There are two broad areas within Economics: Firstly, Microeconomics looks at the choices and behaviour of different economic agents such as consumers and firms and how they respond to incentives, including ways in which governments can alter those incentives to change behaviour. Secondly, Macroeconomics looks at many of the big issues that dominate news coverage of economics such as the threat of recession and rising unemployment, the drive for greater economic growth, or the impact of the rising cost of living. Economics offers you the opportunity to try to make sense of the factors that shape many aspects of our daily lives, from the price of the goods we buy, the taxes we pay, and the jobs that we do, to trends in globalisation and international trade. We’ll look at the ideas of great thinkers (both historic and contemporary) and seek to apply them to real events from the past, present and future.