Business Economics

Economics is the study of scarcity and the consequences of scarcity. Individuals, households, businesses and nations all experience some level of scarcity, in that they do not possess all the resources to satisfy all their wants and needs. Decisions have to be made to balance those scarce resources in order to improve what can be achieved with them.

Individuals have to decide how to spend their income, household budgets have to be managed, business need to deploy their resources in order to ensure their profitability and governments need to consider the best possible balance of spending to meet the needs of competing groups within society.

Economics is concerned with how these decision are made, with how the resources of a nation or a business are allocated and utilised in the production of goods and services, and with how the rewards of these activities are distributed.

Syllabus

Unit 1: An Introduction to Economics

Section 1: The Content of Economics

Section 2: The Production Possibility Boundary and its Implications

Unit 2: The Elementary Theory of Allocation

Section 1: The Market and the Market Economy

Section 2: Elasticity

Section 3: Market Failure

Unit 3: The Theory of Production

Section 1: The Production Function

Section 2: The Short Run

Section 3: Costs of production

Section 4: Short-run Cost Curves

Section 5: Long-run Cost Curves

Unit 4: Market Structures

Section 1: The Model of Perfect Competition

Section 2: Monopoly

Section 3: Imperfect Competition

Section 4: Privatisation

Unit 5: The Theory of Distribution

Section 1: The income factors of production

Section 2: Wage determination in perfectly competitive labour markets

Section 3: Wage determination in imperfect labour markets

Section 4: The price of capital

Section 5: The price of land

Unit 6: Introduction to the Macroeconomy

Section 1: National income accounts and measurement of national income

Section 2: National income determination and the circular flow of income

Section 3: Macroeconomic issues and controversies

Unit 7: National Income Determination

Section 1: Basic Keynesian model of national income determination

Section 2: Consumption and investment demand

Section 3: Keynesian model and fiscal policy

Section 4: Imports and exports in the Keynesian model

Unit 8: The Role of Money and the Financial System

Section 1: Money and the Financial System

Section 2: Money Demand, Aggregate Demand and Money Market Equilibrium

Section 3: Monetary Policy

Unit 9: National Income Determination and Aggregate Supply

Section 1: Theories of aggregate supply

Section 2: Short-run and long-run aggregate supply

Section 3: The Phillips curve

Unit 10: International Trade

Section 1: Why do Countries Trade?

Section 2: The Exchange Rate

Section 3: The Balance of Payments

Section 4: Recent Exchange Rate History

Resources

1.1 Some reflections on morality and capitalism

8.1 The Demand for Money: Problems and Issues

8.2 Monetary targets - a short history

8.3 Macroeconomic Policy since 1979

9.1 Schools brief: A Cruise around the Phillips curve

On completion of your course, you will receive the dual award:

Award 1 is issued by Stonebridge Associated Colleges: Business Economics Diploma

Award 2 is issued by our Awarding Body: Level 4 Business Economics Award

At the end of this course successful learners will also receive a Level 4 NCFE Award Certificate of Achievement. Our course has been accredited under our NCFE IIQ Licence and the course measurable learning outcomes have been benchmarked at Level 4 (using Ofqual's Qualification and Credit Framework (QCF) level descriptors) to allow you to consider the depth of study, difficulty, and level of achievement involved.

There is no experience or previous qualifications required for enrolment on this course. It is available to all students, of all academic backgrounds.