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Lecturer(s)
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Course content
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1. Capitalism and democracy: Affluence, inequality, and the environment 2. Social interactions and economic outcomes 3. Public policy for fairness and efficiency 4. Work, wellbeing, and scarcity 5. Institutions, power, and inequality 6. The firm: Employees, managers, and owners 7. Firms and markets for goods and services 8. The credit market: Borrowers, lenders, and the rate of interest 9. Market successes and failures 10. Governments and markets in a democratic society
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Learning activities and teaching methods
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Monologic Lecture(Interpretation, Training), Dialogic Lecture (Discussion, Dialog, Brainstorming), Work with Text (with Book, Textbook), Methods of Written Work
- Homework for Teaching
- 25 hours per semester
- Attendace
- 25 hours per semester
- Preparation for the Course Credit
- 25 hours per semester
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Learning outcomes
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The aim of the course is to show that economics is not just about money, but a way of thinking about the society we live in. How do people manage to cooperate even when they compete with one another, and what institutions make such cooperation possible? Why are some countries rich and others poor, how does inequality arise, how do markets coordinate the decisions of millions of people, where can they fail, and when does it make sense for the state to step in? The course requires no prior knowledge of economics and is open to students of the humanities and social sciences. As a course in applied economics, it takes simple economic principles and shows how to apply them to the everyday business of life. At its core is the "economic way of thinking", which stresses the intended and unintended consequences of human action and teaches students to formulate claims backed by economic reasoning, that is, to argue on the merits. The goal is that every student should be able not only to follow such structured reasoning but to conduct it themselves, in economics as much as in any debate about scarce resources and how they are shared.
On successful completion of the course, students understand how a market economy works and what social outcomes it produces. They can explain long-run economic growth and the transformation of living standards over the past two centuries, and their connection both with capitalism as an economic system and with persistent inequality and environmental impacts. They are able to describe these phenomena using basic indicators (GDP and its growth, measures of inequality). They understand that economic outcomes arise from interactions between people, and using simple models of strategic behavior (such as the prisoners' dilemma) they can explain when cooperation breaks down and when, by contrast, it succeeds. They treat the decisions of households and firms as choices made under conditions of scarcity, analyzing them through opportunity cost, the budget constraint and marginal variables (marginal utility, marginal product and marginal cost). They understand the firm not only as a unit of production described by production and cost functions with the aim of maximizing profit, but also as an organization and a set of relationships between owners, managers and employees, in which motivation, information, power and bargaining all play a part. They therefore also work with the concepts of economic rent and the alternative objectives of the firm. They can explain how supply and demand arise, how an equilibrium price is formed, and how a movement along a curve differs from a shift of the curve. They distinguish perfect competition (the firm as a price-taker) from markets with market power (the firm as a price-setter, monopoly, natural monopoly) and explain how market structure affects price, the quantity produced, and consumer and producer surplus. They also understand the basic logic of the credit market and the role of the interest rate, and can identify the main causes of market failure (externalities, public goods, information asymmetry and market power). On this basis they can explain the rationale and the possible effects of public policy and state intervention in the economy (for example taxes, price regulation, the provision of public goods, or the correction of externalities) and critically weigh their benefits and costs. Finally, they apply the tools they have acquired to concrete economic situations and current questions of economic policy, and can reason about them clearly and cogently even before an audience with no background in economics.
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Prerequisites
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There are not any special conditions set. Secondary/grammar-school-level knowledge of social sciences will be useful.
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Assessment methods and criteria
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Written exam, Seminar Work
Final assessment by way of a written exam; a term paper on an assigned topic; active participation in lectures and seminars.
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Recommended literature
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Cowen, T., Tabarrok, A. (2024). Modern Principles of Economics. 6th ed.. New York.
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Hořejší, B., Soukupová, J. (2015). Mikroekonomie. Praha.
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Hudík, M. (2023). O trzích a lidech: Kurz aplikované ekonomie. Praha.
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McCloskey, D. (2019). Economical Writing. University of Chicago Press.
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The CORE Econ Team. Economy, Society, and Public Policy. 2019.
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