Economics of an Unequal World module (BU21006)

This module is designed for students who wish to understand the nature and extent of inequality, the issues it creates on both a local and global level and possible solutions.

Inequality has an impact on people’s lives and on the development of economies, with evidence showing that inequality impacts on poverty, health, political power of the poor.

This module explains how we can assess inequality and its effect on people’s lives. It looks at the tools we can use to measure inequality and why these are important.

What you will learn

In this module, you will:

• learn about economic globalisation and its relationship to trends in poverty and inequality
• discuss theories of fairness and equity
• be able to explain causes of inequality
• understand how inequality is measured
• look at inequality in the UK

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• understand how inequality affects individuals
• how policy can be used to solve poverty
• discuss problems relating to globalisation, inequality, and poverty
• use statistics to analyse poverty and inequality
• compare inequality in poorer countries and richer countries

Assignments / assessment

• Class Test (20%)
• Report (20%)
• Final Exam (60%)

Teaching methods / timetable

You should expect weekly lectures and tutorials both in-person and online. You will be expected to read in advance of the lectures to ensure you can contribute to class discussion.

This module does include statistics although no prior knowledge is required as everything you need to know will be taught in lectures with the chance to practise example questions in tutorials.