and welfare, and information economics.

ECN367 Experimental Economics

15 credits, Level 6, Semester A

Prerequisite: ECN214

Description: The main objective of this course is to provide an introduction to the use of laboratory experiments in economics. The course will give the students the chance to study economic decisions in a controlled environment. They will learn to carry out empirical economics research by designing, running, and analyzing experiments. The ‘hands-on’ approach to learning will enrich their understanding of important economics concepts. The course is also intended to develop analytical and critical thinking skills that will allow students to make decisions that are educated, and to address decision problems appropriately.

ECN369 Health Economics

15 credits, Level 6, Semester A

Prerequisite: ECN211, ECN231 is also advised

Description: This module covers the application of economic principles to the study of health. Topics will include the demand for health care and its supply; issues in health care finance, including uncertainty, insurance, and the rationale for public and private provision; the extent to which welfare economics can be applied to health, including definitions of inequality and the links between inequalities in income and health; overview of reforms of the health care sector; and evaluation of health care treatments (cost effectiveness and cost utility analysis).

ECN370 Development Economics

15 credits, Level 6, Semester A

Prerequisite: ECN206, ECN211

Description: This module is concerned with the analysis of economic problems faced by developing countries from Asia, Africa and Latin America. It focuses, on the one hand, on the meaning, measurements and comparability of growth and development across countries (i.e. income per capita, income distribution and poverty) and, on the other, on the availability and characteristics of resources (i.e. labour, land, capital, savings), and the problems with their use in the context of developing countries vis-à-vis OECD countries. The above is presented in the analytic context of (historical) alternative development models and globalisation issues. Although the module does not demand advanced mathematics it does require the use of some mathematics and a fair amount of reading.

ECN371 Corporate Finance 1

15 credits, Level 6, Semester A

Prerequisite: ECN226

Description: This module is part of a two-module sequence that studies how firms make their investment decisions and design their capital structure. This first part deals with Capital Budgeting, building on the asset pricing notions acquired in the Capital Markets 1 module. Topics covered include: finance and the financial manager, present values, the objective of the firm, and corporate governance, how to calculate present values, the value of bonds and common stocks, superiority of decisions based on present value method, making investment decisions with the net present value rule, risk-return and the cost of capital, recap on portfolio theory, capital budgeting and risk, and practical problems in capital budgeting.

ECN372 Corporate Finance 2

15 credits, Level 6, Semester B

Prerequisite: ECN371

Description: This module is part of a two-module sequence that studies how firms make their investment decisions and design their capital structure. This second part deals with issues of capital structure, mergers and acquisitions, and look at topics of capital structure with asymmetric information and corporate governance. Topics covered include: the Modigliani-Miller theorems, optimal debt/equity mix with taxes and costly bankruptcy, bankruptcy costs and debtholder-equityholder conflicts, managerial incentives, basic credit rationing models with asymmetric information, optimal capital structure and agency costs, the information conveyed by financial decisions, and corporate governance models.