ECO4ECO

Webinar 1
Wednesday 3rd April 2019, 09.00 – 10.00 UK time

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Welcome!


A big welcome to you all, wherever in the world you live, whatever
sector you work in and however much Economics you know!

We are all here to help and support you through ECO4ECO

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Webinar agenda

• Introducing the team

• Student groups

• The VLE and the Induction module

• Introduction to ECO4ECO

• Week 1 topics and resources

• Coursework assignment

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Module Leader Profile

Janet Hontoir
Module Leader:
• ECO4ECO
• DEV4SUS
• MAN4RMT
• Deputy Module Leader
MAN4POM
• Teaching Economics and
Management for 40 years and
Sustainable Development for
12 years
• Tutor at UCEM since 2006
Email j.hontoir@ucem.ac.uk
or DD +44 (0) 118 467 2092

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Deputy Module Leader Profile

Phil Russell
• Deputy Module Leader for
ECO4EC
• Previously Module Manager
for ECO4ECO and Unit
Leader for Level 3 Economics
• Head of Learning and
Teaching Enhancement Team
since 2017
• Coordinates the work of the
Academic Facilitators and
Academic Programme Support
Tutors
• 15 years’ teaching experience
across Levels 2-7

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Additional support

Jacqui Thijm, Academic Facilitator Sarah Brennan, Academic Programme

Support Tutor
• Answering non-subject specific
student questions • More in-depth help for students with
issues
• Monitoring chat-box in webinars
• Passing students on to more specialist
help where required

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Associate Tutors

The Associate Tutors will answer your questions in the weekly

forums and will join Janet and Phil in helping and guiding you. Their
names are:
• John Benson
• David James
• Linda Juleff
• Rodney Short

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Groups

• You will be allocated to one of two groups

• The groups will be announced on Friday 5th April
• Forums in Week 2 onwards will be available on that day at 16.00
hours UK time
• Tutors have a Duty Day rota (one day each) so you will hear from
all of us
• I will write an introduction to each week’s topic to both groups and
ask you to join in the forum discussion
• At the end of each week, I will write a brief summary
• But you can continue to make posts after the end of each week

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Realising your potential in the Built Environment

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Realising your potential in the Built Environment

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Induction: first things first

1. Welcome to UCEM
2. Induction – what you need to know to get started
2.1 Getting started – tech check
2.2 Learning on the VLE
2.3 Bookshelf e-books
2.4 Using the e-Library and digital resources
2.5 Assignment submission process
3. Plagiarism and referencing
3.1 Writing in your own words – compulsory
3.2 Writing in your own words quiz – compulsory
3.3 Writing in your own words: How to reference
4. Personal effectiveness
4.1 Readiness for learning questionnaire - compulsory
4.2 Support and additional services
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5. Induction module evaluation
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Introduction to Economics (ECO4ECO)

• Core module on BSc programmes
• Level 4, 20-credits
• 22 weeks from Monday 1st April 2019 to Monday 2nd September
2019
• 15 topics (taught weeks) + study and revision weeks
• 200 study hours in total
• 2 pieces of assessment (see next slide)
• Pass mark: 40%

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Assessment structure

There are two pieces of assessment:

• Coursework Assignment of 2,500 words:

Online submission by Tuesday 11th June 2019 at 10.00 UK
time
60% of the final module mark
The Assignment booklet is available under Module resources
for you to download and study

• Computer Marked Assessment (CMA):

Open from Monday 19th August to Monday 2nd September
2019
40% of the final mark

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Computer Marked Assessment (CMA)

• An online multiple-choice test, taken on your own computer

• Opens on Monday 19th August 2019 at 10am UK time
• Closes on Monday 2nd September 2019 at 10am UK time
• You are allowed to make two attempts at the CMA
• Each attempt will consist of different questions
• Your higher mark will be recorded
• 50 questions to be answered in 60 minutes
• Select 1 option from 4 options
• Questions are on all 15 topics
• So do the weekly Quiz and also the daily MCQs

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Discussion forums

• Module Announcements
• Forum: General discussion (not divided into groups)
• Weekly forum – note the icon
• After 5th April, all weekly forums are divided into two groups
• Communication between you and your tutor and with each other
• Ask and answer questions, give your opinion or share a link
• Remember that you have knowledge and views to contribute
• And thanks for your Icebreaker Introductions!
• Weekly anonymous evaluation

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Webinars

• There will be a webinar every week (except for the Study Weeks)
• Webinar dates and times are posted on the VLE
• I will also arrange evening revision webinars before assessments
• Each webinar is recorded for you to watch afterwards. It is also
available in audio only and there is a transcript
• The webinar slides will be uploaded to the VLE before each webinar
• Each webinar is on the weekly topic and contains practice questions
• Be sure to watch the webinars as they are the classes where I
explain topics, give advice and answer your questions
• Make sure that your computer is able to access Zoom and that you
know how to join the webinars – watch the ‘Joining a webinar’ video
under ‘Module webinars and chat’
• There will be too many people for you to speak and you will
communicate with us via the Chatbox
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ECO4ECO

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Economics: aims of the module

This module aims to:

• provide an introduction to the microeconomics of individual
decision-making within the context of markets for goods, services
and resources;
• provide an introduction to the macroeconomics of the level of
economic activity and the way in which governments can pursue
economic objectives;
• encourage competence in the analytical skills of measuring,
predicting and explaining economic phenomena;
• establish a theoretical and conceptual foundation for an
understanding of economic behaviour and processes in property
and construction contexts.

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Economics: Learning Outcomes

LO1 Interpret economic data and explain price, output and profit
determination in built environment markets;

LO2 Distinguish between the theoretical underpinnings of decisions

made by owners and users of the built environment and the
decisions made by those who build them;

LO3 Explain the derived nature of factor input demand and its role in
the determination of factor prices and levels of factor employment;

LO4 Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between

national income, economic growth and living standards; inflation and
unemployment; microeconomic and macroeconomic decisions;
macroeconomic policy, globalisation and sustainability
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The value of studying Economics

• To understand how an economy works

• To apply economic principles to the built environment sector
• To understand interrelationships and links between variables
• To understand cause and effect
• To debate and question the accepted
• We will be following a storyline and connecting up all the topics

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Main syllabus topic areas

• The nature of economics
• Fundamental frameworks of economics
• Demand, supply and markets
• Key principles of demand
• Key principles of supply
• Types of markets
• Labour and enterprise
• Capital and land
• Macroeconomics and national income
• The level of economic activity
• Economic growth
• Inflation and unemployment
• The financial services sector
• Macroeconomic policy
• International trade and the global economy

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Week 1 The nature of economics

• Microeconomics and macroeconomics

• Positive and normative statements
• Needs and wants
• Consumption and production of resources
• Scarcity and choice
• Opportunity cost
• Allocation of resources
• Production possibility curves
• Sustainability

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Microeconomics and macroeconomics

• Microeconomics is the study of the economic behaviour of

individuals ie individual consumers, firms and workers
• We will study microeconomic topics in Weeks 2 – 8
• The Coursework assignment is based on microeconomic topics

• Macroeconomics is the study of the economic behaviour of

aggregates ie total consumption, production and income
• We will study macroeconomic topics in Weeks 9 – 18

• The Computer Marked Assessment has questions on all topics ie

on both microeconomics and macroeconomics

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Positive and normative economics

Positive statements Normative statements

• Objective, fact-based or • Subjective, value-based or

evidence-based statements opinion-based statements,
which can be tested which cannot be tested

• For example, a fall in house • For example, the government

prices will cause a rise in the should subsidise house
demand for house purchase purchase for first-time buyers

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The meaning of Economics

• Economics is a social science which studies human behaviour

• It looks at how people produce, distribute and consume resources
to satisfy their needs and wants
• It is all about how people allocate these resources between
competing wants
• Economics thinks in terms of real goods and services
• Real resources constitute wealth and they have value
• Money is used as a medium of exchange but it does not have real
value in itself

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Needs and wants

• People need to consume basic necessities eg food, clothes,

shelter
• They also have wants eg theatre, restaurant meals, kitchen
gadgets
• Whether a product is a need or a want is subjective and depends
on the standard of living of a country and on people’s expectations
• Wants become needs as a country’s economy becomes richer

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Resources

• Goods and services must be produced to satisfy needs and wants

• Goods ie physical tangible products eg bread, shoes, houses
• Services ie non-physical intangible products eg education,
hairdressing, surveying
• Factors of production are the resources which firms combine to
make their goods and services:
• Land eg a building
• Labour eg employees
• Capital eg computer systems
• Enterprise eg business owners
(We will study factors of production in Week 2)

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The economic problem: scarcity

• Human needs and wants are unlimited

• But the resources to satisfy these needs and wants are limited
• There are insufficient resources on the planet for everyone to have
everything they would like to have
• So we say that resources are relatively scarce
• Scarce relative to the demand for them
• Individual resources are also relatively scarce eg people have
limited incomes and firms have limited profits

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Choice

• Because resources are relatively scarce, people are forced to

make a choice between alternatives
• Individuals must choose how to spend their limited incomes
• Firms must choose how to spend their limited profits
• Governments must choose how to spend their limited tax
revenues
• Choice follows on naturally from scarcity
• People choose according to their priorities

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Opportunity cost

• Opportunity cost is the cost of making a choice

• It is the cost of choosing one product rather than another
• It is expressed in terms of what was not chosen
• This is called the ‘foregone alternative’
• Opportunity cost is the real cost of a product
• For example, someone with £50 to spare might choose between
buying new shoes or going to a concert
• If the person chooses the concert, the opportunity cost is the
shoes they didn’t buy
• Countries choose what to produce and there is an opportunity cost

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How to allocate scarce resources

• Each society must establish a system which allocates scarce

resources between the competing wants of its people
• Who gets what and how much?
• Why do some people have more wealth and higher incomes than
others?
• Why are some countries richer than others?
• In Week 2, we are going to look at different economic systems

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Figure 1 Production possibility curve

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Production possibility
• A country can produce Coke
and/or burgers
• All the points on the curve are
different production possibilities
ie combinations of Coke and
burgers, where all resources are
fully used
• Points to the left of the curve are
possible combinations, where
not all resources are fully used
• Points to the right of the curve
are impossible combinations as
there are insufficient resources
• To produce more Coke, the
country must produce fewer
burgers – this is an opportunity
cost

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Sustainability

• "Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of

the present without compromising the ability of future generations
to meet their own needs.“ (Brundtland Commission, 1987)
• Allocating resources sustainably means avoiding over-
consumption now, so that future generations will have access to
the resources they will need
• At the same time, resources should be consumed in such a way
as to address climate change and avoid polluting the natural
environment

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Week 1 readings and activities

• Weekly overview
• Webinar 1 ‘The nature of economics’
• Introduction to our Economics module
• Paper 1: The nature of economics (12 pages)
• Economic scarcity and the function of choice (video 5.54)
• Water scarcity explained in a nutshell (video, 2.04)
• Applying economics in the real world – key resources

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List of references
• Brundtland Commission (1987) Report of the World Commission
on Environment and Development: Our Common Future (Online)
Available at: www.un-documents.net/our-common-future.pdf
[Accessed 31 March 2019]

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Coursework Assignment

• This is based on the microeconomics materials in Weeks 1-8

• You are asked to write a magazine article about a good or service
produced by an organisation of your choice
• There are 8 sections, 7 of which are on different aspects of
microeconomic theory and practice
• In each webinar, we are going to look at the assignment section
relating to the weekly topic

• Section (a) relates to Week 1:

• ‘Summarise the key features of your chosen output, explaining
where demand for the output comes from, and the opportunity
costs for those who purchase it (approx. 300 words)

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 Thank you for joining our webinar
session today

Any Questions?

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Next webinar

‘Fundamental frameworks of economics’

Thursday 11th April at 10.30 UK time

Next week’s topics are:

• Factors of production
• Types of economic system
• An introduction to markets

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