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The Economy of Ireland B

Module Code: ECU22022

Module Title: Economy of Ireland B

• ECTS Weighting: 5
• Semester/Term Taught: Semester 2
• Contact Hours: 20-22 academic hours (i.e. 50 minutes) of lectures and approximately 4 academic hours of tutorials, i.e. 4 classes/tutorial for each student.
• Module Personnel: Lecturer - Professor Barra Roantree (barra.roantree@tcd.ie) tbc, TA/TAs – tbc.

Module Learning Aims

This module aims to:

• provide those with a fundamental level of economics (e.g. ECU11011 & ECU11012 or equivalent) with an understanding of the Irish economy and public policy-making; 
• show how various pressures and policies shape the development of the Irish economy;
• economically interpret and evaluate public policy making in Ireland and elsewhere; and,
• facilitate the use of clear and concise language that is required for understanding economics and policy making.

Module Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this module you will be able to:

• identify the key outcomes of interest for economic policymakers in Ireland and the primary tools used to achieve those outcomes
• interpret and analyse public/social policy phenomena in Ireland and elsewhere; and
• evaluate public policy making in Ireland and elsewhere.

Module Content

The issue of market provision and/or state provision provides a central and recurring theme in this module (and in ECU22022). Within each policy area covered, the module investigates market failure and government failure, via for example consideration of externalities, informational problems and an examination of the public choice perspective with respect to possible government failure. Specific topics to be covered include but are not limited to a subset of the following: resource allocation (regulated markets and/or state); taxation; distribution, inequality and poverty; economic growth, employment and unemployment; regulation (e.g. ‘nudging’); care (formal/paid and informal/unpaid); competition; education; health; housing; aging; agriculture; and, energy. 

Recommended Reading List

John O’Hagan, Francis O'Toole and Ciara Whelan (eds) The Economy of Ireland: Policy Making in a Global Context (14th edition; Bloomsbury, Dublin, August 2021) is the primary textbook.

CORE ECON, Economy, Society and Public Policy (ESPP), see https://www.core-econ.org/espp/book/text/0-3-contents.html, and various associated materials provides very useful basic/core economics (for free). 

The following books provide useful background reading:

• Julian Le Grand, Carol Propper and Sarah Smith, The Economics of Social Problems, 4th Edition, palgrave macmillan, 2008.
• Michael Sandel, What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets, Penguin Books, 2012.
• Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein, Nudge, Penguin Books, 2009.

Much other suggested reading materials will be highlighted during the module.

Module Pre-Requisite

None. However, students are expected to read the appropriate introductory level material, e.g. see CORE reference above, if they haven't already completed Introduction to Economics (e.g. ECU11011 & ECU11012 or equivalent) in first year.

Assessment Details

It is envisaged that the allocation of assessment marks will be as follows:

• 40 per cent for a mid-term assignment to be submitted (via Blackboard) by the end of Reading Week (i.e. Teaching Week 7), exact date and details to be confirmed); and, 
• 60 per cent for a final examination (probably a F2F 90 minutes examination, again details to be confirmed). 

Module Website

Blackboard