Assessing students: Real-world analyses underpinned by economic theory

Abstract

Having highlighted the importance of designing assessments for university economics students that link technical material with practical applications, the paper outlines three such assessments that have been successfully applied with postgraduate and third year undergraduate-level students. The assessments ask students to use their knowledge of economic theories and empirical analyses to propose and debate policy positions or to analyse the strategy decisions of real firms.

Keywords:

• assessment
• active learning
• economic tools for teaching

Public Interest Statement

Having highlighted the importance of designing assessments for university economics students that link technical material with practical applications, the paper outlines three such assessments that have been successfully applied with postgraduate and third year undergraduate-level students. The assessments ask students to use their knowledge of economic theories and empirical analyses to propose and debate policy positions or to analyse the strategy decisions of real firms.

Notes

1. For example, The UK Government Economic Service and the Bank of England together organised a conference around this theme in 2012, and The Economics Network organised symposiums on this topic at The Treasury in 2013 and at the Bank of England in 2015.

2. There is also some novelty for students when told that their first week’s homework involves reading magazines, surfing the internet, watching television or maybe going to the cinema to help them select advertising campaigns to analyse.

Additional information

Funding

Funding. The authors received no direct funding for this research.

Notes on contributors

Caroline Elliott

Caroline Elliott is a professor of Industrial Economics at the University of Huddersfield, and the Director of Teaching and Learning in its Business School. Her research interests encompass empirical industrial economics and education economics analyses, focusing on the impact of competition and regulation policies, as well as firm pricing and marketing strategy choices. Caroline has also published papers on the use of personal response system and lecture capture technologies in Economics teaching.

Vudayagi Balasubramanyam

Vudayagi Balasubramanyam is an Emeritus Professor at Lancaster University, having taught there for over 40 years. His research interests are in development economics and international business, particularly economic development in India. He has taught many undergraduate and postgraduate modules including in International Business; The Economies of China and India; Emerging Economies; Development Economics and International Trade.