Undergraduate Course: Economics of Media (ECNM10127)
Course Outline
| School | School of Economics |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course discusses classic and recent research in economics that explores the role played by traditional and social media. We will look at how the media influence politicians¿ behaviour, voters¿ choices, and policy outcomes, and discuss the determinants of content choice (e.g. slant), including the role played by market structure. It then considers social media and what their features imply for political outcomes, individual well-being, and news production. The course touches upon current topics such as online hate speech and misinformation. These issues are considered mainly through the discussion of empirical research papers in economics. As part of the course, students will improve their understanding of state-of-the-art techniques for causal inference and learn to critically evaluate empirical research in economics. Students will also gain a foundational understanding of how economic thinking is applied to political decision-making and how political forces shape economic outcomes. |
| Course description |
The course refers to the typical educational activities and belongs to the scientific area of Economics. This course analyses the main up-to-date topics on the economics of media, with a particular emphasis on the effects on political and policy outcomes. The aim is to show how the quantitative toolkit of the modern economist may be used to analyse the impact of media. Topics covered in this course may include the different effects of traditional and social media on political and policy outcomes.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2026/27, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 20,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 9,
Summative Assessment Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
165 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
80 %,
Coursework
20 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Coursework (group presentation): 20%
Degree Exam: 80% |
| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate a knowledge and understanding of the role played by media in the context of economics.
- Research and investigative skills such as problem framing and solving and the ability to assemble and evaluate complex evidence and arguments.
- Apply communication skills in order to critique, create and communicate understanding.
- Demonstrate personal effectiveness through task-management, time-management, dealing with uncertainty and adapting to new situations, personal and intellectual autonomy through independent learning.
- Apply practical/technical skills such as, modelling skills (abstraction, logic, succinctness), qualitative and quantitative analysis and general IT literacy.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Giacomo De Luca
Tel:
Email: gdeluca@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | |
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