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Overview

Learning MethodsMajor FocusThe AC DifferenceCareer Outlook

Learning Methods

A variety of active learning methods are used in economics classes. Film, class discussion, and multi-media presentations help engage students in active learning.

Major Focus

Economics courses provide individuals with a logical and consistent framework for understanding basic concepts such as market equilibrium, social welfare and economic policies.

The AC Difference

Department of Economics at AC offers first- and second- year economics courses with which students can obtain an AA degree in Economics or transfer to other universities and colleges.

Career Outlook

Economics provides a strong insight into the economic and public policy environment in which virtually every profession, such as finance, journalism and health care, will be pursued.

Course Descriptions

Select a course below to see full descriptions. (#) Indicates amount of credits per course

ECON 100 Introduction to Economics

This introductory course examines a subset of economic ideas to broadly understand individual behaviors, market outcomes, and aggregate performance of the economy in a non-technical manner.

This course is strongly recommended to be taken prior to ECON 103 or ECON 105.

Prerequisite(s):

ENGL 098

Transfers to:

UBC ECON 1st (3), No credit with any prior or concurrent ECON credits
SFU ECON 1XX (3)
UVIC ECON 100 (1.5)
UNBC ECON 1XX (3)

ECON 103 Principles of Microeconomics (3)

Microeconomics is a particular branch of economics that exploits a model of behavior based on several principles of motivation, preferences, and technology. This introductory course introduces the principal elements of theory concerning utility and value, price and costs, factor analysis, productivity, labour organization, competition and monopoly, and the theory of the firm.

Prerequisite(s):

ENGL 098, ECON 100 or MATH 11 (B) or MATH 12 (C) or MATH 099 (C) or MATH 100 (P)

Transfers to:

UBC ECON 101 (3)
SFU ECON 103 (3), Q/B-Soc
UVIC ECON 103 (1.5)
UNBC ECON 100 (3)
TRU ECON 1900 (3)

ECON 105 Principles of Macroeconomics (3)

Principles of macroeconomics introduces macroeconomic theories and issues and how economic variables interact with one another. This introductory course covers topics such as the national product and income and how to measure it, the theory of income and employment determination, inflation, money, banking, and the Bank of Canada, interest rates and exchange rates, and fiscal and monetary policies.

Prerequisite(s):

ENGL 098, ECON 100 or MATH 11 (B) or MATH 12 (C) or MATH 099 (C) or MATH 100 (P)

Transfers to:

UBC ECON 102 (3)
SFU ECON 105 (3), Q/B-Soc
UVIC ECON 104 (1.5)
UNBC ECON 101 (3)
TRU ECON 1950 (3)

ECON 210 Money and Banking (3)

What is money? How are interest rates determined? Why do we need financial intermediaries? What caused the financial crisis? How is monetary policy conducted in Canada? This course provides answers to these questions. As an introduction to money, banking and financial markets, this course is aimed at giving students an overview of Canadian financial system and an understanding of the theory and practice of monetary policy.

Prerequisite(s):

ENGL 098, ECON 103 and ECON 105

Transfers to:

UBC ECON 2nd (3)
SFU ECON 2XX (3), Q
UVIC ECON 2XX (1.5)
UNBC ECON 2XX (3)
TRU ECON 2XXX (3)

ECON 255 Understanding Globalization (3)

This course examines social and economic implications of globalization for both rich and poor countries. Particular emphasis is given to the international flows of information, capital, labour and goods and recent trade issues around the world.

Prerequisite(s):

ENGL 098, ECON 103, ECON 105

Transfers to:

SFU ECON 2XX (3)
UNBC ECON 2XX (3)
TRU ECON 2XXX (3), Precludes credit for TRU ECON 3550 (3)

ECON 260 Environmental Economics (3)

Environmental economics explores the relationship between economic activity and the environment by examining causes, consequences and possible solutions to local and global environmental issues. Major topics include evaluation of market failures due to externalities and public goods, market and non-market regulation of environmental problems, and economic analysis of environmental problems such as water and air pollution and global climate change.

Prerequisite(s):

ENGL 098, ECON 103

Transfers to:

UBC ECON 2nd (3)
SFU ECON 260 (3), Q
UVIC ECON 2XX (1.5)
UNBC ECON 2XX (3)
TRU ECON 2XXX (3)

ECON 280 Introduction to Labour Economics (3)

An analysis of the microeconomic and macroeconomic aspects of labour markets and government policy options relating to labour markets. Institutional aspects and recent trends in the Canadian labour market, and labour market models that seek to explain the behaviour of labour market participants are examined. Policy analysis is studied with these models and is an important focus of the course.

Prerequisite(s):

ENGL 098, ECON 103 and ECON 105

Transfers to:

UBC ECON 2nd (3)
SFU BUEC 280 (3), Q
UVIC ECON 2XX (1.5)
UNBC ECON 2XX (3)
TRU ECON 2XXX (3)

ECON 290 Canadian Microeconomic Policy (3)

Canadian governments regularly implement policies targeted at specific markets and this intervention is justified on the basis that the targeted market would not achieve desired levels of performance on their own. Why do markets fail to automatically achieve efficient outcomes (i.e., what are market failures and why do they occur)? What government policies are used to correct for market failure? Are they effective? In this course students will learn to use tools developed in introductory economics to evaluate various microeconomic policies in a Canadian context.

Prerequisite(s):

ENGL 098, ECON 103 and ECON 105

Transfers to:

UBC ECON 210 (3)
SFU ECON 290 (3), Q
UVIC ECON 2XX (1.5)
UNBC ECON 2XX (3)
TRU ECON 2XXX (3)

ECON 291 Canadian Macroeconomic Policy (3)

A general survey of Canadian macroeconomic policy issues. Topics will include the costs of inflation and unemployment, monetary and fiscal policy, the effects of government debt and exchange rate policy.

Prerequisite(s):

ENGL 098, ECON 103 and ECON 105

Transfers to:

UBC ECON 211 (3)
SFU ECON 291 (3), Q
UVIC ECON 2XX (1.5)
UNBC ECON 2XX (3)
TRU ECON 2XXX (3)

ECON 295 Managerial Economics (3)

An intermediate economic theory class with a focus on market and business applications. Topics include an overview of price theory, demand and supply in output and input markets, production, and market structure, price and quantity regulations, multiple pricing strategies, collusion, economics of anti-trust, the organization of firms, and the economics of contracts.

Prerequisite(s):

ENGL 098, MATH 104, ECON 103, and ECON 105

Transfers to:

UBC COMM 295 (3)
SFU ECON 2XX (3) or BUS 2XX (3)
UVIC ECON 2XX (1.5)
UNBC ECON 2XX (3)
TRU ECON 3040 (3)

Faculty

Laurel Xiao (DBA, MA, BA Finance, BA Economics Law)

Department Head

Laurel Xiao (DBA, MA, BA Finance, BA Economics Law)

Department Head

Laurel Xiao holds a Doctorate of Business Administration degree in Marketing from Grenoble Ecole de Management.
She obtained her Master of Arts degree in Economics from Simon Fraser University after she got her Bachelor
of Arts degrees in Finance and Economic Law in China.

Laurel had worked in accounting and mortgage industries before she started to teach economics at Alexander College in January 2010.

She has taught a variety of first and second year economic courses at the college, including microeconomics, macroeconomics,
labour economics and environmental economics.

Pramod Khadka (BSc)

Instructor

Pramod Khadka (BSc)

Instructor

Pramod Khadka joined Alexander College in 2011. Since then, he has been teaching first-year courses as well as several second-year courses such as Money and Banking, Environmental Economics, and Canadian Macroeconomic Policy.

He received his undergraduate education from Bates College, Maine, USA and graduate education from Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA. Prior to joining Alexander College, he taught at Ajou University in South Korea for two years.

Azadeh Khoshaien (MA)

Instructor

Azadeh Khoshaien (MA)

Instructor

Azadeh Khoshaien received her M.A. in Economics from Simon Fraser University.

She has been teaching Economics at Alexander College since 2011.

Azadeh’s teaching areas are Principles of Microeconomics, Principles of Macroeconomics, Money and Banking, and Managerial Economics.

Tony Xiang (PhD, MA, BA)

Instructor

Tony Xiang (PhD, MA, BA)

Instructor

Tony Xiang has been teaching at Alexander College since 2011.

The courses that he teaches cover a wide range of fields including economic principles and policies, money and banking, labour markets, and managerial economics.

He obtained a PhD degree from Department of Economics at Simon Fraser University.

Vasyl (Basil) Golovetskyy (MA, Diploma in Physics and Mathematics)

Instructor

Vasyl (Basil) Golovetskyy (MA, Diploma in Physics and Mathematics)

Instructor

He has been teaching at Alexander College since 2012.

He teaches Economics, Business Economics, and Commerce.

He has his Diploma in Physics and Mathematics from Zhitomir Ivan Franko State University in Ukraine, Masters in Economics from Economics Education and Research Consortium, and PhD ABD (Economics) from Simon Fraser University in Burnaby , BC.

Shuhash Shimon (MA)

Instructor

Shuhash Shimon (MA)

Instructor

Shuhash Shimon joined Alexander College in 2018.

Since then he has been teaching mostly first year economics classes at the college.

Shuhash received his MA in Economics from Simon Fraser University and PhD (ABD) in Economics from the University of British Columbia.

Besides teaching at Alexander College, he is also a faculty member at Langara College, Vancouver.

Hamideh Shokoohian (MA)

Instructor

Hamideh Shokoohian (MA)

Instructor

Hamideh received her M.A. degree in economics from Simon Fraser University.

She also studied economics at Sharif University of Technology, Iran.

She has done research on applied microeconomics and econometrics. She enjoys teaching economics and interacting with students. She started her teaching career at Alexander College in fall 2018.

Andrei Balezin (MBA)

Instructor

Andrei Balezin (MBA)

Instructor

Andrei holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from Simon Fraser University, a Bachelor’s degree in Economics majoring in international accounting, audit, and financial control, and a graduate Diploma in Business Administration.

Andrei teaches in the areas of Economics, Accounting, Finance, Math, and Business Management at Alexander College, Vancouver Community College, and University Canada West.

Outside of College, Andrei is a senior commercial banker at the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), where he supports Canadian entrepreneurs through their growth journey by providing growth debt financing and advisory solutions. Prior to that, Andrei spent 10 years in South China and Hong Kong, where he worked in the areas of finance, business development, and client portfolio management.

Resources

UBC Vancouver School of Economics

SFU Department of Economics

Bank of Canada

Department of Finance Canada

Statistics Canada

Federal Reserve

US Department of Treasury

Canadian economy in numbers

Canadian economy in news

Financial markets

Useful Websites

Economics Online

Khan Academy

ThougtCo/Economics

tutor2u/Economics

Federal Reserve Education

The Economics network

American Economic Association

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