Learning Outcomes
On completion of this module, students should be able to:
1. Describe and apply basic principles of economics to rural issues.
2. Relate economic behaviour at the household and rural firm level to aggregate changes in the countryside.
3. Discuss the principles of business accounts and appraisal.
4. Explain linkages between the overall economy and prospects for agriculture and other rural industries.
5. Evaluate the arguments for and against agricultural trade liberalisation.
6. describe the framework of rural policy in the United Kingdom and Western Europe;
7. describe government policies relating to agriculture, conservation and the rural economy, at present and in the recent past;
8. assess the effectiveness of interventions by governments and their agencies in achieving their objective and targets.
Aims
This module will consider the economic principles that underlie government intervention in agricultural, rural and regional policy. The development of an understanding of the fundamental economic relationships will enable opportunities and problems for rural areas to be discussed and appropriate policy responses to be identified. Lecture material will include:
- Nature and methods of economcis and its application to agriculture, countryside management, conservation and recreation;
- the demand for food and characteristics of consumer behaviour, including price and income elasticity of demand for food; conservation and public goods in the rural environment; demand for rural amenities;
- Externalities and environmental policies;
- discuss the principles of business accounts and appraisal;
- introduction to the major macroeconomic variables; economic growth, employment, inflation, Balance of Payments;
- linkages between the macro economy and the rural industries;
- the theory of comparative advantage and the balance of agricultural trade;
- economics of the CAP and its reform;
- agricultural trade liberalisation and the environment.