Syllabus¶

Course Information¶


Course Code	ECON123
Course Title	Ideas in Economics (Doing Economics)
Credits	2
Level	100
L + T + P	2 + 0 + 0
Prerequisites	None
Version	1
Last Revised	March 2025

Course Description¶

Economics is a way of understanding the world. This course uses films as a gateway to introduce fundamental economic concepts. Through movie analysis and Nobel Prize-winning research, students explore market behavior, incentives, labor dynamics, development, and policy. The course also serves as a foundation for further study in microeconomics and macroeconomics.

Course Objectives¶

Introduce core economic concepts through accessible, real-world narratives drawn from cinema, enabling students to connect abstract ideas to concrete situations.
Develop economic reasoning skills by analyzing trade-offs, incentives, market behavior, and strategic interactions as depicted in feature films.
Expose students to landmark economic research by pairing each module with the work of a Nobel Prize-winning economist, grounding film-based discussions in rigorous scholarship.
Apply economic thinking to the Indian context, helping students understand how concepts like informality, public goods, labor markets, and development policy operate in India's economic landscape.

Expected Learning Outcomes¶

Upon completing this course, students will be able to:

#	Learning Outcome	REM	UND	APP	ANA	EVA	CRE
1	Identify and explain foundational economic concepts such as scarcity, opportunity cost, supply and demand, market equilibrium, and externalities.	H	H	M	L	--	--
2	Analyze economic behavior and institutional dynamics as portrayed in feature films, connecting narrative elements to formal economic reasoning.	--	M	H	H	M	--
3	Evaluate the contributions of Nobel Prize-winning economists and relate their research to real-world economic phenomena and policy debates.	--	M	M	H	H	L
4	Apply economic frameworks to understand contemporary issues in the Indian economy, including informality, labor markets, poverty, and environmental challenges.	--	L	H	H	M	M

REM = Remember, UND = Understand, APP = Apply, ANA = Analyze, EVA = Evaluate, CRE = Create. H = High, M = Medium, L = Low, -- = Not applicable.

List of Topics¶

Module	Topic	Hours	Film	Nobel Focus
1	Understanding Economic Thinking	3	The Big Short (2015)	Richard Thaler
2	Incentives and Human Behavior	3	A Beautiful Mind (2001)	John Nash
3	Market Dynamics and Labor Markets	3	Margin Call (2011)	Paul Krugman
4	Poverty, Inequality, and Development	3	Slumdog Millionaire (2008)	Esther Duflo & Abhijit Banerjee
5	Innovation, Technology, and Growth	3	Moneyball (2011)	Robert Solow
6	Environmental and Public Economics	3	Erin Brockovich (2000)	Elinor Ostrom

Total contact hours: 18

Assessment Plan¶

Component	Weight	Description
End-Term Empirical Project	40%	A group empirical project applying economic concepts from the course to a real-world question, with data analysis and a written report.
Mid-Term Examination	30%	Written examination covering Modules 1--3, including conceptual questions, short-answer problems, and film-based analysis.
Problem Sets	20%	Four to five problem sets distributed across the semester, requiring application of economic reasoning to scenarios, data, and film content.
Participation	10%	Active engagement in classroom discussions, film screenings, and in-class activities.

Suggested Pedagogy¶

This course adopts an interactive, film-based pedagogical approach. Each module begins with a feature film screening (or assigned viewing) that introduces students to the module's economic themes through narrative. Classroom sessions then unpack the economic concepts embedded in the film, using guided discussion, worked examples, and short problem-solving exercises.

Nobel Prize-winning research is woven into each module to connect popular narratives with frontier scholarship. Interactive browser-based simulations allow students to experiment with economic models --- supply and demand, externalities, game theory --- in real time. Indian Context essays and case studies ground the material in the local economic environment, ensuring relevance beyond the textbook.

The assessment design emphasizes progressive engagement: problem sets build analytical skills throughout the semester, the mid-term tests conceptual mastery of the first half, and the end-term empirical project requires students to synthesize the full course into an original, evidence-based analysis.