UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS
Postgraduate Diploma (PGD) Programme in Economics
Philosophy
In keeping with the goals of the University of Nigeria and in line with the Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) minimum benchmark for Postgraduate programmes in Economics, the postgraduate Diploma programme run by the Department of Economics has been redesigned to provide basic training for students coming from other disciplines to meet the challenges of higher degrees and research in Economics.
Objectives
The main objective of the PDG programme in Economics is to prepare students for advancement to a higher degree programme in Economics. More specifically, the PGD programme aims:
- To provide basic training for candidates coming from other disciplines who want to enroll in the master’s and PhD programmes in Economics
- To provide basic training for students who want to hold PDG certificate in economics to be able to understand the basic theories and quantitative tools of economic analysis.
Job Opportunities
- Holders of PDG programme in economics have good job opportunities in all sectors of the economy especially now that economics has become very prominent in all aspect of administrative activities of both the public and the private sectors of the economy.
- PDG diploma offers one tremendous job opportunities in the Colleges of Education, the Polytechnics, the Financial Sector and Government economic services.
Admission Requirements
The criteria for admission into any Post Graduate Diploma programme in Economics are as follows:
- Candidates must have five credit passes including English Language and Mathematics at O’level
- Candidates with Bachelors Degree of not less than 3rd class honor degree from an approved university
- Candidates with HND and/or professional qualifications cognate to Economics from recognized institution with not less than upper credit.
Mode of Study
The PDG programme is run only on full time basis.
Duration of the programme
A full time PGD programme shall run for a minimum of two (2) semesters and a maximum of four (4) semesters. Requirement for Graduation
A candidate must have fulfilled the following conditions to be awarded a Post Graduate Diploma in Economics
- Registered and passed a minimum of 30 credit units of both compulsory and elective courses as follows:
- Compulsory courses 15
- Electives 9
- Project 6
Total 30
- Carry out and submit research project relevant to the area of specialization based on an approved topic by the Department and the Board of School of Postgraduate Studies within the stipulated period for graduation.
Courses shall include:
- Advanced principles of Economics 3 units
- Computer Application 3 units
- Mathematics for Economists 3 units
- I core course Reflecting the Orientation of the PDG 3 units
- Seminars 3 units
- Elective courses reflecting students area of specialization 9 units
- Project 6 units
Total 30 units
Domiciliation of the Programme
The PGD programme shall be domiciled in the Department of Economics and Faculty of the social sciences.
Students Enrolment
This shall not be more than 40% of the Postgraduate for academic Master’s programme of the Department and shall be subject to the carrying capacity of the Department.
External Examiner System
The external examiner shall be used at the end of the PGD programme to assess the courses and projects. The external examiner must be a senior lecturer and above with a PhD in the discipline.
The project shall be subject to oral examination where the student is required to show evidence that he/she carried out the work and had pertinent knowledge of the subject matter. A score shall be awarded at the end of the examination.
List of Supervisors:
- Professor Cletus Chike Agu, B.Sc, M.Sc (Ibadan), PhD (Wales). Area of Specialisation: Monetary Economics.
- Professor Stella Ifeoma Madueme, B.Sc, B.Ed, M.Ed, M.Sc, Ph.D, Ph.D (Nigeria). Area of Specialisation: Economic Development
- Professor Hyacinth Ementa Ichoku, B.Sc , M.Sc (Nigeria), M.Sc, Ph.D (Cape Town). Areas of specialization: Health and Development Finance
- Professor Osita Ogbu, B.Sc (Nigeria), M.Sc., PhD (Howard). Area of Specialisation:
- Dr. Ezebuilo Romanus Ukwueze, B.Sc (Hons), M.Sc., PhD (Nigeria). Area of Specialization:
Development Economics
- Dr. Jude Okechukwu Chukwu, B.Sc (Hons), M.Sc., PhD (Nigeria). Area of Specialisation:
Development Economics
- Dr. Uche M. Ozughalu, B.Sc (Nigeria), M.Sc, PhD (Ibadan). Area of Specialisation: Development Economics.
- Dr. Emmanuel Onnyeanunam Nwosu, B.Sc (First Class Hons), M.Sc., (Nigeria), M.A. (Tsukuba), PhD (Nigeria). Areas of Specialisation: Development Microeconomics, and Microeconometrics,.
- Dr. Anthony Orji, B.Sc (Hons), M.Sc., PhD (Nigeria). Area of Specialisation: Finance and Development
- Dr. Kojo Edeme, B.Sc., M.Sc (Deltsu), PhD (Nigeria). Area of Specialisation: Public Finance.
- Dr. Nathaniel Emeka Urama, B.Sc. (First Class Hons), M.Sc, Ph.D (Nigeria).
Area of Specialisation: Macroeconomics
LIST OF COURSES: For PGD, the list includes
Compulsory Courses credit units
Eco. 0501 – Advanced Microeconomic Theory & Policy 3
” 0502 – Advanced Macroeconomic Theory & Policy 3
” 0505 – Research Methods 3
” 0503 – Economic Statistics 3
” 0506 – Econometrics 3
Elective Courses
” 0511 – Problems and Policies of Development 3
” 0521 – Monetary Theory and Policy 3
” 0532 – International Economics 3
” 0541 – Public Finance 3
” 0561 – Comparative Economic Systems 3
” 0571 – Mathematics for Economists 3
” 0533—Computer Applications 3
” 0562—Financial Aspects of Development 3
“ 0591—Postgraduate Seminars 3
SEMESTER DISTRIBUTION OF COURSES AND COURSE UNITS: COURSEWORK AND PROJECT REPORT FOR PGD
| First Semester | Second Semester | ||
| Course | Credit Units | Course | Credit Units |
| 1. Eco 0501: Advanced Microeconomic Theory and Policy |
3 |
1. Eco 0502: Advanced Macroeconomic theory and Policy |
3 |
| 2. Eco 0505: Research Methods | 3 | 2. Eco 0506: Econometrics | 3 |
| 3. Eco 0503: Economic Statistics | 3 | 3. Elective | 3 |
| 4. Elective | 3 | 4. Eco 0592: Project | 6 |
| 5. Elective | 3 | ||
| Total | 15 | Total | 15 |
COURSE CONTENTS FOR PDG PRORAMME
ECO. 0501 MICROECONOMIC THEORY AND POLICY (3 UNITS)
Fundamental quantitative relationships; General equilibrium and disequilibrium; dynamic equilibrium analysis; Production functions: duopoly, oligopoly; bilateral monopoly and monopsony. Theories of determination of wages, rent, interest and profit; Optimization in theories of consumption and production. Economic efficiency; and equity; externalities; social and private costs. Pareto optimum; social welfare functions. Policy applications of microeconomic theories.
ECO. 0502 MACROECONOMIC THEORY AND POLICY I (3 UNITS)
Revision of income determination from simple closed economy to a four-sector economy; Detailed theories of consumption and investment functions; The classical and Keynesian theories, the theory of inflation; Business cycles and forecasting; The relation of these issues to leading problems in public policy; The rationale for the existence of the public sector, formulation of national economic policy; Planning principles and analysis; Policy objectives, instruments and implementation; Balance of payments equilibrium and disequilibrium; balance of payments adjustment mechanism; devaluation, contemporary issues in public policy in Nigeria.
ECO. 0505 RESEARCH METHODS (3 UNITS)
The objective of this course is to equip students with adequate knowledge and skills in the following aspects of Research methodology the philosophy of economic research; identification of researchable problems and the development of hypotheses or research questions. The course will also involve a detailed treatment of the methods and problems of collecting relevant research data, the format for presenting research results (i.e. from designing the table of contents to footnoting; referencing bibliography). Also to be covered are the various methods of establishing relationships between economic variables; basic elements of model building in economics; application of multivariate analysis, correlation and discriminant analysis; tests of causality (e.g. Sims-Granger tests, (Chow tests and sensitivity and stability of economic models) as well as analysis of variance. Chisquare tests, etc. students will be required to write a seminar paper in this course.
ECO.0503 ECONOMIC STATISTICS (3 UNITS)
Sampling and sampling distributions; Estimation; Tests of hypotheses; Extension of Regression analysis (simple and multiple) and all the statistical tests of significance; Basic sampling and surveys; Growth surveys extensions of the analysis of variance; Chi-square.
ECO.0506 ECONOMETRICS (3 UNITS)
Definition and scope of econometrics, stages of econometric research. Regression analysis (Simple and multiple) and the statistical tests of significance. Econometric problems (heteroscedasticity, autocorrelation, multicollinearity): their causes, detection, consequences and correction. Basic ideas of the identification problem, dummy variables, and distributed lags. Simultaneous equation estimation methods (2, SLS, 3 SLS, etc); Matrix treatment of multiple regression; Advanced treatment of the simultaneous equation estimation techniques. Instrumental variables.
ECO.0511 PROBLEMS AND POLICIES OF DEVELOPMENT (3 UNITS)
Capital formation: Savings/capital accumulation. Various Income hypothesis: Implications for policy/saving: Institutional problems: land tenure system: Structural rigidities. Leadership style: Poverty and Income distribution, inequalities of power, prestige, status, political and economic participation in decision-making: population problem: Problems of food scarcity, housing, health/educational systems. Policy options to deal with these problems should be discussed.
ECO.0521 MONETARY THEORY AND POLICY (3UNITS)
Role of money in the economy, money and net wealth, the demand for and supply of money under equilibrium and disequilibrium conditions, the monetary approach to the balance of payments, high powered money, monetary policy, international monetary policy.
ECO. 0532 INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS (3UNITS)
Theories of international trade: Comparative advantage and factor proportions theories; alternative theories; static and dynamic gains from trade. Trade protection: free trade and restricted trade; tariffs and domestic protection. Theories of economic integration; International and regional trade organization; Balance of payments; the adjustment mechanisms; the foreign exchange market and balance of payment policies; fixed and flexible exchange rates. Exchange control and convertibility; international liquidity and the international monetary system. Foreign aid and capital flows.
ECO.0541 TAXATION AND FISCAL POLICY (3 UNITS)
Rationale for the existence of the public sector; Taxation: the theory of taxation; taxation and tax incidence, welfare costs of taxation. Negative income tax. The Nigerian tax system with respect to personal income tax, import duties, excise and sales taxes. Fiscal policy- elements of fiscal policy: taxation, expenditure, debt management and monetary control. Techniques of revenue estimating. Fiscal federalism. Financing the Nigerian federalism. Principles, effects and problems of debt financing and tax financing in Nigeria.
ECO.0571 MATHEMATICS FOR ECONOMISTS (3 UNITS)
Concept of Mathematical Economics, economic models, components of a mathematical model, types of functions, functions of who or more independent variables, equilibrium analysis in economics, linear models and matrix-algebra, concept of derivatives and economic application, optimization: equilibrium analysis, constrained optimization: Lagrange-multiplier method. Cobb Douglas function as a special case of the CES function, integrals and some economic applications, differential equations, simultaneous equations dynamic models, linear programming: Simplex method, input-output analysis and linear programming: Non-linear programming, game theory.
ECO.0561 COMPARATIVE ECONOMIC SYSTEMS (3 UNITS)
Marxian ideals of development, free market system, mixed marked economics; the Yogoslav, French, USSR, Japanese, Tanzania, Chinese, and Nigerian Experiences.
ECO.0562 FINANCIAL ASPECTS OF DEVELOPMENT (3 UNITS)
The financial constraint, sources of development finance-domestic services, domestic credit creation and limitations, governing surplus, foreign finance, the debt problem.