Content (Syllabus outline)
- Basic economic principles: Principles of decision making in economics, the characteristics of economic research, the fundamental concepts of economics (micro-and macroeconomics).
- Production factors in agriculture and their use - use of the marginality principle: characteristics of production factors in agriculture (land, labour, capital, management), the problem of allocating production factors - the use of marginality principle, an introduction to the theory of costs, determination of optimum output, the principle of short and long terms in economics.
- The benefits of trade: The theory of opportunity cost, the principle of absolute and comparative advantages, the benefits of specialization and trade.
- Operation of Markets: Supply, demand, market equilibrium, supply and demand factors; illustration of the general laws of supply and demand with examples of agribusiness.
- The coefficients of elasticity and their application. market balance and ways of changing it; comparative statics.
- The dynamics of prices in agriculture: Short-term, seasonal and cyclical fluctuations, long-term trends in prices of agricultural and food products.
- Agricultural markets in the real world: Assumptions of perfect competitive markets, market failures, the most common market failures in agriculture, (i) imperfect competitive market structure in agriculture, (ii) externalities and public goods in agriculture, (iii) 'inequality' and 'injustice' ; motives and opportunities of governmental engagement in agriculture and agricultural markets.
Prerequisites
Prerequisites for the inclusion in the work:
Enrolment in the corresponding year of study programme.
Prerequisites for performing study obligations:
Positively assessed tutorial exam (colloquium) is a prerequisite for the final examination.