Research
Welcome to the newly designed website for the Department of Economics and Economic History. The Department is one of the largest on the Rhodes University campus and has a staff complement that is a mixture of experience and youthful exuberance. Although the Economics Department is large, by Rhodes University standards, students are allocated a tutor and have weekly or bi-weekly small group tutorial sessions for all undergraduate courses. The website provides information on study options in the Department, staff, research, Department activities and contact details.
In essence the study of Economics helps to form judgements on the way in which society should use its limited resources to achieve a high and rising standard of living.
The Department of Economics and Economic History allows students the choice of a range of courses at both the under graduate and Honours level. These include Money and Banking, bet36体育投注_bet36体育在线—激情赢盈中√ Economics, Monetary Economics, Public bet36体育投注_bet36体育在线—激情赢盈中√, Econometrics, International Trade, Development Economics and Environmental and Natural Resource Economics. These career-focused courses will allow the students to become an ECONOMIST in a range of cutting-edge occupations.
Economics is required study for every student in the Commerce Faculty and is recommended as complementary to the Social Sciences. Since Economics touches so many parts of life it may equally be taken together with any of the Sciences, Journalism, Law and many others.
Economics at Rhodes is offered at a number of distinct levels. The first-year course is intended as a broad introduction to the discipline which will give students taking only one year of Economics a sound understanding of basic issues of microeconomics and macroeconomics, while laying the foundations on which more advanced study is based. In the second year students proceed with intermediate level microeconomics and macroeconomics, after which the third-year and Honours studies allow further specialisation in career-focused disciplines.
The Department offers Masters and doctoral degrees by research thesis. These options are available to students wishing to pursue a clearly defined field of research. Acceptance to these degrees depends on the candidate’s previous academic record, an acceptable research proposal and the availability of expertise in the Department to supervise the project. A Master of Commerce degree in Financial Markets is also offered by coursework and dissertation. This degree is aimed specifically at a specialised career in the financial/banking sector.
Research in the Department has been boosted by the award of the Environmental and Natural Resource Economics Focus Area (ENREFA) by the University. The motivation behind the focus area is that the Eastern Cape Province has an extremely diverse environment including one of the three globally recognised biodiversity hotspots found in South Africa, viz. the Maputoland-Pondoland-Albany Centre of Endemism. The intention of ENREFA is to focus primarily on the institutional economic aspects of the research area, wherever possible. Specific topics within the research focus area include environment, ecological and natural resources, agriculture and sustainable development, with a special focus on water management and allocation.
Economics 1 consists of TWO one-credit courses (1 per semester):
CODE, COURSE, CREDIT , SEMESTER OFFERED
ECO 101, Microeconomics , 1.00 , 1
ECO 102, Macroeconomics , 1.00 , 2
ECO 101 - MICROECONOMICS
* Fundamental economic concepts
* Comparative economic systems
* Demand, supply and market equilibrium
* Elasticities of demand and supply
* Consumer behaviour
* Production and costs
* Price and output determination under competitive and monopolistic conditions
* The South African economy, structure and development
ECO 102 - MACROECONOMICS
* National income accounts
* Index numbers
* Determination of national output, income and employment
* Money and banking
* Quantity theory of money
* Money, prices and output
* Unemployment
* Inflation
* Introduction to international economics
Economics 2 consists of TWO one-credit courses (1 per semester):
CODE, COURSE, CREDIT, SEMESTER OFFERED
ECO 201, Microeconomics, 1.00, 2
ECO 202, Macroeconomics, 1.00, 1
ECO 201 - MICROECONOMICS
* The economist’s view of human nature
* Preferences, budgets, and consumer equilibrium
* Income and substitution effects
* The Chicago school
* Production, technology and costs
* Fundamentals of market structure
* General equilibrium and second best
* Asymmetric information
* The South African labour market
* Oligopoly and oil
* Product differentiation (automobiles and airlines)
* Globalization
ECO 202 - MACROECONOMICS
* Measurement of macroeconomic variables
* Classical macroeconomics
* The role of aggregate demand
* Money, interest and income
* Policy effects in the IS-LM model
* Aggregate supply and aggregate demand
* Output, inflation and unemployment
* The balance of payments and exchange rates
* Monetary and fiscal policy in the open economy
* The Mundell-Fleming model
* Cases of imperfect and perfect capital mobility
* Money and monetary policy
* The role of the Central Bank
* Changing nature of monetary control
* The budget and fiscal policy (functions of fiscal policy, expenditure issues, revenue issues, and debt and the deficit)
* Internal balance (unemployment and inflation)
* External balance (the balance of payments)
* The growth debate in South Africa.
Economics 3 General consists of TWO semester courses: ECO 301 and ECO 302.
Both of these involve TWO half-credit courses from the following list:
CODE, COURSE, CREDIT , SEMESTER OFFERED
ECO 312, International Trade Theory & Policy, 0.50, 1
ECO 313, Public bet36体育投注_bet36体育在线—激情赢盈中√, 0.50, 2
ECO 314, South African Economy, 0.50, 2
ECO 315, Econometrics, 0.50, 1
ECO 316, Money Banking & International bet36体育投注_bet36体育在线—激情赢盈中√, 0.50, 2
ECO 317, Environmental Economics, 0.50, 1
ECO 318, Mathematical Economics, 0.50, 1
ECO 319, Any other paper approved by the Department, 0.50
Economics 3B consists of TWO half-credit courses (normally one per semester) from the list under Economics 3. Students registered for both Economics 3 and Economics 3B would take 6 courses (three per semester) in total.
Econometrics is strongly recommended for students planning to do honours. The department reserves the right to offer second and third year courses in either Semester 1 or Semester 2 and to withdraw any of the third-year courses.
ADMISSION PREREQUISITES
ECO 201,202
Prerequisite:
Economics 1 or ECO101 & ECO 102
ECO 311,312,313,314, 315, 316, 318
Prerequisite
Economics 2 or ECO 201 & ECO 202
ECO 317
Prerequisite:
ECO 101
In addition to the above admission prerequisites, students are normally only allowed to register for third-year courses after successful completion of a total of 14 semester credits.
Economics 312
International trade theory: the classical (Ricardian) model and extensions
* Neoclassical trade theory and income distribution
* Technology theories of trade
* The Linder theory
* New trade theory based on economies of scale and imperfect competition
* Economic growth and international trade
Trade policy: the instruments of trade policy and their effects
* the arguments for protection; economic integration
* trade and development
* South Africa’s trade policy and the World Trade Organization
ECO 313 - PUBLIC FINANCE
* Economic basis for investment activity
* Public versus private goods
* Externalities
* Government intervention in the market
* Financing of government expenditures
* Effect of taxation on the economy
* The budget deficit
* Theory and structure of taxation
* Provincial expenditure and intergovernmental fiscal relations
ECO 314 - SOUTH AFRICAN ECONOMY
* South African economy in the 20th century
* Political economy of development
* Role of the state in industrialization
* Inward industrialization versus export led growth
* Changing labour relations
* Development in the financial sector
* Foreign direct investment
* Balance of payments and fiscal discipline
* Primary sector developments
* The nature and scope of econometrics
* Basics of probability and statistics
* The linear regression model: the two-variable model, estimation and hypothesis testing
* Multiple regression estimation, goodness of fit and hypothesis testing
* Functional forms of regression models: how to measure elasticity and the growth rate, reciprocal models
* Regression on dummy explanatory variables
* Regression analysis in practice: multicollinearity and heteroscedasticity
* Autocorrelation and spurious regression in economic time series data
*Econometrics(ECO 315) is strongly recommended for students planning to do Honours.
ECO 316 - MONEY, BANKING & INTERNATIONAL FINANCE
* Money and interest rates
* The demand for money
* Interest rate behaviour
* Transmission mechanism
* Rational expectations theory (traditional, new classical and new Keynesian models)
* Financial instruments and markets
* Central banking and depository institutions
* Foreign exchange markets and the balance of payments accounts (monetary, portfolio balance, price adjustments approaches to the external balance)
* National income and current account
* The exchange rate systems and international monetary system, and macroeconomic policy in the open economy
* Contemporary issues
* Macroeconomic policy in South Africa
ECO 317 - ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS
* Scope and development of environmental economics
* A model of the economy and the environment
* The economics of pollution
* Measuring economic impacts on the environment
* Resource economics
* Sustainable development
* Issues and applications
ECO 318 - MATHEMATICAL MICROECONOMICS
* Analytic and mathematical models in economics
* Linear models
* Leontief input-output analysis
* Optimisation - single and several variables with constraints
* Consumer theory
* Demand theory
* Expenditure minimisation
* Production theory
* Profit maximisation
* Equilibrium and its basic welfare properties
* Portfolio Optimisation
* Honours level includes: All of the above as a Python Programming Course
A four year honours degree is normally required to obtain the necessary exposure to the appropriate range of specialist courses in economics and the necessary research experience in order to take up a career as an economist.
Economics honours consists of a research project plus EIGHT course modules from the following.
COMPULSORY COURSES
CODE, COURSE, SEMESTER OFFERED
ECO 401, Research project, 1 & 2
ECO 418, Microeconomics , 1
ECO 403, Macroeconomics, 1
ELECTIVE COURSES
SIX courses are selected from the following list:
CODE, COURSE, SEMESTER OFFERED
ECO 402, Mathematical Economics, 2
ECO 404, Econometrics, 2
ECO 405, Monetary Economics, 1
ECO 406, Growth and Technology, 1
ECO 407, Financial Economics, 2
ECO 408, Labour Economics, 1
ECO 409, Development Economics, 2
ECO 410, Environmental & Resource Economics, 1
ECO 414, Derivatives, Financial Market Regulation and Efficiency, 2
ECO 415, Public bet36体育投注_bet36体育在线—激情赢盈中√, 1
ECO 416, Industrial Organization, 1
ECO 417 Any other paper approved by the Department
NB: Not all the above courses will be offered in any one year. Economics Honours can be taken full-time or part-time.
TWO compulsory and TWO elective courses will normally be taken per semester. Examinations are written in June and November. The research project is completed over the whole year (full-time) and over 2 years (part-time) and should be handed in by 1 October in order to be examined in November.
A student is permitted to take a paper from another department to the maximum weight of 0,2.
Students who have not done Econometrics at the third-year level, are allowed to take ECO 315 in lieu of one of the elective honours courses
INTERDISCIPLINARY HONOURS DEGREE IN
DEVELOPMENT STUDIES
The degree consists of FOUR papers and a long research essay from participating departments.
* A research project of limited scope (of not more than 15 000 words) on an approved topic in economics to be selected by 31 March, handed in by 1 October, involving either a a theoretical analysis or an application of economics
* Empirical work is strongly recommended
* A presentation of results is to be made at a departmental seminar
* Candidates are encouraged to present a paper at an economic conference
* Analytic and mathematical models in economics
* linear models
* Leontief input-output analysis
* Optimisation - single and several variables with constraints
* Consumer theory
* Demand theory
* Expenditure minimisation
* Production theory
* Profit maximisation
* Equilibrium and its basic welfare properties
* Dynamical models of economic processes
* The evolution of ideology and the economy in the 20th Century: South Africa and the world economy through the lens of macroeconomic thought
* Growth theory
* Keynes and the Keynesians
* Neo-Walrasian economics (new Classical and new Keynesian economics)
* Policital economy
* Dummy dependent variables: LPM, logit, probit and tobit models
* Panel data regression models: fixed versus random effects approaches
* Dynamic econometric models: distributed-lag and autoregressive models
* Time series econometrics: stationarity, unit roots, cointegration and the error correction mechanism
* Simultaneous equation systems: simultaneous equation bias
* The identification problem
* The methods of indirect and two-stage least squares
* The monetary sector
* Money and credit
* Monetary theory (classical, Keynesian, portfolio models and post Keynesian)
* The demand for money
* The transmission mechanism
* The money supply process
* Theory and application of the definition of money
* Monetary policy
* Monetary control in South Africa
* Monetary vs inflation targeting
* Technology and macroeconomic growth models
* Technical change and the economic system
* The sources of innovation
* The new manufacturing technologies
* International differences in growth and technology
* National systems of innovation
* Foreign direct investment and multinational corporations in developing countries
* Technology and industrial policy: government intervention in the market
* South Africa: a case study
* Financial markets and the economy
* Portfolio theory
* Interest rate theory
* Capital market theory and the valuation of assets (the capital asset pricing model and arbitrage pricing)
* Pricing of bonds and equities
* The cost of capital, corporate finance and investment
* Money, bond and equity markets
* Perspectives on labour
* Neoclassical fundamentals
* Monopoly, monopsony and the economics of information
* Traditional systems of industrial relations
* Labour and the law in South Africa
* Trade and labour
* New workforms
* Global trends in flexible labour
* Labour and the law in the global economy
* Meaning and measurement of development
* Theories of economic development: classical perspective and alternative perspectives on development (dependency theory etc)
* human rights; poverty
* Famine
* Entitlement and deprivation
* Role of the state in development
* Role of foreign aid
* The debt crisis
* Structural adjustment programs
* Post-Washington consensus
* Globalization
* Urban bias theory and rural development
* The application of economic principles to the valuation of environmental services and of degradation;
* The Environmental Kuznets Curve
* Global Warming
* Natural resource valuation issues
* Economic sustainability
* The development of Environmental Economics and of Ecological Economics
* Types of futures contracts
* Pricing of futures and the futures market
* Options
* Pricing of options including the Black-Scholes model
* The regulation of financial markets
* Banking supervision and financial market efficiency
* Origins of industrial organization.
* The Principle of total costs.
* The active firm, transaction costs and the firm market entry barriers
* Product differentiation
* Absolute cost advantages
* Economies of scale
* Imperfections in capital markets
* Theory of contestable markets.
* The paradigm of market Structure – Conduct – Performance
* Alternative theories of a complex firm
* Organization and economic efficiency
* Behavioural theory of the firm
* Agency theory
* Economics of transaction costs
* Evolutionary theory
* Recent developments in industrial organization
* Introduction to game theory, oligopoly and bargaining
* Bounded rationality and private information
* Moral hazard and performance incentives
* Risk sharing and incentive contracts, rents and efficiency, ownership and property rights
* Production, information costs and economic organization
* Auction theory
* Intertemporal microeconomics
* Outlook on industrial organization and on recent developments in microeconomics
Combining the Honours electives for a focused career as economist
•Economic Growth & Development Economist
Development Economics
Growth & Technology
Labour Economics
Capita Selecta from Economic History
•Banking and Financial Markets Economist
Financial Economics
International bet36体育投注_bet36体育在线—激情赢盈中√
Public bet36体育投注_bet36体育在线—激情赢盈中√
Industrial Organisation
•Public Sector Economist
Public bet36体育投注_bet36体育在线—激情赢盈中√
International bet36体育投注_bet36体育在线—激情赢盈中√
Development Economics
Growth & Technology
•Economic Planner/Forecaster
Public bet36体育投注_bet36体育在线—激情赢盈中√
International Trade Policy
Growth & Technology
Industrial organisation
•Specialist in International Economic Affairs
International Trade Policy
International bet36体育投注_bet36体育在线—激情赢盈中√
Financial Economics
Public bet36体育投注_bet36体育在线—激情赢盈中√
•Labour Economist
Labour Economics
Development Economics
Growth & Technology
Capita Selecta from Economic History
Masters (Economics): Master of Commerce (MCOM by full thesis) & Master of Economics ( MECO)
This option is available to students wishing to pursue a clearly defined field of research and where such students have the ability to work independently.
For any further information about the Masters programme in Economics at Rhodes University, please contact Professor Jen Snowball, the Head of Department at e-mail: j.snowball@ru.ac.za or 046 603 7403 or Professor Meshach Aziakpono, the Postgraduate Coordinator at e-mail: meshach.aziakpono@ru.ac.za or 046 603 7404.
Are you contemplating a master's degree that will equip you with the skills you need in the ever-changing financial services industry?
The MCOM degree in financial markets at Rhodes University is designed to educate candidates in all aspects of financial markets and the milieu in which the markets operate. The speed and intensity of developments in the financial services industry require suitably qualified graduates leaving universities to pursue a career in the ever-changing financial /banking sector.
A PhD degree may only be taken by research thesis. Candidates submit a thesis on the results of their study which shows evidence of originality and independent research. The thesis may comprise entirely of a set of sequential chapters or may include academic articles.
For any further information about the PhD in Economics at Rhodes University, please contact Professor Jen Snowball, the Head of Department at e-mail: j.snowball@ru.ac.za or 046 603 7403 or Professor Meshach Aziakpono, the Postgraduate Coordinator at e-mail: meshach.aziakpono@ru.ac.za or 046 603 7404.
