Economics

Description

This course seeks to provide a general introduction to economics.  Its starting point is the desirability to make the student aware of the economic aspects that are intrinsically related to various decisions, including those in a legal context.  To this end, the most important economic actors are considered (consumers, producers, the government, foreign nations).  The course considers both the microeconomic and the macroeconomic perspective.  Individual decisionmakers are key in the former, whereas in the latter one focuses on a more aggregate level (usually that of an entire nation). The student must be able to demonstrate his capacity for elementary economic reasoning.  This implies, for example, that one should be able to assess the consequences of economic policy measures for individuals, interest groups or governments.  Furthermore, the course seeks to offer the opportunity to provide a deeper insight into recent economic developments in the real world.  In terms of employed methods, the emphasis is on verbal reasoning as well as graphical analysis, with the level of mathematical complexity kept to a minimum.