An Economics Course in a Business Programme

The book so far has mainly focused on how economists should be prepared for their future roles in society. Economists are, however, not the only ones who receive an economics education. In fact, the majority of people who are taught economics will never become an economist or even take a specialisation in the topic. While these students will never call themselves economists, they do take in economic ideas and will apply these in their later work and personal life. Thus, economics education to non-economists still has a large impact on the world.

Example Courses for Non-Economists:

Required background knowledge:

None

Nominal workload:

Equivalent of 6 ECTS (180 hrs)

Course goals:

This course enables business students to understand how businesses are embedded in the economy at large. It provides them with an overview of the economic system and the various types of organisations in it such as commercial, cooperative and non-profit entities, as well as various forms of government which interact with the private sector. It also provides students with a basic, intuitive understanding of the main theories about firms and markets.

Course outline:

The course is divided into the following three parts:

The first part of the course concerns the role of business in society. It starts with a discussion of the concept ‘the economy’, including the question where its boundaries lie and how this system is embedded in a broader ecological and social context. Students also learn about the concept of capitalism as a political-economic system. Using several readings, they discuss with each other the advantages of this system and its inherent problems.
The discussion then zooms in on the societal role of business. Various perspectives are discussed, from the shareholder value theory to democratic and stakeholder theories. Possible materials:

A case study is presented on the interplay between government and commercial actors in Germany’s famous and relatively early turn to green energy production (Grüne Wende). This case study is mainly used to demonstrate how the commercial sectors are interwoven with each other, how big firms and small- to medium-sized enterprises together make up an industrial ecosystem. It also demonstrates to students how change can occur in an economy, in this case a deliberately orchestrated transition from polluting forms of energy production to cleaner techniques.

For more details, teaching materials and practical advice on teaching these topics, see the following building blocks:

The second part of this course focuses on a real-world overview of the main economic sectors in the country, and their relation with public and civil sectors. For instance, say this course were to be taught in Germany, students might learn about the structure of the automobile industry, the mechanical engineering sector, the chemical industry and the electrical industry.

This second part of the course also introduces to students the wide variety of economic organisations: from commercial firms to cooperatives to non-profits. The concept of cooperatives is illustrated with the German cooperative banking sector, including a brief historical overview, from their local formation by citizen collectives to the subsequent series of mergers between them to form larger organisations.

For more details, teaching materials and practical advice on teaching these topics, see the following building blocks:

In the third part of the course, the focus becomes more systemic. Students learn of the main government policies regarding the country’s commercial sectors, both those designed to stimulate and protect them and those designed to regulate their impacts on the environment and their potential monopoly powers. Students also gain a brief overview of the sectors’ relations with civil society, such as labour unions and NGOs, and the main points of contention between these parties.

This part also introduces students to the main economic theories about markets and firms. On firms, there is a short presentation of field theory, which sets out how firms stabilise and shape power relations in an economic system, and of institutional economics, which sees firms as a way to limit the transaction costs, which would be impossibly large if an economy only consisted of individual free agents. On markets, students are presented with the contrasting views of neoclassical economics, which sees competition as a harmonious process with an optimal outcome, and classical economics, which sees competition as a ruthless process more akin to war.

For more details, teaching materials and practical advice on teaching these topics, see the following building blocks: