University of Stellenbosch Department of Economics

University of Stellenbosch Department of Economics – See Details Below:

Department of Economics

PURPOSE OF DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS (MIL)

The study of Economics is important because it is the only subject that endeavours to explain, in a scientific manner, the road that leads to the optimising of an individual’s welfare and therefore a country’s welfare under the constraints of limited resources and unlimited needs. The study of Economics, within the broader framework of other social science subjects, arm SANDF members with the knowledge of analysing, on a micro and macro level, strategic decisions regarding the consumption of scares resources within the SANDF and to make recommendations regarding the optimal use thereof.

Economic modules lectured at the military academy:

Eco 114 (Introduction to microeconomics)

Introduction and background to economic issues and theory; overview of economic systems; theory of demand, supply and interaction in the markets; government intervention in markets- price control and taxes; theory of production and supply; theory of alternative market structures; introduction to markets for factors of production; inequality and poverty; the case for and against government intervention.

Eco 144 (Introduction to macroeconomics and monetary economics)

Macro-economic issues: economic growth, unemployment and inflation; the open economy; macro-economic thought; the simple Keynesian analysis of national income, employment and inflation; fiscal policy; money and interest; monetary policy; Keynesian and monetary controversies; the control of aggregate demand , aggregate supply, unemployment and inflation; supply-side economics; international trade, balance of payments, exchange rates and international economic relationships; economic development.

Eco 214 (Intermediate microeconomics and macroeconomics)

Micro-economics: market failure; welfare economics; market for factors of production. Macro-economics: the four sector model; the IS/LM model; the AD/AS model. PP Economics (MIL) 114 & 144

Eco 244 (International economics and public economics)

International trade: theory of international trade, tariffs and subsidies. International finance: foreign exchange markets; balance of payments; alternative exchange rate regimes; international finance and the international monetary system; international finance and debt crisis. Public finance: introduction to fiscal theory; the role of government allocation and redistribution function; tax structure theory; public finance in the micro-economic context; defence budget and economics warfare.

Eco 314 (Labour economics and defence economics)

Labour economics: the government in the labor market; wage theory; wages and inflation; interaction between supply and labour markets; theory of unemployment; theory of unions and strikes; theory of labour productivity and human capital; South African labour market. Economic systems and thought: pre-classical thought; neo-classical thought; capitalism; socialism; communism and social democracy; mixed economy. Defence economics: the functioning of the defence industry; economic warfare; national budget and defence aspects; labour economics from a defence perspective.

Eco 344 (Quantitative economics and intermediate monetary economics)

Industrial economics: the structure, conduct and performance of the South African economy. Quantitative and Econometrics analysis: index formulation and manipulation of data; real and nominal inflation; purchasing-price; international trade and exchange rate interaction; introduction to statistics and overview of terminology, methodology and interpretation; application of hypothesis testing ; regression analysis and interpretation; use of E-Views software; data manipulation and interpretation; research methods and data collection. Monetary economics: money and interest rates; monetary policy; Keynesian and monetarist differencecs.