Business Economics MA(SocSci)
History of Economic Thought ECON4048
- Academic Session: 2026-27
- School: Adam Smith Business School
- Credits: 15
- Level: Level 4 (SCQF level 10)
- Typically Offered: Semester 1 (Alternate Years)
- Available to Visiting Students: Yes
- Collaborative Online International Learning: No
- Curriculum For Life: No
Short Description
The course will aim to introduce students to the origins of modern economic thought; the development of the main traditions and the differences and controversies between them, and demonstrate their contemporary relevance.
Timetable
11 x 2-hour lectures
3 x 1-hour seminars
1 x 1-hour revision lecture.
Excluded Courses
None
Co-requisites
None
Assessment
1. Written assignment, including essay; Individual; 750 words; 30%; ILOs 3, 5.
2. Degree exam: in-person; Individual; 120 minutes; 70%; ILOs 1-6.
Main Assessment In: December
Are reassessment opportunities available for all summative assessments? No
It is the default expectation that all courses will offer opportunities for reassessment or deferred assessment. Where it is not possible to offer this in some assessment components, the grade achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade, and any exceptions for this course are described below.
[No exceptions]
Course Aims
This course examines the history of economic ideas and the evolution of the main schools of economic thought from the eighteenth century to the present day. The aims of the course are to:
■ Trace the origins of modern economic thought
■ Explore the development of the main traditions and the differences between them
■ Introduce the main controversies stimulated by the differences between the main schools of thought with regard to their contemporary relevance
■ Demonstrate that the subject is rather more than the definition once offered that it was 'the wrong opinions of dead white men'
Intended Learning Outcomes of Course
By the end of this course students will be able to:
1. Appreciate the history, development, and evolution of economic ideas and their contemporary relevance;
2. Critically appreciate the diversity of economic approaches and how this impacts on the advocacy of certain policies;
3. Explain the contributions of key figures in economic thought;
4. Explain the gains and losses to the discipline of the forming of different schools of thought;
5. Assess how economists have sought to apply different economic principles to applied problems and policy issues;
6. Understand the emergence of an economics canon alongside the emergence of economics as a distinct discipline.