Economics & Cost Benefit Analysis for Policy Makers
About
Economics is a study of the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services. Applying Economics to Policy Making will equip you with the tools to allow you to gain a better understanding the allocation of resources, delivering public sector goods and services, and regulating the activities of the private sector.
Learn to think like an economist and apply economic principles to the world around you.
Learning Outcomes
• Gain a fundamental understanding of how economics can contribute to policy making
• Understand how markets work, and under what conditions markets fail to deliver the best possible outcomes
• Understand the concepts of market failure and the motives for government intervention and where government failure arises
• Learn how to apply cost benefit analysis as a decision making tool
• Understand the tools of macroeconomic policy management
Who should attend?
This course is aimed at those who are required to have an increased understanding of key economic concepts and terms used in publications and policy. This course does not assume any prior economic knowledge.
Training methodology
This intensive 2-day master class will combine tutorial sessions and case studies with interactive learning exercises. All attendees will be provided with a workbook and a certificate of completion.
Outline
Course times 9am-5pm – Refreshment breaks and lunch are included
What is economics- A context
• A very brief history of economic thought
• Microeconomics vs Macroeconomics
• Economics and public policy
Core concepts of economics
• Scarcity, the cost-benefit principle and opportunity cost
• Exchange and the principle of comparative advantage
• Production possibilities and efficiency
• Specialisation, the division of labour and the gains from trade
• Money vs. barter
• Markets: supply, demand and the ‘Invisible hand’
• Elasticities
Understanding markets
• Economic surplus and efficiency
• The impact of intervening in markets (e.g. taxes, subsidies price floors and price ceilings)
• Market failure
o Market power
o Information asymmetries
o Public goods
o Externalities
• Public Policy responses to market failures
o Taxes or subsidies
- Case Studies: Taxes on alcohol, tobacco and energy products; subsidies on inoculations and housing for the poor
o Regulation
- Case Study: Monopoly/Cartel Behaviour;
• Governmental failure
Cost Benefit Analysis
• Key principles of cost benefit analysis (CBA)
• Strengths and weaknesses of CBA as a decision making tool
• Discounting procedures, choice of discount rate, treatment of risk and uncertainty
• Evaluation framework, decision criteria, valuation techniques
• Case Study: CBA in environmental programmes
Macroeconomics: A look at the Big Picture
• The key macroeconomic aggregates
o Economic Growth and Standards of Living
o Productivity
o Business cycles: Recessions and Expansions
o Unemployment and the Labour Market
o Inflation & Stagflation
o Economic Interdependence between Nations
- International trade
- Free trade agreements
- Trade imbalances
- The current account and the capital account
• Macroeconomic policy issues:
o Fiscal policy
- Social policy: education, health, welfare
o Monetary policy
o Structural policy
o Environmental policy
- Case Study: Climate Change and Emissions Trading
Facilitator
Stuart McDougall, BSc; BCom (Hons); MCom (Otago); PGDipTertT,, Professional Practice Fellow, Department of Economics, The University of Otago
After two decades working in the freezing industry, rationalisation of that industry meant redundancy in 1988 and the opportunity for Stuart to undertake further tertiary education and as a result he secured a position in the Department of Economics in November of the same year.
Stuart’s teaching is currently concentrated on the Department’s core Principles of Economics paper which is taught in all three semesters and on part of a new 200 level paper on NZ Economic History. His recent past teaching has included; New Zealand Economic History (100 level), Intermediate Microeconomics and Intermediate Macroeconomics (both 200 level), Mathematical Economics, Labour Economics and Natural Resource Economics (all at the 300 level), MBA and Executive Education Economics courses (at the 500 level).
His most recent research has been in the field of tertiary teaching and learning in economics but prior to that his published research was into the nature of seasonality in New Zealand’s macroeconomic variables and seasonal cointegration. He has published articles (some jointly) in Keeping Economics Real: New Zealand Economic Issues, eds. Paul Hansen and Alan King, Pearson Addison Wesley (2004). He also has an interest in issues associated with energy economics and macroeconomic policy.
In-house Training
Prices and Registration
Sorry, this event currently has no dates scheduled.
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