Social and Heterodox Economics Course Descriptor

Course Overview

Social and Heterodox Economics is aimed at extending students’ understanding of how economic theory can shape our understanding of the world. The key aims of this course are to introduce students to the recent developments and debates in economics, including questioning the assumptions and motivations of economic decision-makers around the world, as well as questioning the supposition of market efficiency and illustrate the reasons for coordination and market failures. The course exposes students to fields such as behavioural economics and evolutionary game theory, as well as the realities of living and policymaking in challenging economic environments across a range of locations and moments in history.

Learning Outcomes

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

Knowledge and Understanding

Subject Specific Skills

Transferable and Employability Skills

Teaching and Learning

This course has a dedicated Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) page with a syllabus and range of additional resources (e.g. readings, question prompts, tasks, assignment briefs, discussion boards) to orientate and engage students  in their  studies.

The scheduled teaching and learning activities for this course are:

Lectures/seminars/labs/studios/workshops

40 scheduled hours – typically including induction, consolidation or revision, and assessment activity hours.

Lectures/seminars/workshops

40 scheduled hours – typically including induction, consolidation or revision, and assessment activity hours.

• Version 1:all sessions in the same sized group

OR

• Version 2: most of the sessions in larger groups; some of the sessions in smaller groups

Faculty hold regular ‘office hours’, which are opportunities for students to drop in or sign up to explore ideas, raise questions, or seek targeted guidance or feedback, individually or in small groups. 

Students are to attend and participate in all the scheduled teaching and learning activities for this course and to manage their directed learning and independent study.

Indicative total learning hours for this course: 150

Assessment

Both formative and summative assessment are used as part of this course, with purely formative opportunities typically embedded within interactive teaching sessions, office hours, and/or the VLE.

Summative Assessments

Students will be tested on two key sets of skills. Firstly, they will solve problems relating to a range of economic issues in a formal manner, using their knowledge of heterodox economic theories, and communicating their solutions with attention to the appropriate social and historical context of the problem they are studying. Secondly, they will analyse a range of local and global case studies, and critically study the viability of orthodox approaches in this contest building on their knowledge of heterodox economic theories.

Further information about the assessments can be found in the Course Syllabus.

Feedback

Students will receive formative and summative feedback in a variety of ways, written (e.g. marked up on assignments, through email or the VLE) or oral (e.g. as part of interactive teaching sessions or in office hours).

Indicative Reading

Note: Comprehensive and current reading lists are produced annually in the Course Syllabus or other documentation provided to students; the indicative reading list provided below is for a general guide and part of the approval/modification process only.

• Ille, S. (2022): Models of Society and Complex Systems

Indicative Topics

Note: Comprehensive and current topics for courses are produced annually in the Course Syllabus or other documentation provided to students; the indicative topics provided below is used as a general guide and part of the approval/modification process only.

Students will study the following topics:

• Behavioural Economics
• Evolutionary Game Theory and Institutional Evolution
• Graph Theory and Social Network Analysis
• Agent-Based Simulations and Complex Systems
• Chaos Theory