Economics & Financial Literacy

This course presents frameworks to better understand businesses, markets, finance, as well as both the economy and history in general.

Throughout this course, students will learn important concepts in microeconomics, macroeconomics, and financial literacy. The primary goal is to develop, and then build on your understanding of the analytical tools and approaches used by economists. Students will gain a better understanding of policy making tools, market  structures, the financial markets, and more.  This will help students to interpret economic news and economic data at a much deeper level, while also helping them to form their own opinions on economic issues.  The skills acquired in this course will enhance problem solving and critical thinking skills.

Microeconomics focuses on how individual markets work. The emphasis is on how consumers make choices and how privately-owned businesses produce goods, set wages and earn profits.  Tools of analysis include supply and demand, profit maximization in competitive and monopolistic markets, and the tradeoff between incentives and equity in policy design. Macroeconomics focuses on principles that apply to an economic system as a whole. The course places particular emphasis on the study of national income and price-level determination. It also develops students’ familiarity with economic performance measures, the financial sector, stabilization policies, economic growth, and international economics. Students learn to use graphs, charts, and data to analyze, describe, and explain economic concepts.