College of Design and Social Context

COLLEGE OF DESIGN AND SOCIAL CONTEXT SCHOOL OF PROPERTY, CONSTRUCTION AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT BUIL1149 – PROPERTY ECONOMICS COURSE GUIDE 2011 (SEMESTER 2) Course Detail The following link provides important information on the following topics that relates to all courses:  Student Feedback at RMIT  Student Progress  Special Consideration, appeals, and discipline  Academic Integrity  Student Progress Committee (SPC)  Assessment Grades  Classification of award Teaching Period Semester 2 2011 RMIT Course Code BUIL1149 RMIT Course Title Property Economics School 325H Property, Constr & Proj Mgt Career Undergraduate Campus City Campus Learning Mode Face to Face Primary Learning Mode Reading the prescribed text and undertaking the revision quizzes accompanying it will constitute the most important avenue through which students can learn about basic theoretical economic concepts and tools of analysis. Whilst Lectures introduce these concepts and tools, the emphasis will be on illuminating – where appropriate - their applicability to the property and construction disciplines. Tutorials on the other hand, constitute the major conduit through which students will learn how to apply general economic concepts and tools in a property and/or construction setting. Careful reading of supplementary material provided in the on-line class-room and use of on-line resources that are indicated in global e-mails will further deepen student learning. Credit Points 12 Teacher Guided Hours 36 per semester Learner Directed Hours 108 per semester Course Coordinator Ric Lombardo (Melbourne); Vineet Tawani (Singapore) Course Coordinator Phone +61-3-9925-3905 Course Coordinator Email [email protected] / [email protected] Course Coordinator Location 8.8.57 Course Coordinator Availability to be advised Offering Coordinator as above Offering Coordinator Phone +61-3-9925-3905 Additional Staff Contact Details General Admin Enquiries: [email protected] Pre-requisite Courses, Assumed Knowledge & Capabilities None.

- 1 - Course Description

This course will develop your conceptual knowledge of how the economy operates at a micro and macro economic level. A parallel aim of this course is to deepen your understanding of how changing economic conditions need to be considered when making managerial decisions within the construction and property sectors of the economy. Examples used in this course will be drawn from a number of economies, both Australian and international, to illustrate features of an economy at work.

The course is divided into 2 modules - Microeconomics and Macroeconomics.

Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

Upon successful completion of this course you will be able to:  Apply conventional economic methodologies and concepts to enhance decision- making in a property and/or construction context.  Critically evaluate the economic consequences of government policies for the built environment.  Discuss the social and economic consequences of market failure and how such failure may be corrected  Recognize and monitor demand and supply factors that influence economic conditions in the property and/ or construction sectors  Recognize and describe the linkage between aspects of the macro-economy and the health of the property and construction sectors. In this course you will develop the following program capabilities: GC 1 Problem Diagnosis and Solving GC 4 Critical Thinking GC 5 Socially Aware Practice GC6 Discipline Knowledge and Technical Expertise

Overview of Learning Activities

Learning takes place in lectures and tutorials. You will engage in a range of learning activities which will include class discussions, problem based learning activities and quizzes. Your understanding of how economics relates to the property and construction sectors of the economy will be highlighted in lectures and further developed in tutorials.

Learning Activities

You will learn the basic foundations of economics by reading the prescribed text and undertaking non-assessable revision quizzes based on this reading. Feedback on your performance in these revision quizzes will also be provided to supplement your learning experience. An understanding of how economics relates to the property and construction sectors of the economy will be highlighted in lectures and further developed in tutorials where you will engage in class discussion and problem based activities

- 2 - Finally, by referring to various resources (e.g. newspaper articles, you-tubes, and radio programs) that are referred to in weekly group e-mails, you will be able to keep abreast of contemporary economic issues that are related to the topics that have been progressively covered in the course. It is crucial to point out that it is not possible to cover in a lecture or tutorial every detail that is covered in the prescribed text. It is therefore expected as part of your independent learning task that you deepen your understanding of the various covered topics by reading all relevant chapters of the prescribed text. You are also required to read over solutions to weekly exercises that for want of time cannot be covered in tutorials. This activity is designed to enhance you capacity to learn independently and since this is a 12 credit point subject, you should really be devoting up to 9 hours per week on independent reading, attempting non-assessable revision quizzes as well as assessable on-line quizzes and tests.

On occasions where the course seemingly involves a more traditional passive learning approach, every attempt will be made by the instructor to draw out student questions and commentary during such an address. Hopefully, this will enhance interactive learning. Obviously the tutorials rather than the lectures will be the primary avenue through which such interactive learning may eventuate.

The tutorial sessions also facilitate heuristic learning (i.e. learning by reference to examples rather than formal theoretic reasoning and proofs). This is because many of the problems covered in tutorials revolve around simple property and construction examples.

For some students, one of the greatest impediments to effective learning is the fear of discussing areas of misunderstanding with their instructor particularly if the subject matter is rather analytical which the present course happens to be. Such students should cast aside these irrational negative attitudes and approach their instructor with confidence about any difficulties encountered with the course material. Contact with your instructor - by email, phone or in person - is actively encouraged. Remember that it is your instructor’s job to enhance your learning and understanding; so keep asking questions until you 'get it'. In other words you are expected to learn how to be a responsible learner.

Each of the 12 weeks of the course will involve a structured 2 hour lecture followed by a 1 hour tutorial. Each lecture will provide a preliminary general introduction to the important concepts and methodologies of Macro and Microeconomics. Each lecture will also highlight some property or construction related applications that do not feature in the prescribed text. The exercises that are tackled in tutorials are designed to enrich your understanding of how the economic principles outlined in lectures may be applied to real world issues faced by economic decision-makers in the property and construction industries.

At all times, you are encouraged to raise any questions during class-sessions. Separate announcements including supplementary material regarding the weekly program, suggested readings and exercises may be provided by global email. It is therefore essential that you take all steps to regularly check you RMIT email accounts or to ensure email is re-directed from these accounts to your nominated personal email-accounts.

- 3 - Teaching Schedule

The teaching schedule for this course is provided in the following table.

Wk Tue* Wed* Lecture Tutorial

01 19-Jul 20-Jul Basic Economic Concepts No Tutorials

02 26-Jul 27-Jul Demand & Supply Applications, Elasticities and Market Failure Tute Sheet 0 (Intro )

03 02-Aug 03-Aug Consumer Behaviour, Revenue Analysis and Housing Choice Tute Sheet 1 (Micro)

04 09-Aug 10-Aug Production Theory & Cost Behaviour Tute Sheet 2 (Micro)

05 16-Aug 17-Aug Business Goals, Perfect Competition and Monopoly Tute Sheet 3 (Micro)

06 23-Aug 24-Aug Oligopoly and Monopolistic Competition Tute Sheet 4 (Micro) Student Break (Aug-29 – Sep-02)

07 06-Sep 07-Sep Introduction to Macroeconomics Tute Sheet 5 (Micro)

08 13-Sep 14-Sep National Income Accounting Tute Sheet 1 (Macro)

09 20-Sep 21-Sep The Aggregate Demand/ Aggregate Supply Model Tute Sheet 2 (Macro) The Keynesian Aggregate Expenditures – Aggregate Income Model and 10 27-Sep 28-Sep Fiscal Policy Tute Sheet 3 (Macro)

11 04-Oct 05-Oct The Financial System, Money and Monetary Policy Tute Sheet 4 (Macro)

12 11-Oct 12-Oct International Trade Tute Sheet 5-6 (Macro)

* Tuesday (Wednesday) lectures and tutorials are reserved for PCPM students (Civil Engineering students)

Overview of Learning Resources

RMIT will provide you with resources and tools for learning in this course through our online systems. Lecture slides, media, and links to resources via global emails and tutorial exercises and selected solutions will be provided. Your learning in this course will also be supported by your reading of relevant newspaper articles, and by viewing you-tubes and listening to radio programmes. The learning resources for this course include a prescribed text.

Learning Resources

Prescribed Text

Jackson, J McIver R & Bajada C. 2007 Economic principles McGraw Hill Pty Ltd 2nd ed. Australia Waterloo Road, North Ryde Sydney

Other Resources

Supplementary Resources Associated with the Prescribed Text:

The prescribed text cited previously has a student resource site at: http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0074717111/student_view0/index.html

At this site, students may access a number of digital learning tools briefly described below:

- 4 -  Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, video, blog) based on search terms e.g. economics, Australia, property, construction etc. There are several advantages in obtaining updates in this manner that are described at the previous link.  Weblinks provides a compendium of hot links to many websites that are quite useful for the study of economics

Note: that the site also provides access to Power Point Slides. However these are NOT the slides that the course-co-ordinator uses for his lectures. His lectures may be accessed from the on-line class-room for this subject.

Other References

Bernanke BS. , Olekalns N. and Frank RH, 2005 Principles of Macroeconomics McGraw-Hill, Sydney Frank RH, Jennings SJ and Bernanke BS 2007Principles of Microeconomics McGraw- Hill, Sydney Gans J, King S., Stonecash R. Mankiw NG. 2005 Principles of Economics 3rd ed. Thompson, South Melbourne. Jackson, J McIver R 2007 Macroeconomics McGraw Hill Pty Ltd 8th ed. Australia Waterloo Road, North Ryde Sydney Jackson, J McIver R 2007 Microeconomics McGraw Hill Pty Ltd 8th ed. Australia Waterloo Road, North Ryde Sydney Layton A. Robinson, T and Tucker IB 2005 Economics for today 2nd ed. Thompson, South Melbourne. McTaggart, D. Findlay, C. Parkin, M. 2007 Economics 5th ed. Pearson Education Australia Pty Ltd, Frenchs Forest. McTaggart, D. Findlay, C. Parkin, M. 2007 Macroeconomics 5th ed. Pearson Education Australia Pty Ltd, Frenchs Forest. McTaggart, D. Findlay, C. Parkin, M. 2007 Microeconomics 5th ed. Pearson Education Australia Pty Ltd, Frenchs Forest. Myers D 2008, Construction Economics, 2nd ed. Spon Press Taylor & Francis Group Samuelson P.A. 1992 Economics 3rd Australian Edition McGraw-Hill, Sydney. Sloman J Norris K 2008 Principles of Economics, 2nd ed. Pearson Education Australia, Frenchs Forest Waud R., Maxwell P., Hocking A. Bonnici J. and Ward I. 1996 Economics 3rd Australian ed. Longman South Melbourne.

On-Line Class-Room (Black-Board) Site

From the online class-room site that may be reached through the myRMIT portal, students will be able to access lecture overheads and supplementary hand-outs, tutorial exercise sheets and solutions, non-assessable revision quizzes to supplement the prescribed reading as well as assessable quizzes and tests. An archive of all global e-mails that are progressively distributed throughout the semester will also be maintained in the on-line class-room. The purpose of the global e-mails is to provide week by week feedback to students as well as to provide links to various topical multi-media resources.

- 5 - Media Resources

Students who wish to increase their awareness of current economic events should regularly listen to current affairs programmes such as AM and PM (ABC 774) or watch TV documentaries and current affairs programmes like: The 7.30 Report, Four Corners, Lateline, Lateline Business, Insiders and Inside Business (Channel 2).

Regular reading of newspapers and magazines such as The Australian, The Age, Business Review Weekly and The Australian Financial Review as well as The Economist will also be helpful.

Overview of Assessment

You will be assessed on how well you meet the course’s learning outcomes and on your development against the program capabilities. . The assessment includes regular on-line quizzes and tests as well as a final exam. Feedback will be given on all assessment tasks. If you have a long term medical condition and/or disability it may be possible to negotiate to vary aspects of the learning or assessment methods. You can contact the program coordinator or the Disability Liaison Unit if you would like to find out more. An assessment charter: http://mams.rmit.edu.au/kh6a3ly2wi2h1.pdf summarises your responsibilities as an RMIT student as well as those of your teachers. Your course assessment conforms to RMIT assessment principles, regulations, policies and procedures which are described and referenced in a single document: http://www.rmit.edu.au/browse;ID=ln1kd66y87rc

Assessment Tasks

To pass this subject, you are required to attempt all assessment tasks and to obtain a minimum of 50% overall. In addition to that, you also need to obtain at least 40% in each of the major components of the assessment.

The method of assessment as described in this course guide may be altered by the lecturer with the approval of the program coordinator and the agreement of 70% of the students enrolled in the course. Any alterations will be notified in writing to all students concerned.

The assessment in this course comprises 12 weekly on-line quizzes plus two additional equally weighted multiple choice-tests and a final exam.

In respect of the major components of the assessment alluded to earlier, these major components specifically refer to:

1) The combined aggregate grade for 12 on-line quizzes and 2 tests 2) The grade for the final exam

- 6 - The mark break-down of the various assessment tasks in this course is indicated directly below:

20% Weekly on-line Quizzes 10% Multiple Choice Microeconomics Test 10% Multiple Choice Macroeconomics Test 60% Final Exam (3 hours) 100% Total

The weekly on-line quizzes (which are undertaken in the on-line class-room site for this subject) will examine for the associated weekly topic, the reading from the prescribed text as well as the content of the lecture. The reading from the prescribed text will always be indicated on the 1st page of the power-point lecture which may be accessed from the on-line class-room site. There will be a two week window in which each on-line quiz may be attempted. When each quiz is no longer active, students may be able to view their marks, their own chosen answers and whether it was right or wrong.

There will be a two week window within which students must complete the online Micro and Macro Tests. The former (latter) test will examine the first 6 topics (last 6 topics).

A detailed schedule of online quizzes and tests including coverage is provided directly below.

Assessment* Submission Window Coverage Quiz #01 22-Jul to 08-Aug Introductory Topic Quiz #02 29-Jul to 15-Aug Micro Topic 1 Quiz #03 05-Aug to 22-Aug Micro Topic 2 Quiz #04 12-Aug to 29-Aug Micro Topic 3 Quiz #05 19-Aug to 05-Sep Micro Topic 4 Test #01 (Micro) 26-Aug to 09-Sep Introductory Topic & Micro Topics 1-5 Quiz #06 26-Aug to 09-Sep Micro Topic 5 Quiz #07 09-Sep to 23-Sep Macro Topic 1 Quiz #08 16-Sep to 30-Sep Macro Topic 2 Quiz #09 23-Sep to 07-Oct Macro Topic 3 Quiz #10 30-Sep to 14-Oct Macro Topic 4 Quiz #11 07-Oct to 21-Oct Macro Topic 5 Quiz #12 14-Oct to 28-Oct Macro Topic 6 Test #02 (Macro) 14-Oct to 28-Oct Macro Topics 1-6 * The 12 Quizzes are worth 1.67% (= 20%/12) each and the Tests are worth 10% each

The exam will comprise 12 optional exam questions – one for each of the 12 weekly topics. Only 5 of these 12 optional questions must be attempted each one of which is equally weighted. Of the 12 optional questions, 6 will cover the Microeconomic topics including the introductory topic and the remaining 6 will cover the Macroeconomic topics. More details on the structure of the exam will be clarified at an appropriate time. It is highly recommended that you attend all your tutorials as well as read the solutions to tutorial exercises not covered in the tutorials as they will provide you with an appreciation of the type of problem-solving questions you are likely to encounter on the final exam.

Course Grades Available

- 7 - The applicable grades are the standard grades for the University.

Borderline Fail Results

All borderline fail exam scripts (47-49%) will be marked by a second examiner.

Other Relevant Information

Enrolment

You must ensure that you are correctly enrolled in this course by checking that it appears on your enrolment confirmation. If the course number does not appear, your results cannot be recorded in the academic management system. If you suspect you are not properly enrolled in this course you must alert the school’s administrative officer at the earliest opportunity so that necessary corrective action is undertaken.

Communication Requirements

From time to time, it may be necessary for the course co-ordinator to contact you on important administrative matters relating to the course. The course-coordinator will do so by way of e-mail to your RMIT e-mail address account. You may access such an account both within and beyond the confines of RMIT. It is your responsibility to regularly check this account (i.e. each week) so that you have current information about upcoming events in this course as the course co-ordinator will not maintain a database of each student’s personal non-RMIT email addresses for official RMIT correspondence.

Course Overview: Access Course Overview