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The objective of the course is to introduce the students to central elements of descriptive economics, thus enabling them to assess and analyse the development of various economic statistics-based reports within the labour market, money and capital market, the public sector, international relations, including balance of payments, economic structure, growth and economic trends, inflation rate and the development in house prices, etc.
The project should reflect the student's ability to use social science methodology by working on a topic within the empirical economics based on statistical data, where the student is to convert data into fixed prices, generate indexing, etc. and present these in various graphs, tables, etc. (descriptive statistics).
Through the project writing in groups of two students, the student must be able to demonstrate the ability to work in teams. 21 standard pages must be prepared, incl. a few graphs and tables that are relevant to the project. Additional documents are attached as appendices - i.e. in addition to the 21 standard pages.
Course background:
Together with Micro- and Macroeconomics, Descriptive Economics comprises - a total of 15 ECTS credits - the subject area national economics of the general business economics study programme and takes place at the 1 st year of the study. While national economics presents the theories of the economy, the basis of the teaching in Descriptive Economics is descriptive and empirical parts of the economy. The use of social science methodology is tested in the project.
THE CENTRAL ISSUES OF THE COURSE:
The socio-economic development is crucial for corporate earnings. Economists should therefore be broadly informed about the social structure, institutions, trade conditions, etc. as well as other aspects of cyclical and structural changes in both the private and public sectors, including the circumstances which have caused these changes. Thus, Descriptive Economics provides an overview of topics covering the Danish economy, including the private and the public sector as well as international economy and the globalisation process.
Core subject areas are national accounts, price index, demographic situations, the public sector, the labour market, the money and capital markets, international relations (balance of payments, EU, etc.), energy and environment, growth/knowledge and innovation, economic trends, occupational structures (industry, agriculture, etc.). In addition, subjects such as economic growth, fertility, ageing, fiscal sustainability, immigration and integration problems, house prices, inflation, interest rates, taxation, global warming, EMU, etc. will be addressed in the course. Descriptive Economics elucidates the socio-economic development, particularly by using publicly available statistics that are also used in other subjects, for which reason Descriptive Economics is related to a number of other subjects in the study. Therefore, national economic theory is not included.
Current issues are an essential part of the course and thus, focus is on topics on the economic policy agenda. Since the course describes the economic development in Denmark for a longer period, the course covers recent economic history.
The economic development in Denmark is compared largely with trends in other countries and therefore, international statistics and databases are also main topics in the course. In addition, international economic issues are also part of the course.
Statistics form a key basis in the course. Emphasis is therefore on elaborating the concepts used in the statistics. What do the concepts mean and what problems may be caused by using the concepts in statistical analyses? Concrete calculation techniques used in statistics are also included in the course. Statistics are widely available through electronic databases of which the student therefore must have knowledge.
In the project, the student must apply these statistics and through calculations, s/he must analyse the actual development. The student must also be able to relate to a larger socio-economic problem by using knowledge about presentation of statistical material and applying social science methods. Since the feedback of the project does not include an examination, the project cannot be graded. However, the supervisor indicates the level of the project by: Poor (-3 and 00) - Acceptable (02 and 4) - Good (7, 10 and 12).
None
Henrik Friis
Lectures and individual supervision of each project group.
See the book list handed out at the beginning of the semester
