Unit information: Communicating Economics in 2019/20

Unit name	Communicating Economics
Unit code	EFIM30049
Credit points	20
Level of study	H/6
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
Unit director	Professor. Spielmann
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	For 19/20 Intermediate Economics 1 (EFIM20008) and either Econometrics (EFIM20011) or Applied Quantitative Research Methods (EFIM20010) For 20/21 onwards Intermediate Microeconomics (EFIM20033) and Intermediate Macroeconomics (EFIM20034) or Microeconomic Analysis (EFIM20038) and Macroeconomic Analysis (EFIM20037) Econometrics 1 (EFIM20011) or Applied Quantitative Research Methods (EFIM20010)
Co-requisites	None
School/department	School of Economics
Faculty	Faculty of Social Sciences and Law

Description including Unit Aims

Economists need to be able to communicate their expert analysis and advice to different audiences, via a range of media. In this unit, students will explore the challenges of communicating a technical and quantitative subject – and how to overcome them.

The course will run as a series of interactive sessions. Students will reflect on how to communicate economic knowledge and will gain hands-on experience in how to use different media (including writing economic briefs and blogs, making videos and producing infographics) to communicate messages to decision-makers and wider public audiences. External speakers will provide advice and experience.

The unit aims to:

• train students to communicate expert economics knowledge in an accessible way to different audiences
• respond to criticism that economists are insufficiently skilled in communicating complex economic concepts to the audiences they are trying to reach
• improve and test intuitive understanding of complex economics appropriate for the level of study
• expose students to knowledge and experience from professional communication experts
• provide a learning experience in line with the labour market demands graduates will face.

Intended Learning Outcomes

The course trains students to communicate complex economic ideas to different non-specialist audiences.

By the end of the course, students will

• be able to communicate expert economics knowledge in an accessible way to different kinds of non-expert audiences, such as the general public, politicians, A-level and first year students and colleagues within policy or business organisations.
• be able to produce concise writing and compelling videos/podcasts appropriate for the target audience
• be aware of challenges when communicating to non-expert audiences and show familiarity with real world examples of good and inadequate communication.

Teaching Information

14 x 2-hour workshops

Interactive workshops that will offer a mix of reflective workshops and skills sessions.

Assessment Information

This unit is assessed by 100% summative coursework.

Students will be assessed on a portfolio that might include the following:

• An economics brief, i.e. a concise piece of writing for decision-makers (in policy or industry)
• An infographic
• A video aimed at the general public or economics students
• An opinion piece in the form eg of a blog or newspaper article

Reading and References

There is no single textbook for this course.

Students will be required to read and communicate the findings from research papers and will be offered a range of papers to choose from.

A reading list will also contain useful information and guides for how to communicate. The following are illustrative of the type of materials:

https://www.communicatingeconomics.com

Blastland, M. and Dilnot, A. (2007) The Tiger that Isn’t: Seeing Through a World of Numbers

McCloskey, D (2019): Economical Writing, third edition

Rodrik, D. (2015) Economics rules

Fourcade, M., Ollion, E. and Y. Algan (2015) The superiority of economists, Journal of Economic Perspectives

https://mainlymacro.blogspot.com/

https://www2.deloitte.com/tl/en/pages/finance/articles/weekly-economicbriefing.