| Course Name | Regional Economics |
| Code | Semester | Theory (hour/week) | Application/Lab (hour/week) | Local Credits | ECTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ECON 315 | Fall/Spring | 3 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| Prerequisites |
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| Course Language | English | |||||||||||
| Course Type | Elective | |||||||||||
| Course Level | First Cycle | |||||||||||
| Mode of Delivery | - | |||||||||||
| Teaching Methods and Techniques of the Course | ||||||||||||
| Course Coordinator | ||||||||||||
| Course Lecturer(s) | ||||||||||||
| Assistant(s) | - | |||||||||||
| Course Objectives | The main objective of the course is to introduce students to the field of Urban and Regional Economics. The field of urban economics addresses a wide variety of questions and topics. At the most general level, the field introduces space into economic models and studies the location of economic activity. At its core, it is the study of economic activity in physical space and it focuses on the location choices of both producers and consumers. The course will cover standard concepts, techniques and models developed to study the spatial and locational aspects of economic activity and firm behavior. The course’s emphasis, however, will be on recent theoretical advances and empirical research particularly what has come to be known as the “new economic geography” (which in turn was the offspring of the “new economic growth theory”). |
| Learning Outcomes | The students who succeeded in this course;
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| Course Description | Regional and Urban economics typically addresses four sets of questions, and this course is organized around these four areas. The first set of questions focuses on the development of urban areas. Why do cities exist and why do some grow more rapidly? How can local governments encourage such growth? The second set of questions addresses patterns of development within metropolitan areas. Why do certain parts of metropolitan areas grow more rapidly than others? How do firms and households decide where to locate within given metropolitan areas? What determines the price of land, and how do these prices vary across space? The third set of questions concerns the spatial dimensions of urban problems. In this category urban poverty, housing, and innercity economic problems will be analyzed. Finally, in the last part of the class, we will briefly study the spatial aspects of local government policy and explore the interrelationships between city and suburban governments. The students will also be introduced to regional economic modeling. |
| Related Sustainable Development Goals | |
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| Core Courses | |
| Major Area Courses | ||
| Supportive Courses | X | |
| Media and Managment Skills Courses | ||
| Transferable Skill Courses |
| Week | Subjects | Required Materials |
| 1 | Basic concepts and axioms of urban economics | |
| 2 | Introduction to urban and regional economics: Alternative approaches of geographical economics. | |
| 3 | Comparative advantages and theory of externaleconomies. | |
| 4 | Theory of agglomeration economies. | |
| 5 | Why Do Cities Exist? | |
| 6 | Location decisions of market oriented firms and resource oriented firms. | |
| 7 | Why do firms cluster? | |
| 8 | Localization economies vs urbanization economies. | |
| 9 | City size: Specialized and diverse cities. | |
| 10 | Urban growth | |
| 11 | Where Do Cities Develop? Business Location | |
| 12 | Land Use and Location Theory | |
| 13 | The Contemporary City and Suburbanization/Sprawl | |
| 14 | Urban and Regional Economic Policy Analysis. | |
| 15 | Review of the Semester | |
| 16 | Review of the Semester |
| Course Notes/Textbooks | O’Sullivan, Arthur, Urban Economics (Seventh Edition). McGraw Hill, 2008. |
| Suggested Readings/Materials | Phillip McCann: Urban and Regional Economics . Oxford University Pres, 2001. |
| Semester Activities | Number | Weigthing |
| Participation | 16 | 10 |
| Laboratory / Application | ||
| Field Work | ||
| Quizzes / Studio Critiques | ||
| Portfolio | ||
| Homework / Assignments | ||
| Presentation / Jury | 1 | 20 |
| Project | ||
| Seminar / Workshop | ||
| Oral Exam | ||
| Midterm | 1 | 30 |
| Final Exam | 1 | 40 |
| Total |
| Weighting of Semester Activities on the Final Grade | 60 | |
| Weighting of End-of-Semester Activities on the Final Grade | 40 | |
| Total |
| Semester Activities | Number | Duration (Hours) | Workload |
|---|---|---|---|
| Course Hours (Including exam week: 16 x total hours) | 16 | 3 | 48 |
| Laboratory / Application Hours (Including exam week: 16 x total hours) | 16 | ||
| Study Hours Out of Class | 16 | 2 | 32 |
| Field Work | |||
| Quizzes / Studio Critiques | |||
| Portfolio | |||
| Homework / Assignments | |||
| Presentation / Jury | 1 | 2 | |
| Project | |||
| Seminar / Workshop | |||
| Oral Exam | |||
| Midterms | 1 | 12 | |
| Final Exams | 1 | 12 | |
| Total | 106 |
| # | Program Competencies/Outcomes | * Contribution Level | ||||
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 1 | To be able to acquire a sound knowledge of fundamental concepts, theories, principles and methods of investigation specific to the economic field. | X | ||||
| 2 | To be able to apply adequate mathematical, econometric, statistical and data analysis models to process economic data and to implement scientific research for development of economic policies. | X | ||||
| 3 | To be able to participate in academic, professional, regional, and global networks and to utilize these networks efficiently. | X | ||||
| 4 | To be able to have adequate social responsibility with regards to the needs of the society and to organize the activities to influence social dynamics in line with social goals. | X | ||||
| 5 | To be able to integrate the knowledge and training acquired during the university education with personal education and produce a synthesis of knowledge one requires. | |||||
| 6 | To be able to evaluate his/her advance level educational needs and do necessary planning to fulfill those needs through the acquired capability to think analytically and critically. | X | ||||
| 7 | To be able to acquire necessary skills to integrate social dynamics into economic process both as an input and an output. | |||||
| 8 | To be able to link accumulated knowledge acquired during the university education with historical and cultural qualities of the society and be able to convey it to different strata of society. | X | ||||
| 9 | To be able to take the responsibility as an individual and as a team member. | X | ||||
| 10 | To be able to attain social, scientific and ethical values at the data collection, interpretation and dissemination stages of economic analysis. | X | ||||
| 11 | To be able to collect data in economics and communicate with colleagues in a foreign language ("European Language Portfolio Global Scale", Level B1) | |||||
| 12 | To be able to speak a second foreign at a medium level of fluency efficiently. | |||||
| 13 | To be able to relate the knowledge accumulated throughout human history to their field of economics. | |||||
*1 Lowest, 2 Low, 3 Average, 4 High, 5 Highest
