Principles of Economics

Course Coordinator (CC) and Team: Anirban Biswas, Saranika Sarkar

Email of course coordinator: anirbanbiswas[at]aud[dot]ac[dot]in

Course Code: EC 101

Course Title: Principles of Economics (Introduction to Economic Analysis)

Type of Course: This course is a compulsory course for those pursuing a Major in Economics. It is also available to students of other streams provided they have studied Mathematics at the +2 level.

Course Description: This course, in the form of six to eight theme based modules, shall introduce students to the economic dimension of human life and the social framework that constitutes the ‘economy’. The different types of units within the economy and the kinds of interaction they have with each other will be discussed. Students will be familiarized with some of the basic concepts on how an economy works, what results it gives rise to and why economists do what they do.

Main Topics

• Economics in History
• From Political Economy to Economics
• Production, Exchange and Consumption
• Demand and Supply
• Value, Cost and Price
• Money, Wealth, Property and Poverty
• Accumulation and Distribution
• Economics and Other Social Sciences

Suggested readings:

• W J Baumol and A S Blinder, 2011, Economics: Principles and Policy, Twelfth Edition, South Western
• K E Case and R C Fair, (2008), Principles of Economics, Prentice Hall
• J R Hicks (1960), Social Framework: An Introduction to Economics, Third Edition, Oxford University Press, London
• J R Hicks, M Mukherjee and S K Ghosh, (1984),The Framework of the Indian Economy: An Introduction to Economics, Oxford University Press
• R L Heilbronner, 2000, The Worldly Philosophers: The Lives, Times and Ideas of the Great Economic Thinkers, Revised Seventh Edition, Penguin
• R L Heilbronner and W Milberg (2002), The Making of Economic Society, 11th Edition, Prentice Hall
• L Huberman (2009), Man’s Worldly Goods: The Story of the Wealth of Nations, Reprint, Monthly Review Press, New York
• C T Kurien(1992), The Economy: An Interpretive Introduction, Sage, New Delhi
• J E Stiglitz and C E Walsh (2006), Economics, Fourth Edition, W W Norton
• P Dasgupta (2007) Economics a Very Short Introduction, OUP