Introduction to Model Building in Economics and Commerce
Curriculum guideline
Effective Date:
Course
Discontinued
No
Course code
ECON 4412
Descriptive
Introduction to Model Building in Economics and Commerce
Department
Economics
Faculty
Commerce & Business Administration
Credits
3.00
Start date
End term
202030
PLAR
No
Semester length
15 Weeks X 4 Hours per Week = 60 Hours
Max class size
35
Contact hours
Lecture: 3 Hours
Seminar: 1 Hour
Total: 4 Hours
Method(s) of instruction
Lecture
Seminar
Learning activities
Lectures and a weekly seminar, which will be devoted to problems.
Course description
This course will involve the student in the task of forming explicit quantitative models as they are used in economics and commerce. Quantification and types and sources of data available to economics and commerce students are considered. Emphasis is on the development of the skills needed in empirical model building.
Course content
- Properties of models.
- Nature of modeling processes.
- Deductive logic and syllogisms.
- Probability.
- Source of data.
- Data quality.
- Decision trees and utility.
- Indifference curve models.
- Linear programming models.
- Exchange models.
- Learning models.
- Diffusion models.
Learning outcomes
At the end of the course, the student will be able to:
- demonstrate the ability to think analytically about human behaviour;
- develop models relevant to economic analysis;
- evaluate a model’s implications and quantitatively confirm or refute the model’s consequences.
Means of assessment
| Final examination | 30% - 40% |
| Mid-term examination | 30% - 70% |
| Assignments (3 or more) | 0% - 30% |
| Participation | 0% - 15% |
| Total | 100% |
THERE WILL BE A MINIMUM OF THREE (3) EVALUATIONS.
Textbook materials
Textbooks and Materials to be Purchased by Students
Love, Charles A., and James G. March, An Introduction to Models in the Social Sciences, Latest Edition. Harper and Row, New York.