Introduce economic reasoning relevant to public expenditure and development. Examine opportunity costs, public goods and the trade-offs surrounding defence resources.

Learning outcomes

  • Explain the economic rationale for public spending.
  • Interpret basic economic indicators.
  • Compare expenditure choices using explicit assumptions.

Main topics

  • Scarcity and opportunity cost
  • Public goods
  • Development indicators
  • Public expenditure

Practical task

Compare two fictional public-budget allocations and discuss their distributional consequences.

Assessment

Budget commentary and an applied economics test.