MSc Economics (Environmental Policy)

BEEM011: Applied Econometrics 1

Applied econometrics employs statistical methods to real-world data to give a quantitative description of the relationship amongst variables around us and a measure of how precise this description is. In this module, we will briefly review probability theory and fundamental statistics, which will cover topics like hypothesis testing and confidence intervals. We will then proceed to regression analysis, which is the workhorse of applied econometrics. We will also attempt to cover more advanced topics in regression analysis such as, but not limited to, panel data methods and nonlinear functions.

The module aims to provide students with an applied econometric foundation necessary in order to conduct a high-standard empirical analysis of economic data.

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BEEM100: Macroeconomics

The module explores the core areas of modern macroeconomics. The aim is to develop understanding of macroeconomic models from microfoundations, as it becomes increasingly necessary in contemporary approach. The emphasis will be on learning theoretical concepts and analytical techniques, as an aide to understanding contemporary macroeconomic problems.

Summary:

By the end of the module you should be able to manipulate a number of theoretical models to analyse key contemporary macroeconomic issues, such as what influences the business cycle and long-run growth; how the behaviour of households, firms, and governments affect aggregate welfare; how asset prices are determined; and how macroeconomic policy can improve wellbeing.

Sustainability

All the module materials can be downloaded from the ELE (Exeter Learning Environment).

Employability

Previous students have successfully found jobs in centres that deal with current trends in economic activity and government institutions, such as central banks. It is also a necessary module for anyone wishing to pursue PhD study in this area.

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BEEM101: Microeconomics

In this Microeconomics module we will learn and use maths and rigorous logic to consider deep questions of...

• individual preferences, choices and optimization subject to constraints;
• firms' profit-maximising choices and the implications of these for society (how much value is created, who gets what, how do we consider these outcomes as a society);
• psychological influences on the above, and limits to optimization;
• general equilibrium, i.e. interactions of consumers and producers on interdependent markets.

This is a selective and bespoke module. We will focus on a limited set of concepts, models and applications. We will aim to incorporate material that is particularly relevant to your careers and your research interests.

This is an inquisitive module: we ask 'the 'how?', 'why?', 'so what?', and 'is this reasonable?' of the models and concepts.

Additional Information:

Internationalisation

This is a basic and applied theory course, but the content is applicable in every country. The examples used in this module can be applied to any firm or decision.

Sustainability

All of the resources for this module are available on the ELE (Exeter Learning Environment).

The aim of the module is to develop:

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BEEM103: Optimisation Techniques for Economists

Summary:

Optimising behaviour is at the core of most economic analysis. Whether we ask how a consumer should behave, how firms should compete in a market or how governments should decide on their monetary policy, the ability to solve optimisation problems is key to finding an answer. This module provides a thorough introduction to the techniques involved in unconstrained and constrained optimisation. It expands on the optimisation techniques introduced in the microeconomics and macroeconomics courses in the first term and lays the foundation for many advanced economic option courses in the second term.

Additional Information:

Internationalisation

Microeconomics is relevant across countries as it is based on mathematical models.

Sustainability

All of the resources for this module are available on the ELE (Exeter learning Environment).

Employability

This module equips students with logical thinking, numeracy and writing skills, as well as an understanding and theoretical knowledge of economic issues. These help students think like economists, a quality highly valued by employers.

Economic problems are often expressed using mathematical models which are to be formulated, analysed and to be confronted with real-world data. The module aims to make you familiar with those mathematical tools and methods which are used frequently in most economic models and to demonstrate how they are applied.

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BEEM124: Dissertation

You will create a substantial independent piece of work using skills and knowledge acquired throughout their degree.

For MSc Economics (Behavioural Insights), MSc Economics (Environmental Policy) and MSc Economics (International Development) students, this will be an applied specialist project in your field of specialism. For Behavioural Insights, you will develop an original behavioural intervention proposal under the guidance of an expert behavioural economist. For Environmental Policy, you will carry out an environmental research project with Exeter's influential Land, Environment, Economics and Policy Institute (LEEP). For International Development, you will develop an original development intervention proposal under the guidance of an expert development economist.

For MSc Economics and MSc Financial Economics students, this will be a research dissertation. You will identify and analyse an original economic problem using the techniques of economic and/or econometric analysis under the guidance of a supervisor.

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BEEM154: Economics of Public Finance

Should the government combat climate change, and if so how? Can inequality be reduced without hindering economic efficiency? What should be done about the enormous long-run costs of social insurance programs, such as pensions and public health insurance or healthcare? How big of a role should a central government play in local education decisions? To begin to answer questions like these, we need a clear understanding of the role of government in the economy. This class is about developing such an understanding.

Aims: This class aims at developing a clear understanding of the role of public finances and public policies in the economy.

Research use: To ensure the richest possible understanding, we will learn in three different ways: through economic theory, through examples and applications, and through empirical evidence. Each of these will be informed by published peer-reviewed research.

Interdisciplinary aspects: Virtually by definition, the issues of public finance and public policy are at an intersection of many fields within as well as outside economics. This class will be perfectly suited for interdisciplinary pathways provided the pre-requisites above are satisfied.

International perspectives: We will encounter a broad range of policy areas addressed by governments in the United Kingdom, the United States, and a number of other countries.

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BEEM162: Environmental Economics and Sustainability

This is a module about the economics of sustainability and the links between the environment and the economy for Master's students seeking to develop the skills to address real-world sustainability challenges and their ability to work across sectors and disciplines. We will apply economic principles to answer questions about 1) how to allocate scarce resources across individuals and through time, 2) what sustainability means, and 3) how to assess our progress toward sustainable development. Students will apply advanced concepts from the module to critically engage with sustainability case studies through fortnightly discussion sessions.

This module aims to equip you with the economic skillset to assess policies through the lens of sustainability. By the end of the module, you should be able to differentiate between normative and positive criteria, apply the fundamentals of welfare and growth economics (including the notion of inclusive wealth) to the theory of sustainable development, understand what macroeconomic indicators like GDP do and do not capture, and interrogate the use of the term 'sustainable' in business and policy contexts. You will also be able to develop sustainability policy goals and recommendations informed by economic principles. Finally, you will develop a novel sustainability indicator and a bespoke dashboard for a country, region, or organisation of interest.

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BEEM163: Research in Practice: Study Design

The ability to conduct and interpret primary research is a crucial skill for consultants, policymakers and researchers in a variety of organisations (e.g. consultancies, development organisations, government departments, think tanks, big businesses and tech companies). This module will explore the latest tools for designing, running and analysing randomised controlled trials, field experiments or survey-based projects and impact evaluations that are now a central part of the economics, business and policy toolkit. This module will also develop literacy with current cutting-edge methodology and ability to critically evaluate research.

The content of this module will be suitable for data and research-oriented students, and for those who are interested in work with businesses, consultancies, government, development organizations or other fields where evaluating policies, programmes, products and other interventions is important. This content is recommended for interdisciplinary pathways and will be of use to all students with the necessary econometric tools who are interested in running field experiments and designing or analysing survey-based projects. The examples in this course will be drawn from empirical microeconomics and behavioural economics.

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BEEM164: The Economics of Environmental Crises

This module is designed to expose you to frontier developments in environmental economics, bringing economic insights to understand and tackle some of the most pressing issues of our time, from climate change to biodiversity loss. We will apply concepts developed in co-requisite modules (BEEM011 Applied Econometrics, BEEM100 Microeconomics) to understand the causes of and solutions to the twin crises of biodiversity loss and climate change. We will define policy effectiveness, causally estimate environmental policy outcomes; and design and critically evaluate climate and biodiversity solutions from the perspective of economics. 

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BEAM033: Banking and Financial Services

Summary:

Banks and financial institutions facilitate transactions between savers and borrowers, enabling the efficient allocation of financial resources without the need for direct interaction. This module examines the process of financial intermediation and the evolving financial services through which it takes place, including commercial banking, insurance, pensions, and mutual funds. Theoretical and applied concepts are used to develop an understanding of how financial institutions operate, their economic significance, and their role in financial stability. Contemporary developments in financial innovation, digitalisation, and sustainable finance are integrated throughout. There are no pre- or co-requisites, although prior knowledge of introductory finance would be an advantage.

Additional Information:

Internationalisation

Students engage with up-to-date examples from international banking and financial markets, enabling them to apply concepts across different regulatory, institutional, and economic contexts globally.

External Engagement

The module features guest speakers from industry. Previous contributors have included the South West Agent of the Bank of England and financial services practitioners.

Employability

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BEAM036: Domestic and International Portfolio Management

This module takes the perspective of portfolio management and aims to develop skills based on formal modelling of asset price procedures and knowledge of empirical research findings particularly in an international setting.

Sustainability

All the resources for this module are available on the ELE (Exeter Learning Environment).

Employability

In this module, students learn how to work with investment portfolios. The module covers 70% CFA CBOK syllabus on the topic of the Portfolio Management and prepares students well for the CFA Level 2 exam on this topic.

This module studies portfolio management, developing student skills in the formal modelling of asset price procedures and knowledge of empirical research findings, particularly in an international setting. The module expands economic analysis to take into account of issues arising in foreign exchange, international finance and financial economics.

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BEAM047: Fundamentals of Financial Management

Summary:

Fundamentals of Financial Management will provide you with a thorough grounding in the principles of finance. It will cover the appraisal of models and issues in financial management. This module will introduce you to corporate finance theory and financial management. It covers techniques for capital budgeting, the role of risk and the cost of capital. It introduces the topics of financial markets and market efficiency, portfolio diversification and simple asset pricing models, the pricing of shares and bonds as well as providing an introduction to international finance.

Additional Information:

Internationalisation

Investment theory and corporate finance are international by nature and the principles taught can be applied in any country. The module also provides an introduction to international finance.

External Engagement

The module is linked with various professional bodies like CISI (Chartered Instituted of Securities and Investment) and CFAI (Chartered Financial Analysts Institute).

Employability

This module covers many different aspects of finance and prepares the students for employment in different financial sectors. Students acquire quantitative skills, analytical skills, problem-solving, and written skills.

Sustainability

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BEE3077: Health Economics

This unit introduces you to key conceptual frameworks and principles of health economics. It examines how both the UK and international health care systems are financed and funded. The unit will examine the core theories of supply and demand in health care, including the importance of information (and information asymmetry), the critical role of insurance, hospital financing and delivery, long-term care organisation, pay-for-performance schemes, private/public mix in finance and provision of health care, and economic epidemiology.

This module aims to equip you with fundamental health economics and public health knowledge, which is essential for working in the government and health related industries, such as health care providers.

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BEEM125: Experimental and Behavioural Economics

Summary:

"Taking a course in experimental economics is a little like going to dinner at a cannibal's house. Sometimes you will be a diner, sometimes a part of dinner, sometimes both." (From Experiments with Economic Principles by Bergstrom and Miller ).

Why do people give to charity? Why do people who buy insurance? Why do we like to conform to the behaviour of the majority? We will explore these questions and more in this course. We will pitch the model of rational choice against theories of behavioural economics, and in the process acquire the toolkit for the modern behavioural economist. The lectures and tutorials will go hand in hand. Attendance (especially in the tutorials) is critical for you to understand the content of this module. In the tutorials you will participate in experiments and learn first hand how behaviour might differ from theoretical predictions. Behavioural nudge theory will be critically evaluated.

Additional Information:

Internationalisation

Microeconomics is relevant across countries as it is based on systematic behavioural deviations across societies and mathematical models.

Sustainability

All of the resources for this module are available on the ELE (Exeter learning Environment).

Employability

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BEEM152: Behavioural Development Economics

Behavioural economics applies psychological insights into human behaviour to investigate how people make economic decisions under various conditions of constraint (e.g., time and knowledge) and influence (e.g., social pressure). The module requires basic knowledge of undergraduate microeconomics. It will keep neoclassical theory as a benchmark; while discussing deviations from it in development economics related but not limited to labour economics, firms, and health economics. It will explore psychological characteristics that affect economic choices and outcomes, with a focus on how they affect poor people's choices in low- and middle- income countries.

Additional information:

Internationalisation

• This module covers economics from an empirical and policy point of view and incorporates many examples from studies on behaviours of people from across low- and middle- income countries

Sustainability

• All of the resources for this module are available on the ELE (Exeter learning Environment)

Employability

• This module equips students with logical thinking, questioning of core economic assumptions and presentation skills, as well as an insight into the behaviours of people living in poverty. This will be helpful in making students think like economists, a skill valued by employers. In particular, it will help students in securing jobs related to policy making and in development consultancies

External Engagement

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BEEM155: Development Economics

You will be given a thorough exposition of concepts, policy issues and debates on the causes and characteristics of the wealth and poverty of groups and nations. These series of lectures, without being exhaustive, will draw on classic themes in the subject and will cover recent developments in the literature. They will emphasise the importance of political economy factors, missing and incomplete markets in developing countries, and the systemic effects this has on the process of economic development. Other important topics include the concept and theories of underdevelopment, distributional factors and poverty, institutions, human resources (health, education and population), conflict, gender, measurement and methods, and behavioural science factors. You will also learn about cash transfers, corruption, and governance.

This module undertakes a detailed examination of theories, policy issues, controversies and progress in raising standards of living in the developing world. Lectures will explain why certain societies and countries remain under-developed. We will cover theoretical models, behavioural studies, empirical and applied studies.

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BEEM157: Behavioural Finance

The efficient markets hypothesis has been the central proposition of finance since the 1970s. Since then, disruptive events like the rise and fall of the dot-com bubble and the global financial crisis have shed substantive doubt on this hypothesis. The field of behavioural finance relaxes the assumption of fully rational investors and incorporates insights from psychology to better understand investor behaviour. We will discuss empirical challenges of the efficient markets hypothesis and provide an overview of behavioural theories that set out to explain commonly observed deviations.

The aim of this module is to expand and enrich your knowledge of finance from a behavioural perspective. It provides you with the ability to question classical finance models in an informed and well-grounded manner. It does so by first developing a deep understanding of the classical models and their underlying assumptions, moving on to how they are challenged by empirical evidence, and finally showing how theories from behavioural economics can help to predict and understand real-world behaviour within financial markets.

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