AN ECONOMICS PRIMER FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

About the Book

The aim is to introduce the essentials of economics, beginning, in Reading 1, with the ideas of resources, scarcity, and choice, both individual and social. The operation of markets is discussed in Reading 2, including the description of the perfect market, leading to a definition of economic efficiency, which informs many policy and investment decisions across the world. Reading 3 explains the operation of Demand and Supply analysis, and the sources of market failure are presented in Reading 4. The need for objectivity is emphasized; economics is the art of making judgements using evidence and logic. The origins and the resolution of the climate change crisis are examined in Reading 5, where re-orientating academic research is considered as the essential problem we have to solve. The Appendix provides answers to the questions provided in the Readings, and provides a Bibliography in support of Reading 5.

About the Author

Douglas was born in Scotland, educated at Edinburgh University, and lectured on the Jordanstown campus of the University of Ulster (UU) from 1975 to 2012. After his retirement, he became an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Liverpool, working on the development of teaching materials for international students. He has published in the fields of computerassisted learning and health economics; his text, “Valuing Health in Practice” (Routledge (2002)) is based on his PhD, and on his experience developing the Irish Centre for Pharmacoeoconomics in Dublin. He is also an Honorary Member of ASET, the UK universities professional placement association. His interest in teaching international students was stimulated by his involvement (2010 – 2012) with the UU Business School programmes at UU’s Birmingham and London Campuses, and by his Senior Teaching Fellowship at Heriot-Watt University (2013-2014), when he taught MBA students in Dubai, Edinburgh, and Kuala Lumpur. In September 2014 he worked with students from the South China Agricultural University to support their entry to the final year of the UU BSc Business Economics degree.