1. PURPOSE OF THE PROGRAMME

The programme aims to develop the sound conceptual, technical, analytical and communication skills that are required to succeed in the Economics profession. Students will be expected to exercise their analytical abilities and develop effective verbal and written communication skills.

 

2. ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

To qualify for entry into the Master of Commerce Economics degree programme a student should have an honours degree in Economics, Agricultural Economics, Banking & Finance, Fiscal Studies or a related field.

3. PROGRAMME CHARACTERISTICS

Areas of study: Microeconomics, macroeconomics, mathematics and statistics, econometrics, trade, monetary economics, public sector, agriculture, ecology and environmental issues and industry.

Specialist Focus: Economics

Orientation: Research and innovation oriented. Teaching and learning are professionally oriented and focused on practical aspects.

Distinctive Features: The programme builds the research-technology-innovation continuum and focuses on knowledge development and application using a student-centred approach.

4. CAREER OPPORTUNITIES AND FURTHER EDUCATION

Graduates can be absorbed in the following organizations and areas; Financial institutions, Government Departments, Parastatals, private sector firms, non-governmental organizations, regional and international organizations, institutions of higher learning, and consultancy firms among others.

Holders of the Master of Commerce in Economics Degree are eligible for Doctoral studies in specialised areas of Economics.

 

5. PROGRAMME DELIVERY

1. Teaching and Learning Methods: Lectures, tutorials, seminars, group-work, colloquiums, research projects and individual independent study.
2. Assessment Methods: Written and oral examinations, tests, term papers, seminar presentations, final year research project report, continuous assessments.
3. LEARNING OUTCOMES

On completion of the programme, a graduate will be able to:

• Critically evaluate economic policies.
• Come up with innovative solutions to economic problems.
• Undertake economic research and other tasks in economics with minimal monitoring and supervision.
• Supervise others in conducting economics and related research.

2. GENERAL PROVISIONS

Refer to faculty and general regulations.

3. PROGRAMME ASSESSMENT

8.1 Evaluation of students shall normally be based on continuous assessment as well as formal university examinations that are held at the end of each semester.

8.2 Continuous Assessment will account for 40% of the overall assessment. No continuous assessment shall be carried over to the next semester.

8.3 Final examination accounts for 60% of the overall assessment.

8.4 The department shall determine which items will be included in the continuous assessment and shall define the relevant weighting to each item.

8.5 To be admitted to the examinations, a candidate must;

8.5.1 be a registered student of the University in accordance with the General Regulations

8.5.2 have satisfactorily attended and completed the approved modules of study.  Completion of modules shall require submission of all written assignments and tests that constitute the continuous assessment.

8.5.3 have attended and participated in seminars, tutorials and practical classes, presentations and other activities as required by the Department.

8.5.4 Candidates shall be informed in advance of the deadline of submission of dissertation or project. Unless the Academic Board has granted prior permission for an extension of this deadline any candidate who fails to meet this submission deadline shall normally fail the dissertation or project. In such cases, on the recommendation of the Examiners, candidates may be permitted to resubmit the dissertation or project at a later date, normally within three months of the original submission deadline. Unless otherwise determined by Senate, the maximum mark allowed for such work should be 50%.

4. PROVISION FOR PROGRESSION

Refer to section 6 of the Faculty Regulations.

5. FAILURE TO SATISFY EXAMINERS

Refer to Section 9 of the General Academic Regulations.

6. GRADING AND DEGREE CLASSIFICATION

Refer to section 12 of the general regulations.

7. DEGREE WEIGHTING

Refer to section 13 of the faculty regulations.

8. AWARD OF DEGREE

Refer to section 13 of the general regulations.

 

Level 1 Semester 1

Code	Module Description	Credits
MECO737	Advanced International Economics	18
MECO731	Advanced Microeconomic Analysis	18
MECO732	Advanced Mathematics for Economists	18
MECO735	Investment Analysis & Corporate Finance	18
MECO734	Advanced Monetary Economics	18

Level 1 Semester 2

Code	Module Description	Credits
MECO733	Advanced Public Finance	18
MECO739	Advanced Macroeconomic Analysis	18
MECO740	Environmental & Ecological Economics	18
MECO736	Advanced Econometrics	18
MECO738	Health Economics	18

Level 2 Semester 1

Code	Module Description	Prerequisites	Credits
MECO831	Agricultural Economic Policy		18

Electives (choose any one module):

Code	Module Description	Credits
MECO832	Mineral Economics	18
MECO833	Contemporary Issues in Economic Development	18

Code	Module Description	Credits
MECO845	Dissertation/Research Project	90

Electives (choose any one module):

Code	Module Description	Credits
MECO834	Real Estate Economics	18
MECO835	Regional Economics	18

MODULE SYNOPSES

MECO731 Advanced Microeconomic Analysis

The module emphasizes topics such as choice under uncertainty, economics of information, game theory, general equilibrium analysis, and welfare economics. Emphasis will be on application of microeconomics in analysing real-world problems.

MECO732 Advanced Mathematics for Economists

The module enriches students with some economic insights, intuitions and rudimentary understanding of Economics. It allows the students to master beforehand the relevant mathematical tools. This requires the student to command elementary algebra. The module extensively reviews elementary algebra and also treats a number of other rather elementary topics. It also covers calculus for functions, multivariable optimization problems, linear programming, difference and differential equations and optimal control theory.

  MECO733 Advanced Public Finance

The module takes an in-depth analysis of the following issues: public goods and externalities, political economy/ public choice, tax theory, taxes and efficiency, equitable taxation, Zimbabwean tax system.

MECO734 Advanced Monetary Economics

This module presents a comprehensive overview of the pertinent issued in advanced monetary economics. It enables students to acquire sufficient knowledge of monetary theory and policy. It focuses on the dynamic relationships that exist between monetary aggregates and the macro-economy. Topics covered include money in models of economic growth, money supply functions, portfolio choice, and money in the open economy, central banking and monetary policy.

MECO739 Advanced Macroeconomic Analysis

The module explores recent developments in macroeconomic theory and relationships to economic policy. It covers the modern interpretations of Keynes, overlapping generations models adopting the dynamic and general equilibrium analysis. The issues of gap models, IMF model, World Bank Model, neoclassical growth theories and endogenous growth theories are also covered. The content also extends to business cycle theories, global economic crises, open economy analysis, balance of payments approaches and theories of exchange rate determination as well as currency crises.

MECO736 Advanced Econometrics

The module covers important tools in modern econometrics and economic statistics, including topics in applied econometric time series, and topics concerning discrete and limited dependent variable analysis. It also covers modern econometric techniques that are frequently used in applied macroeconomic research and practical application of econometric methods to the analysis of real-world data using statistical packages such as E-views and Stata.

MECO737 Advanced International Economics

This module takes a theoretical and empirical approach to the study of international trade and investment. It focuses on core trade theories and empirical applications based on these theories. Furthermore, it dwells on recent theories that focus on the firm’s decision to export and the role of heterogeneity in firm productivity on patterns of trade. Other topics will focus on multinational activity and investment abroad, including different types of foreign direct investment. The focus will also be on institutional frictions and their effects on patterns of trade and investment.

MECO738 Health Economics

The module covers the following topics: demand and supply of health services, systems of health care delivery, health care financing, health policy and planning, health sector reforms, and economics of disease.

MECO735 Investment Analysis & Corporate Finance

The module focuses on advanced theoretical and empirical aspects of corporate financial management and capital market behaviour. It provides students with techniques for evaluating investments from both the perspectives of individual assets as well as portfolios. Techniques for investment analysis focus on maximising expected returns while minimising risk. Topics covered include modern portfolio theory, equilibrium capital models, capital budgeting, discounted cash flow valuation models, capital structure and dividend payout decisions.

MECO740 Ecological & Environmental Economics

Selected issues such as market failures, externalities, pollution control, preservation of natural resources, sustainable development, common property resources, global environmental and natural

resources, conservation of renewable and non-renewable resources; and evaluation techniques.

MECO831 Agricultural Economic Policy

The module aims to develop the skill to critically analyse and evaluate agricultural policy to understand the origin of current agricultural policy issues. Areas to be covered in this module include: policy setting, problems of food and agriculture policy process, particular interest groups (pigs), role of trade and macroeconomics on agriculture, the farm problem, historic farm programs, structure of agriculture resource policy food price policy nutrition, food safety, and quality rural development.

MECO832 Mineral Economics

The module is expected to cover the following aspects of mineral economics; environmental impact of mining, resource curse, mining project evaluation criteria, mine taxation, ore reserve estimation, Zimbabwe mining policy, sustainable extraction of mineral resources, and market for minerals which include the competitive and monopoly markets, contribution of mining to economic growth, the welfare implications of mining among others.

MECO833 Contemporary Issues in Economic Development

The module aims to provide a thorough review and critical assessment of contemporary issues in economic development, covering the main analytical approaches, empirical evidence and policy issues in development economics. Topics to be covered include an overview of contemporary issues in economic development, the Growth-Inequality-Poverty triangle, rural development; rural-urban migration, industrialization and urban labour market informality; and population issues (demographic trends and human capital development).

MECO834 Real Estate Economics

This module focuses on urban economic processes, price determination in land and real property markets, and their interrelation with investment markets and portfolio choice, as well as the impact of land use regulations, transport, public policy and socio-economic change. It also covers the main tools and concepts of real estate economics, in particular that of housing economics, models addressing central topics within real estate economics, such as real estate in the wider economy (internationally and nationally) and the relationship between the property and capital markets.

MECO835 Regional Economics

The module looks at the regional economy & the regional level of economic activity, the impact of economic policy on the regions, the concepts of convergence, divergence & regional growth, methods in regional economics and in particular for analysing the impact of economic activity on the regional economy, the impact of innovation and research and development on regional development and an effective regional policy.

MECO845 Dissertation/Research project

The programme has the dissertation as an integral component where students are expected to use analytical methodology in handling a topic in any of the chosen fields of economics. Students are required to defend their dissertations in a viva voce. The final mark for the dissertation is composed of the viva voce and the mark awarded for the submitted dissertation. The length of the dissertation should not be less than 15000 words (excluding preliminary pages and appendices). The dissertation runs for both quarters but will only be graded in the last quarter of the final semester.