You are required to do reading in your practical time on Wednesday or
 Friday afternoons and also in your own time. The readings WILL BE
 examined.

 Week One:
 Basic concepts underlying economics: scarcity, choice, specialization,
 efficiency and opportunity costs.
 Models, scientific method, normative and positive economics
 Why agricultural economics.
 A brief history of agricultural development in Zimbabwe - Prof. Rukuni
 ASSIGNMENT: Read Rukuni and Eicher Chap. 2
         Read: Hill Chap 1 or any other introductory text to cover above
               topics.

 Week Two:
 The Agricultural Resource Base, Natural Regions and Farming Systems in
 Zimbabwe
 The Price Mechanism and the allocative system in a market economy
 ASSIGNMENT: Rukuni and Eicher Chap 3
         Read: Samuelson, P.A. Economics: An Introductory Analysis (Chap
               3 in 7th Edition)
               Price Setting and basic Supply and Demand
               (Hill pages 37-42 but not as clear as some other texts)

 Week Three:
 Demand, consumer utility and the factors which affect demand for
 agricultural commodities at both the individual and level market.
 Developing economies, characteristics, potential and constraints
 ASSIGNMENT: Hill pages 15-20 and 42-62
             Special Reserve: Readings on Development and Agriculture

 Week Four:
 Technology and Inputs. The Short and Long Run. The production
 function: one variable input.
 Total product, marginal product and average product. The Law of
 diminishing  marginal returns.
 The production function:  two variable
 Readings: Hill pg 120-135 inclusive

 Week Five:
 The longrun and returns to scale - increasing, constant and decreasing
 returns
 Readings: Hill pg 152-163
 Aggregate Suply and factors which affect supply using different
 Zimbabwe farm systems and major commodities as examples. Response to
 supply shifters and response to price.
 Readings: Hill pg 62-74

 Week Six:
 Competition, efficiency and markets.
 Zimbabwe's marketing Institutions
      Readings: Hill Chapter 4
                Rukuni and Eicher Chap 11 and part of Chap 3

 Week Seven:
 Intrasessional Exams.

Semester One - Part Two

 Week 8 (12-16 May):
 The macro-economy: The Circular Flow of Income, Measurement of Economic
 Output;
 The Multiplier; Inflation; Economic Growth
  Hill Chap 8 - pgs 231-240; 247-248; 253-262

 Weds. afternoon Compulsory attendance - 2-4 pm for Intrasessional Exam

 Week 9 (19-23 May):
 Comparative advantage and trade.
 Development, The Role of Agriculture in the Economy and Agricultural
 Development
 Hill Chap 9 - pgs 269 - 276.
 Readings on Special Reserve in Main Library:

 Ruttan, V. W.(1984), Models of Agricultural Development in Eicher,
  C.K. and J. M.
  Staatz Agricultural Development in the Third World. The Johns
      Hopkins University Press.

 Todaro, M. P. (1981). Economic Growth in Development in Economics for a
  Developing World. Chapters 7 and 8. Longman.

 Week 10 (26-30 May):
 Why governments intervene in agriculture - market failure, public
 goods, property rights and intergenerational equity - social and
 private efficiency - concepts only.
 Agricultural development in Zimbabwe and future options
             Rukuni and Eicher Chaps 1, 13, 23 and 27.
 HAND IN TERM PAPER on or Before 30th May 1997. There will be NO
 extensions.

 Week 11 (2-6 June):
 Equity, Employment, Food Security, Environmental and Gender issues with
 respect to Agriculture.
 Zimbabwean Agric Institutions and Policy - land, research, extension,
 credit etc.
  read: Rukuni and Eicher - Chaps 5, 10, 18 and 24
 Reading on Special Reserve in Main Library:
      Muir, K. (199S) The Role of toe hlarket in Promoting Growth and
      Equity

 Week 12 (9-13 June):
 Structural Adjustment - the reasons for it and the impacts on Zimbabwe
 Agriculture
 Rukuni and Eicher Chap 19 and the Muir paper referred to above
 Revision of basic production theory

 Week 13 (16-20 June):
 Review of economic concepts - Supply, Demand, Price Setting,
 Competition, Monopoly, Price Cycles and Price Intervention. Exam
 technique for the written essay section not
 covered in intrasessional.

 Week 14 (23-27 June):
 Revision and start of Exams on 27 June

 Week 15 (30 June - 4 July):
 Exams.
 

 SEMESTER 1 - SEMESTER PAPER

 Students are required to carry out research on one of the topics
 outlined below:

1. The role of markets and price in promoting growth and equity in
 Zimbabwe.
2. The-costs and benefits of different land reform policies: for
   Zimbabwe.
 3. The reasons or and against legalizing international trade in ivory
    products.
 4. Do people in the rural areas, including farmers, respond to price
    incentives in Zimbabwe?
 
 
 

You will need to go the main library and search for information on  your topic. You should then write an introduction giving a general background and decide what particular aspect you will concentrate on. Your introduction should give the objectives of your paper and some of the questions you will be trying to answer. (15%) due 25th April, 1997

You then need to carry out a detailed review of the literature and the theory and analyze the issue. You may want to include a descriptive or schematic model or a descriptive matrix, of the main issues and what the effects are, or you may prefer to just consider them in essay form. You will be judged for the wide range of the literature consulted; your  ability to abstract what is important from it; you understanding of the  theoretical concepts involved; and most importantly on the logic you use to relate what you found to the questions and objectives of your paper. (50%)

You must then write a conclusion which summaries your findings and also highlights those areas you have not been able to answer and which need to have more work done on them. You should also include recommendations for the Zimbabwe government in this section. (20%)

You must set out your work logically and clearly and very important for  academic work you must reference it fully. (15%)

The full paper, including the introduction, is due 30th May 1997.

The Seminar Paper forms a very important part of your continuous assessment and you should ensure that you start soon and spend time reading up on the subject area you have chosen.