Course information
Learning outcomes
After this course, the student will have a basic understanding of economics and will be able to apply economic thinking to practical societal issues. The student understands how markets and other allocation mechanisms operate and how to evaluate their economic performance. The student will also understand how market power and externalities lead to market inefficiencies and the policy responses to these problems. In addition, the student will have a basic understanding of aggregate economic phenomena including economic growth, business cycles, unemployment, savings, investment, inflation, fiscal and monetary policy and national accounts.
Content
The course is an introduction to economic way of thinking and provides an overview of how the economy operates. During the course, we will analyze the behavior of individuals and firms and their strategic interactions, market power and externalities, determinants of business cycles, inflation and economic growth and economic policy responses.
Teacher
Tuukka Saarimaa
Study material
Lectures, textbook: The Economy https://www.core-econ.org/
Workload
In total 160h, consisting of lectures and exercises and independent work.
Prerequisites
No prerequisites.
Evaluation
Examination and exercises
Teaching time and location
The teaching time and the location of the course can be found at Sisu information system
- The link leads to Completion methods tab of the course page
- From the top of the page (Version drop-down menu), check that academic year 2025-2026 is selected
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From the blue bar, click Lecture and open the Groups and teaching times tab to see the teaching time and the location of the course. Exam times can be seen by clicking Exam.
Exam instructions at the Open University
The teacher has four (4) weeks to grade the exam submissions starting from the exam date.
Further information
Equivalences to other courses: Content is equivalent to Taloustieteen perusteet (31A00110)
Online learning environment for the course
MyCourses online learning environment is a tool for both students and teachers for communication and managing everyday course work. You need an Aalto User ID to log in to the course's MyCourses workspace and participate in teaching.
Digital workspace of the course:
MyCourses
More details on completing the course will be available at MyCourses closer to the start of the course.
Registration and course fee
Registration for Open University courses is done via the link below:
Course registration
Registration for this course starts on 26.1.2026 at 9.00
Registration for this course ends on 2.3.2026 at 23.59
It is not possible to register before the registration period has started or after it has ended.
The number of participants is limited to 20.
This course is organized by the Aalto University School of Business.
The course fee is paid upon registration for each course at a time and it is binding. Familiarize yourself with registration and payment rules as well as other guidelines for students:
Registration, payments and rules
Activating Aalto ID and Multifactor Authentication
You can activate your Aalto User ID the day after the registration and you should activate it no later than the day before the start of the course.
Instructions for activating your Aalto user ID
Once you have activated your Aalto user ID, also enable multifactor authentication. Some of Aalto University's services require multifactor authentication.
Instructions for using Multifactor Authentication
