ECON 3525 - Economic Policy Analysis III

North Terrace Campus - Semester 2 - 2021

This course is about the design and evaluation of economic and social policies. It provides students with the theoretical tools needed to design such policies and with the empirical tools needed to evaluate them. Students will apply these tools to write policy reports for the policy maker. Case studies and empirical examples will be discussed, and will offer a model for the issues which students are required to research and write about. This course is the capstone experience for the B.Ec.

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Course Details

Course Code	ECON 3525
Course	Economic Policy Analysis III
Coordinating Unit	Economics
Term	Semester 2
Level	Undergraduate
Location/s	North Terrace Campus
Units	3
Contact	Up to 3 hours per week in Weeks 1-10 and up to 5 hours per week in weeks 11-12.
Available for Study Abroad and Exchange	Y
Prerequisites	ECON 2507, & either ECON 2506 or ECON 2514 or ECON 2516
Incompatible	ECON 3523
Assumed Knowledge	ECON 2504 or ECON 2515 or ECON 2517
Restrictions	Available only to BEc students
Assessment	Typically, progress reports and a final presentation

Course Staff

Course Coordinator: Associate Professor Mandar Oak

Course Timetable

The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from Course Planner.

Course Learning Outcomes

This course is about the design and the evaluation of economic and social policies. It provides students with the theoretical tools needed to design such policies and with the empirical tools needed to evaluate them.

On successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

Provide a balanced and coherent discussion of conceptual, methodological and ethical issues underlying the identification, selection, implementation and evaluation of a variety of micro and macro-economic policy proposals.
Apply what has been learned during the first two years of their undergraduate studies in economics to the description and evaluation of specific policies, relating to a variety of social and economic issues.
Construct effective reports aimed at briefing policy makers, both individually and in groups, of a professional standard, to communicate the results of their analysis to non-economists, including the general public.

University Graduate Attributes

This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:

University Graduate Attribute	Course Learning Outcome(s)
Deep discipline knowledge informed and infused by cutting edge research, scaffolded throughout their program of studies acquired from personal interaction with research active educators, from year 1 accredited or validated against national or international standards (for relevant programs)	1-3
Critical thinking and problem solving steeped in research methods and rigor based on empirical evidence and the scientific approach to knowledge development demonstrated through appropriate and relevant assessment	1-3
Teamwork and communication skills developed from, with, and via the SGDE honed through assessment and practice throughout the program of studies encouraged and valued in all aspects of learning	1-3
Career and leadership readiness technology savvy professional and, where relevant, fully accredited forward thinking and well informed tested and validated by work based experiences	1-3
Intercultural and ethical competency adept at operating in other cultures comfortable with different nationalities and social contexts able to determine and contribute to desirable social outcomes demonstrated by study abroad or with an understanding of indigenous knowledges	1-3
Self-awareness and emotional intelligence a capacity for self-reflection and a willingness to engage in self-appraisal open to objective and constructive feedback from supervisors and peers able to negotiate difficult social situations, defuse conflict and engage positively in purposeful debate	1-3

Learning Resources

Required Resources

The e-book for the course is The Economics of Public Issues. This book is essential for the course, since it is used in the tuturial exercises. It is available for purchase online at https://www.pearson.com.au/9780134532035. It is strongly rcommended that you should buy it. (*Please buy the e-book version.)

I have also instructed our library to put hard copies of this book (they have a few albeit in an older version) on Reserve.

Other readings and other resources will be provided on the MyUni site.

Online Learning

MyUni - http://www.myuni.adelaide.edu.au

A variety of online Resources will be provided via the above site, during the course.
Learning & Teaching Activities

Learning & Teaching Modes

The course will comprise of lectures, guest lectures, tutorial sessions and assigned tasks for self study. See description below for details.

Lectures will be delivered face-to-face, with livecast available to the students who are attending online, and guest lectures will be delivered online. All lectures will be recorded.

As of now, the Tutorials are delivered in both Online and face-to-face mode.

Workload

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

Lectures: 2 Hours per week (face-to-face, with online livecast; except guest lectures, which may be online)

Tutorials: 1 Hour per week (face-to-face and online)

Research and writing expectation: 6 Hours per week.

Learning Activities Summary

Lectures: The lectures will summarise and review important economic concepts and principles relating to the design of economic and social policies as well as fundamental quantitative tools for the evaluation of such policies. Case studies and empirical examples will be discussed, and will offer a model for the issues which students are required to research and write about.

Guest Lectures: There will be six eight to ten guest lectures in which researchers, policy makers as well as policy analysts will talk about their experiences related to the process of econom polcy making. These lectures will be conducted in the form of interactive discussions with the course co-ordinator, with further Q&A with students.

Tutorials:
Tutorials will be based on presentation and discussion of case studies assigned out of the Economics of Public Issues book. Students in each tutorial group will be further divided into sub-groups. Each sub-group will work together on presentation of case studies assigned to them. When not prresenting, studetns will participate in the discussion of the case studies being presented.

Self-study: The course will make extensive use of various blogs, podcasts and other material available fo social media to discuss topics of the days pertaining to economic policy making. Students will be expected to have done their background reading/listening prior to the lecture in which the relevant topics will be discussed.

The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
Assessment must maintain academic standards.

Assessment Summary

Assessment Task	Task Type	Length	Due	Weighting	Learning Outcome
Reflection Essay	Individual	Approx 3 pages (12 pt, 1.5 spaces)	October 5, 2021 (before end of the day)	20%	1
Newspaper Article	Individual	Approx 2 pages (12 pt, 1.5 spaces)	On or before Sept 17, 2021 (see instructions below*)	15%	3
Final Policy Evaluation Report	Individual	Approx 8 pages (12 pt, 1.5 spaces), excluding figures and references	Due on the Friday of Week 13	35%	1, 2 and 3
Tutorial Participation	Group and Individual	N/A	Throughout Semester	30%**	1, 2

*Newspaper article: The idea behind this is to have you put on the hat of an economic journalist. You can submit the newspaper article anytime during the first 8 weeks of course (i.e. before the Friday of Week 8, i.e. Sept 17 2021). The article should be on a current topic in the news, i.e., it should be related to a current event (for instance, the government announces a new job protection scheme, or US imposes trade restrictions on China) that occured within the last two weeks prior to the date of submission.

**Each tutorial will have five groups. In any tutorial session, two groups will make presentations on the assigned cases. Members of the non-presenting groups will participate in the discussion. Each presentation is worth 5 points, making the presentation grade 20%. Participation grade is worth 10%.

Assessment Related Requirements

To pass this course, students need to secure an overall mark of at least 50%.

There is no final examination.

Assessment Detail

To be discussed in class.

Submission

All assessments are to be submitted electronically on the MyUni site, by the dates listed in the Assessment Summary above.

Course Grading

Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme)
Grade	Mark	Description
FNS		Fail No Submission
F	1-49	Fail
P	50-64	Pass
C	65-74	Credit
D	75-84	Distinction
HD	85-100	High Distinction
CN		Continuing
NFE		No Formal Examination
RP		Result Pending

Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

Final results for this course will be made available through Access Adelaide.

Student Feedback

The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.

SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.
Student Support
Policies & Guidelines
This section contains links to relevant assessment-related policies and guidelines - all university policies.
Fraud Awareness

Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student’s disciplinary procedures.

The University of Adelaide is committed to regular reviews of the courses and programs it offers to students. The University of Adelaide therefore reserves the right to discontinue or vary programs and courses without notice. Please read the important information contained in the disclaimer.

Authorised by:	Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Academic)
Maintained by:	Course Outlines Administrator