Beginner’s guide to microeconomics for the public sector (Weeks 1-2)

Microeconomics analyses the behaviour of individual consumers, households and firms. It provides a framework for understanding decision-making by all of these agents in the economy. It examines motivations, incentives and decision-making processes. While its direct relevance to businesses is well understood, the insights and solutions that can be gained from microeconomics are equally important for the public sector. Successful policy design and implementation is greatly facilitated by a solid understanding of the responses and reactions of those influenced by policy.

This course takes you through basic concepts of microeconomics, including trade-offs, opportunity cost, supply and demand, taxes and subsidies, public goods, externalities and market failure. Competition, monopolies and regulation will also be examined. The course uses case studies, and competing viewpoints will be explored.

If you have ever wondered what economists really mean when they talk about key microeconomic concepts, this course is for you.

Beginner’s guide to macroeconomics for the public sector (Weeks 3-5)

Participants will develop an understanding of the relationship between government, the macro-economy and well-being. Participants will understand the basic concepts of macroeconomics including: economic output, productivity, growth, inflation, foreign investment, international trade and exchange rates. Participants will gain an understanding of a wide-range of aggregate economic statistics used by government and media.

Participants will learn about the role of key institutions such as the Reserve Bank of Australia in managing the national economy. Participants will learn about the role of the government in the macro-economy and develop an understanding of how to think about key policy issues such as: Should Australia be worried about deficit and debt? Can the government create more innovation and productivity? Can the government prevent economic crises?

Participants will learn about key concepts and statistics relating to the global economy including net foreign investment, the current account balance and exchange rate theory and purchasing power parity.

Students will learn:

• Key insights from microeconomics and macroeconomics
• Supply and demand
• The role of markets and the importance of prices
• Market failure and policy responses
• The application of key insights to government and policy-making

Who should attend?

This course is designed for individuals at any level of their career who are interested in gaining a deeper understanding of basic economics and its usefulness and application to policy issues. The course is designed for those with no economics background.