Bachelor of Arts in Economics

The Bachelor’s Degree in Economics is one of the oldest programmes in the university. The programme aims at training economists who can work as analysts, planners and evaluators in both the public and private sector. The programme is based on a disciplinary major/minor structure, which requires students to complete a number of required courses in Economics combined with a number of courses from the minor programme.

The economy of any country is central to the existence of that country. The workings of the economy have, and continue to evolve and develop over time. As the economy changes and develops so too, do the analytics that are necessary to understand, manage and plan for the development of the country. In addition, as time has evolved so too has the interaction and interrelatedness of the different economies into what may constitutes effective and interactive, integrated international order of economic dependence and co-existence both in terms of resource inflows and outflows into or from the national economy. In this context therefore developing and providing local training, research and teaching in economic theory and applications of economics is a core aspect of national well-being and development.

The question of the optimal allocation of resources is fundamental to the theory of economics in any setting as resources will always be constrained. It is perhaps the considered view of some that developing countries more than others require the necessary human capital to grapple with this issue more than other countries. In line with the pursuit of excellence and service, the Department of Economics commits itself to training, teaching and researching in the field of economics and related sub-disciplines in order to ensure that the Zambian economy has a contingent of local economists capable of meeting the arduous demand of economists that ensure that the Zambian economy is served competently and effectively in all the various sub-specialisations of economics such as trade, agriculture. Health, education, environment, macro and micro economic areas and others.

The aim of the program is to acquaint students with the main economic analysis tools, major trends in Zambia’s economic indicators and policy debates, and to enable them to use their knowledge of theory and quantitative techniques to undertake critical analyses of Zambia’s economic issues. The program subjects students to rigorous economic training using the state of the art economic tools and econometric labs. The knowledge and skill set to be acquired through the programme prepares economics students to function as professionals in a wide range of economics fields such as Health, Education, Monetary, Finance as well as the academicians. Moreover, this program adequately prepares students who wish to pursue a masters and consequently a PhD in economics.

At the end of the programme graduates will be expected to:

1. Demonstrate knowledge of the leading schools of economic thought.
2. depict the basis for professional and advanced study of research methods in economics.
3. Apply research methods in economics
4. demonstrate the capacity to apply microeconomic theory to the study of field courses such as public finance, labour economics and environmental economics
5. demonstrate a firm understanding of the essential aspects of macroeconomics, such as national income determination, fiscal policy, monetary policy, inflation and stabilisation policy.
6. Identify factors that explain changes in economic variables that are relevant for policy formulation and decision-making.
7. Carry out a statistical evaluation of economic performance based on micro and macro variables;
8. demonstrate a good grounding in set theory, elementary differential and integral calculus and matrix algebra and demonstrate understanding of how these mathematical concepts can be used to provide rigorous statements of economic problems and solve them as problems in optimization.
9. demonstrate the capacity to use the techniques of optimization and programming.
10. Use appropriate statistical sampling techniques for carrying out empirical research;
11. Undertake the decomposition and forecasting of various components of time series of macroeconomic variables in Zambia and other countries;
12. demonstrate understanding of the new aspects of microeconomics in consumer theory, theory of the firm, game theory and economics of asymmetric information.
13. demonstrate understanding of the major models of International Trade
14. demonstrate knowledge of the economics of taxation, public goods and externalities.
15. demonstrate understanding of the operations of banks and financial institutions
16. demonstrate the capacity to apply macroeconomic theory to the study of field courses such as international trade, international finance.
17. demonstrate understanding of the development and underdevelopment, structural and dualistic theories of development, growth theories, and structural adjustment.
18. demonstrate knowledge of the international monetary systems and capital markets.
19. demonstrate the use of econometric techniques in empirical economic analysis.
20. explain and apply the concepts of balance sheet, income statement and financial cash flow statement and their interrelations,
21. demonstrate an understanding on how an investment project should be evaluated, and under which conditions investment creates value,
22. apply the standard econometric and statistical software packages in their empirical work.
23. demonstrate knowledge of the efficient and systematic conduct of theoretical and policy - oriented research in economics.
24. demonstrate knowledge of environmental problems such as air and water pollution, deforestation, soil degradation, and sedimentation.
25. show in-depth understanding of the field of economics as well as trending economic issues
26. acquire relevant professional knowledge in general economics.
27. demonstrate understanding of the determinants of labour supply and demand and use this knowledge within economic applications,
28. Be acquainted with the strategies adopted for the economic development of Zambia since independence to the present day
29. Be equipped to make a critical evaluation of the objectives and impacts of economic policy using Zambian data.
30. To provide analytical tools and practice necessary to operationalize analysis and policy responses in resource allocation
31. To provide an understanding of the interdependency between nutritional habits, health, and resources.
32. demonstrate understanding of the role of the internet in promoting economic and human development in Zambia and other developing countries.
33. demonstrate an understanding of the linkages between education and economic growth, consumption, investment, employment and equity.
34. demonstrate understanding of the use of economic techniques in the evaluation of health systems in Zambia and elsewhere.
35. demonstrate the ability to critically evaluate the substance and relevance of the various microeconomic principles to an understanding of the movement of people and goods.
36. demonstrate knowledge of issues in agricultural development such as agricultural pricing, marketing, credit and extension services.
37. demonstrate understanding of the economic theory of the firm and strategic behaviour.