Universitat Internacional de Catalunya
Economy
Teaching staff
Introduction
The main purpose of this subject in your academic programme is not to tell you what various things are. Instead, its aim is to help you develop academic skills, the most important of which is a creative and critical way of thinking about almost anything. Learning what things are will provide you with some knowledge but will not provide you with the skill of analytical thinking. Therefore, the academic programme has been carefully designed to provide students of the Audiovisual communication with the necessary exposure to the more fundamental methods of analysis that will, we hope, equip you for life with an ability to understand the broad dimensions of companies, corporates, and society, in order to contribute to it and benefit from it.
Pre-course requirements
Pre-course requirements would be basic mathematics, basic economic terms and knowledge about day to day economic decisions and transactions we make as individuals, firms, and how governments reacts to certain changes in the market.
Objectives
• Introduce students to an understanding of the domain of economics as a social theory.
• Introduce students to the main analytical tools which are used in economic analysis
• Introduce students to the main conclusions derived from economic analysis and to develop students’ understanding of their organizational and policy implications for companies especially in audiovisual communication
•Make students to understand the concepts of pricing, revenues, costs and negotiations of audiovisual products in the market.
• Enable students to participate in debates on economic matters.
Competences/Learning outcomes of the degree programme
- 01 - The ability to adapt to varying circumstances
- 02 - The ability to understand, accept criticism and correct errors
- 03 - The ability to administer and manage human and technical resources
- 04 - The ability to work in a team and autonomously
- 05 - The ability to organise time and workspace
- 06 - The ability to develop academic rigour, responsibility, ethics and professionalism
- 07 - The ability to apply the deontology and respect for the audiovisual sector
- 08 - The ability of critical analysis, synthesis, concretion and abstraction
- 09 - The ability to objectify, quantify and interpret (data, statistics, empirical evidence )
- 10 - The ability to confront difficulties and resolve problems
- 11 - The ability to generate debate and reflection
- 12 - The ability to meet deadlines, develop the ability to be punctual and respect for human, technical and material resources
- 13 - The ability to create spoken and written communication
- 16 - The ability to manage, analysis and reflect on content
- 17 - The ability to contextualize and critically analyze the events of social reality and to represent Contemporary History
- 19 - The ability of informative documentation
- 20 - Knowledge and mastery of bibliographic media
- 21 - Knowledge and mastery of the digital culture
- 24 - The ability to plan and organize both short term and long term projects
- 25 - The ability to maximize creative development
- 26 - The ability to develop a sense of taste and perfection in the aesthetics and finalization of projects
- 28 - Knowledge and mastery of principle economic concepts.
- 29 - The ability to budget projects of differing magnitude
- 30 - The ability to study the feasibility of an audiovisual product
- 31 - The ability to understand the financial systems of media groups and companies.
- 35 - The ability to contextualize and critically analyze the products of the audiovisual industry
- 50 - The ability to adapt, understand and apply the expressive possibilities of new technologies and future changes
- 53 - Lingustic ability in Catalan, Spanish and English
- 54 - The ability to skillfully manage the literature, terminology and linguistic structures of the English language related to the field of communication.
Learning outcomes of the subject
At the end of this course and having completed the essential reading and activities, you should be able to:
- define the main concepts and describe the models and methods used in economic analysis
- formulate problems described in everyday language in the language of economic modelling
- apply and use the main economic models used in economic analysis to solve these problems in companies related to audiovisual communication sector
- assess the potential and limitations of the models and methods used in economic analysis.
Syllabus
Main contents of the course:
1.Fundamentals of economics (why we need the study of Economics)
2. Microeconomics : a basic perspective
- INTERDEPENDENCE AND THE GAINS FROM TRADE
- THE MARKET FORCES OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND
- SUPPLY AND DEMAND AND GOVERNMENT POLICIES
- CONSUMERS, PRODUCERS AND THE EFFICIENCY OF MARKETS
3. The Audiovisual Industry
- The audiovisual sector : global / Catalonia
- Production costs and Revenue of audiovisual products
- Business model
4. Macroeconomics: a basic perspective
- MEASURING A NATION'S INCOME
- MEASURING THE COST OF LIVING
- PRODUCTION AND GROWTH
- ...
Teaching and learning activities
In person
| TRAINING ACTIVITY | ECTS CREDITS |
| Coaching. Monitoring how students learn the content of the subject, either individually or in groups. In the coaching sessions, mistakes will be corrected, queries answered, and exercises and activities to achieve the established objectives will be suggested. | 0.2 |
| Focused Praxis. Handing in occasional exercises to learn theory through practice. | 0.6 |
| E-learning. Virtual learning based on ICT. | 0.6 |
| Lectures. In lectures, lecturers/professors not only transmit content or knowledge, but also, and above all else, attitudes, motivation, skills and values, etc. They also ensure that participants can express their opinions and arguments to the other students. | 1.2 |
| Peer learning. The aim of this activity is to ensure that students gain the ability to analyse and be critical. One way of achieving this is by correcting their peers' exercises and results, etc. Each student will be evaluated twice: as both a recipient and a transmitter of critical knowledge. | 0.2 |
| Mentoring programme. Ensuring a review of and in-depth look at competences and knowledge, as well as the development of habits involving social commitment and responsibility, with the strongest students providing guidance for students from lower years, particularly if they have any type of disability (physical, etc). | 0.2 |
Evaluation systems and criteria
In person
Evaluation will be based on
exams and continuous assessment (tests) on individual work, attitude, teamwork, prompt submission of works, content etc.
Exams : midterm + final 40%
Weekly tests for every topic 15%
Practical exercises / assignments submitted during the course 20%
Presence and Participation in class [10% + 15%] 25%
Presence has to be ≧ 80% of the classes to earn a grade for “presence”
Participation refers to active participation in class
Bibliography and resources
We shall use the following textbook:
Mankiw, N. Gregory. (2021). Principles of Economics (9th edition). Cengage Learning, Inc.