Module manager: Eric Kemp-Benedict
Email: E.J.Kemp-Benedict@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable
Year running 2025/26
| LUBS5101M | Macroeconomics |
This module is not approved as an Elective
In this module you will extend your knowledge of macroeconomic theory to incorporate key ecological economic concepts, including material and energy throughput, thermodynamic constraints, energy return on energy investment (EROI); society-economy links including income distribution and provisioning systems; the relationship between money and the environment; and post-growth economics, including the steady-state economy and degrowth.
Through a series of lectures, interactive seminars, and individual work, this module prepares students to apply methods of ecological macroeconomics. Applications range from ‘big’ questions around long-run sustainability pathways down to practical policy questions that must be addressed in the near term.
On successful completion of the module, students will have demonstrated the following subject-specific learning outcomes:
SSLO1: Critically appraise the core concepts that underlie ecological macroeconomics, including the biophysical basis of the economy, the importance of institutions, and the relationship between monetary quantities and the physical world.
SSLO2: Apply the macroeconomic framework presented in class to analyses that integrate biophysical and economic processes.
SSLO3: Explain how social norms and institutions can shape the behavioural rules that inform the analysis.
SSLO4: Apply ecological macroeconomic concepts and analysis to real-world challenges, such as the energy transition, climate mitigation, and sustainable resource use.
Skills Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following skills learning outcomes:
SKLO1: Problem solving and analytical skills (Work Ready): Take a logical analytical approach to solving problems in ecological macroeconomics; understand, interpret, analyse, and manipulate numerical data.
SKLO2: Systems thinking (Sustainability): Analyse complex systems (environmental, economic, and social systems and interdependencies across these) in the context of sustainable development problems, considering how systems are embedded within different domains and scales.
SKLO3: Anticipatory/future thinking (Sustainability): Apply scenario approaches to explore and evaluate alternative futures; assess the consequences of actions while taking account of risks, uncertainty, and change.
SKLO4: Critical thinking (Sustainability): Take and defend a position in the sustainable development discourse; apply evidence-based decision-making, including reframing problems in macroeconomic policy.
Details of the syllabus will be provided on the Minerva organisation (or equivalent) for the module
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lecture | 10 | 1 | 10 |
| Seminar | 10 | 1.5 | 15 |
| Private study hours | 125 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 25 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 150 | ||
Formative assessment will be applied in seminars and online. It will include self-marking and peer-marking to ensure understanding over the course of the module.
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Coursework | Online Time-Limited Assessment | 100 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100 | |
Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated
The reading list is available from the Library website
Last updated: 29/04/2025
Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team