Undergraduate Course: Economics of Self-Management (ECNM10007)
Course Outline
| School | School of Economics |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Available to all students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | Economics |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | Most Western societies are proud of being political democracies, but democracy rarely operates within the firm. Governments can be criticised freely and are answerable to those they seek to govern. By contrast, managers are not, in general, answerable to those they seek to manage, and the mildest criticism can be dangerous. The central question of this course is 'what would happen if workers ran their own firms?' Would self-managed (i.e. worker-managed) firms take the same decisions as their capitalist counterparts? Could such an economy be efficient? As well as these issues, the course covers related topics such as profit-sharing, codetermination and wage-earners' investment funds. The approach is partly theoretical, but also covers empirical studies of British, Italian, Spanish, Scandinavian and Yugoslav firms. Topics covered include: comparative theory of capitalist and self-managed firms; general equilibrium of the self-managed economy; monitoring and the labour-process; workers' cooperatives under capitalism; industrial democracy, codetermination and worker-directors; the effect of worker participation on wage-bargaining and productivity; financial participation, profit-sharing and share-ownership schemes; collective ownership, wage-earners' investment funds. |
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
Students MUST have passed:
Economics 2 (ECNM08006)
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | Pre-requisite: Economics Honours entry. |
| Additional Costs | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should usually have at least 3 Economics courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this) for entry to this course. This MUST INCLUDE courses in both Macroeconomics and Microeconomics. We will only consider University/College level courses. |
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
| After successful completion of this course students should have developed their general skills of critical analysis and assessment; obtaining and processing information from a variety of sources; presentation and communication skills; interpersonal and groups skills; independent action and initiative; managing tasks and time. |
Assessment Information
A 2hr degree examination in April/May (70%), a teamwork project (10%) and an essay (20%).
Visiting Student Variant Assessment
teamwork project (10%), 3 x essays (30% each)
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Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
Not entered |
| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
Not entered |
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Mr Donald George
Tel: (0131 6)50 3849
Email: D.George@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Dawn Mcmanus
Tel: (0131 6)50 8361
Email: Dawn.McManus@ed.ac.uk |
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