Please note - Swinburne University of Technology

~~227 Environmental Economics
No. of hours per week: three hours
Prerequisite: BE1 10 Microeconomics
Instruction: one class
Assessment: examination/assignment
Subject aims and description
The aim of this subject is to familiarise students with the
economic techniques that can be applied to the problems of
environmental and natural resource management.
Topics include: the costs and benefits of environmental
regulation; the importance of property rights; the
environmental impact of poverty and economic growth; the
need for sustainable development; the population problem;
the manaaement of de~letable and renewable natural
resources,and the ecoriomics of pollution control.
Textbook
Tieten berg, T. Environmental and Natural Resource Economics.
3rd edn, New York, Harper Collins, 1992
References
Pearce, D.W. and Turner, R.K. Economics of Natural Resources and
the Environment Hempel Hempstead, Herts, U.K., Harvester
Wheatsheaf, 1990
Wallace. N. (ed.) Natural Resource Management: An Economic
Perspective. Canberra, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and
Resource Economics, 1992
~~331 Public Finance
No, of hours per week: three hours
Prerequisite: BE1 I0 Microeconomics
Instruction: classes
Assessment: examination/assignment
Subject aims and description
This subject involves an analysis of the economic rationale of
government expenditure and revenue raising.
It will cover the following topics:
an introduction to the welfare economics and public
choice paradigms and their implications for public sector
revenue and expenditure;
taxation analysis; criteria for evaluating taxes and
commonwealth and state tax systems; analysis of
personal and corporate income tax consumption and
capital gains and wealth taxes; subsidies to producers
and consumers; taxes on the factors of production and
proposals for reform of the Australian tax system;
techniques for evaluating government expenditure
programs (with particular emphasis on cost-benefit
analysis).
References
Brown, C.V. and Jackson, P.M. Public Sector Economics. 3rd edn.
Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1986
Groenewegen, P. Public Finance in Australia, Theory and Practice. 3rd
edn, Sydney, Prentice Hall, 1990
Musgrave, R.A. and Musgrave, P.B. Public Finance in Theory and
Practice. 5th edn, New York, McGraw-Hill, 1989
~~332 Economic Research
No. of hours per week: three hours
Prerequisites: BE1 10 Microeconomics and BE220
Macroeconomics
Instruction: classes
Assessment: examination/assignments
Subject aims and description
The intention in this subiect is to broaden students' familiaritv
with the nature and scdpe of research undertaken in
economics, and to increase students' ability to analyse and
carry out economic research of a practical nature.
Topics may include: methodology in economic research; data
sources; collection, analysis and presentation of data;
selected topics in applied economic research (economic
model building, cost-benefit analysis, industry studies, aspects
of industrial relations).
An integral part of this subject is a major research project.
Students are expected to conduct an investigation and write
a report on their research which will constitute a major
proportion of the assessment in this subject.
References
There is no single prescribed reference for this course, but extensive
use is made of current journal articles
8~333 Financial Institutions and
Monetary Policy
No. of hours per week: three hours
Prerequisites: BE1 10 Microeconomics and BE220
Macroeconomics
Instruction: lecture/tutorial
Assessment: examinationlassignment, multiple
choice test
Subject aims
To provide students with:
an up-to-date view of Australian financial
intermediatories; their nature and operation in a
changing business environment;
an appreciation and understanding of the application of
monetary policy; its origins and current controversies.
Subject description
This course includes:
a study of Australian financial intermediaries;
the process of deregulation and its impacts on financial
intermediaries and Resenre Bank policies;
the role of the Reserve Bank as a prudential supervisor
and as a regulator of economic instability;
the development of monetary policy, current monetary
policy controversies and the application and operation of
monetary policy.
Textbooks
To be advised
References
Bruce, R. Handbook of Australian Corporate Finance. 4th edn,
Sydney, Butterworths, 1991
Juttner, D.J. and Valentine, T. (eds) The Economics and Management
of Financial Institutions. Melbourne, Longman Cheshire, 1987
Mishkin, F. The Economics of Money Banking and Financial Markets.
3rd edn, New York, Harper Collins, 1992
MacFarlane, I., ed., The Deregulation of Financial Intermediaries: The
Proceedings of a Conference. Sydney, Reserve Bank of Australia,
1991
The Reserve Bank Bulletin - recent issues