BUSINESS115 Economics, Markets and Law
The Complete Exam Bible · S2 2026BUSINESS115 Overview
- The University of Auckland
- Semester 2, 2026
- Stage 1 (first-year) undergraduate; NZQF Level 7
- 15 points (approximately 150 hours of study)
Within The University of Auckland Business School — Faculty of Business and Economics, Department of Management & International Business, BUSINESS 115 runs two disciplines side by side on a roughly 80/20 split — an economics spine that goes from opportunity cost, demand and supply and perfectly competitive equilibrium through responses to changing price signals, externalities and climate economics, market power and regulation, then macroeconomic measurement, money and interest, international trade, capital flows and exchange rates and the business cycle — wrapped around three Commercial Law modules on New Zealand's sources of law (including tikanga Māori), the Treaty of Waitangi and Te Tiriti, and the three arms of government.
- BUSINESS115 grading 40% final examination, 20% midterm test, 20% Economics and Markets Report (approx. 1,000 words ±10%, due Week 8), 10% weekly pre-workshop quizzes (best 10 of 12 count, 1% each), 10% participation/commentary (peer-reviewed via FeedbackFruits)
- BUSINESS115 task mode Final exam: online, open book, out of 100 marks, 2 hours plus an additional 30 minutes (for all online examinations); roughly 80 marks Economics / 20 marks Commercial Law; date and time TBA by the University. Midterm (Week 5, Friday 21 August 6:30-8:30pm NZT): online, closed book, 30 MCQs plus 3 short answer/workout questions, 2 hours, sat remotely in Mode B through the Inspera Integrity Browser — You may have scratch paper and writing utensil, but no notes. You may use a non-graphing calculator, but you must show it on your video while you use it.
- BUSINESS115 mark trap The maths. The teaching team's own announcement is reinforced by a whole B115 Learning Hub Maths Tab and a Talis Math Support list. The diagnostic quiz's design and the workshop tasks are genuinely algebraic (Demand: MB = 22 – 2Q / Supply: MC = 2 + 0.5Q … Specify the equations for the two supply curves in a slope-intercept form). Second loss zone is the 1,000-word Report: it will require you to critically reflect on content and concepts covered in the Economics modules and you will be required to use current, real-world examples to substantiate/justify/evaluate your argument(s).
- BUSINESS115 pass rule You need to achieve 50% overall across all assessments and sit/write the final examination to pass B115. In other words, you don't need to pass both the coursework assessments and the final examination, each with a grade of 50% or more, to pass B115 (there's no double pass requirement for B115). Sitting the final is itself the gate.
How BUSINESS115 is assessed
| Component | Weight | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-Workshop Quizzes | 10% | Individual coursework |
| Participation | 10% | Peer coursework |
| Mid-Term Test | 20% | Individual test |
| Economics and Markets Report | 20% | Individual coursework |
| Final Examination | 40% | Individual examination; must be sat or written |
The five published components total 100%. The current catalogue states that students must sit or write the final examination but does not publish a separate double-pass threshold. Live Canvas and timetable notices control current dates and exam mode.
What BUSINESS115 covers
The learning path moves from Assessment Map and Resilient-Organisation Lens, through the problems opened by Externalities and Climate Economics, to the synthesis required in Business Cycle and Economic Stabilisation.
Assessment Map and Resilient-Organisation Lens
10/10/20/20/40 structure · economic and legal evidence · stakeholder consequence · select the model and institutional rule that change the decision02Markets, Welfare and Economic Choice
scarcity and incentives · social welfare · efficiency and equity · compare a private decision with wider social costs and benefits03Supply, Demand and Competitive Equilibrium
supply and demand · market equilibrium · consumer and producer surplus · trace a shock through price, quantity and welfare04New Zealand Legal Framework
sources of law · constitutional setting · courts and Parliament · identify the relevant institution, authority and decision pathway05Te Tiriti, Government and Political Institutions
Te Tiriti o Waitangi · three branches of government · regulation and legitimacy · explain how institutional and Treaty context shapes a policy or business issue06Elasticity and Responses to Price Signals
price elasticity · income and cross effects · revenue and incidence · predict how responsiveness changes stakeholder outcomes after a price or policy shift07Externalities and Climate Economics
external cost and benefit · Pigouvian instruments · sustainable business response · compare instruments by incentive, information, equity and implementation08Market Power, Competition and Regulation
monopoly and oligopoly · strategic conduct · competition policy · connect market structure to price, innovation and regulatory options09GDP, Inflation and Labour-Market Conditions
real GDP · price level and inflation · unemployment · read macro indicators together and explain their limits for wellbeing10Money, Interest and Financial Markets
money creation · interest rates · financial intermediation · trace how financing conditions affect households, firms and asset markets11Trade, Capital Flows and Exchange Rates
comparative advantage · balance of payments · exchange-rate movement · connect trade and financial flows to business and household effects12Business Cycle and Economic Stabilisation
business-cycle conditions and stabilisation policy · fiscal and monetary policy · inflation-recession trade-off · compare stabilisation options through mechanism, lag, risk and stakeholder impactIt is Stage 1 (first-year) undergraduate; NZQF Level 7. It carries 15 points (approximately 150 hours of study).
It is positioned as Stage 1 Core course in the Bachelor of Commerce (BCom).
There are no lectures and no tutorials: it is a flipped Stage 1 Core course whose only contact hour is one 2-hour workshop, and attendance at it is not marked at all — 'There's no attendance taken at B115 workshops and you will not be penalised if you miss a workshop.' The marks instead come from things that happen on a screen under invigilation: a closed-book midterm sat remotely through the Inspera Integrity Browser with your non-graphing calculator held up to the webcam, an open-book online final worth 40%, plus a 1,000-word critical report and a weekly best-10-of-12 quiz stream whose deadline is whenever your own workshop starts.
It is built for students with zero prior economics or law, which is why week one opens with a diagnostic maths quiz that is marked on completion, not correctness.
Assessment in BUSINESS115 is distributed as follows: 40% final examination, 20% midterm test, 20% Economics and Markets Report (approx. 1,000 words ±10%, due Week 8), 10% weekly pre-workshop quizzes (best 10 of 12 count, 1% each), 10% participation/commentary (peer-reviewed via FeedbackFruits)
The operational assessment conditions matter here.
Final exam: online, open book, out of 100 marks, 2 hours plus an additional 30 minutes (for all online examinations); roughly 80 marks Economics / 20 marks Commercial Law; date and time TBA by the University.
Midterm (Week 5, Friday 21 August 6:30-8:30pm NZT): online, closed book, 30 MCQs plus 3 short answer/workout questions, 2 hours, sat remotely in Mode B through the Inspera Integrity Browser — You may have scratch paper and writing utensil, but no notes. You may use a non-graphing calculator, but you must show it on your video while you use it.
What makes BUSINESS115 demanding is concrete: The maths.
The teaching team's own announcement is reinforced by a whole B115 Learning Hub Maths Tab and a Talis Math Support list. The diagnostic quiz's design and the workshop tasks are genuinely algebraic (Demand: MB = 22 – 2Q / Supply: MC = 2 + 0.5Q … Specify the equations for the two supply curves in a slope-intercept form).
Second loss zone is the 1,000-word Report: it will require you to critically reflect on content and concepts covered in the Economics modules and you will be required to use current, real-world examples to substantiate/justify/evaluate your argument(s).
You need to achieve 50% overall across all assessments and sit/write the final examination to pass B115.
In other words, you don't need to pass both the coursework assessments and the final examination, each with a grade of 50% or more, to pass B115 (there's no double pass requirement for B115). Sitting the final is itself the gate.
For enrolment planning, No prerequisite stated.
Restriction: must not have completed ECON 111, ECON 191, ECON 101, ECON 151/ECON 151G.
The learning path moves from Assessment Map and Resilient-Organisation Lens, through the problems opened by Externalities and Climate Economics, to the synthesis required in Business Cycle and Economic Stabilisation.
Worked example: Economics, Markets and Law integrated response
- 1Mark the starting condition or object represented by 10/10/20/20/40 structure.
- 1Write the change, rule or mechanism supplied by scarcity and incentives as a verb-led link.
- 1Show how that link reaches comparative advantage; do not skip an intermediate actor, quantity or stage.
- 1Answer the task with the completed chain and preserve this limit: A currency movement creates winners and losers rather than one national effect.
Key terms
- opportunity cost (and explicit vs implicit cost)
- Opportunity cost is the value of the best forgone alternative; explicit costs are monetary payments and implicit costs are the opportunity costs of resources already owned.
- sunk cost
- A sunk cost is a past, unrecoverable cost that should not affect a forward-looking choice between alternatives.
- marginal analysis
- Marginal analysis compares the additional benefit and additional cost of one more unit or a small change, continuing an activity while marginal benefit exceeds marginal cost.
- shift of vs movement along a demand or supply curve
- A movement along a curve is caused by a change in the good's own price, while a shift changes quantity demanded or supplied at every price because a non-price determinant changes.
- perfectly competitive equilibrium
- Perfectly competitive equilibrium occurs where market demand equals market supply and price-taking firms produce where price equals marginal cost, subject to the model's assumptions.
- consumer surplus and producer surplus / social welfare
- Consumer surplus is willingness to pay minus price, producer surplus is price minus minimum willingness to accept, and their sum measures total market surplus before external costs or benefits.
- externalities
- Externalities are costs or benefits from production or consumption imposed on people who are not compensated through the market transaction.
- tikanga Māori as a source of law; Te Tiriti o Waitangi
- Tikanga Māori comprises Māori values, principles and customary practices recognised within Aotearoa New Zealand's legal system, while Te Tiriti o Waitangi frames enduring relationships and obligations between Māori and the Crown.
BUSINESS115 FAQ
Is BUSINESS115 hard?
The maths. The teaching team's own announcement is reinforced by a whole B115 Learning Hub Maths Tab and a Talis Math Support list. The diagnostic quiz's design and the workshop tasks are genuinely algebraic (Demand: MB = 22 – 2Q / Supply: MC = 2 + 0.5Q … Specify the equations for the two supply curves in a slope-intercept form).
Second loss zone is the 1,000-word Report: it will require you to critically reflect on content and concepts covered in the Economics modules and you will be required to use current, real-world examples to substantiate/justify/evaluate your argument(s).
How is BUSINESS115 assessed?
40% final examination, 20% midterm test, 20% Economics and Markets Report (approx. 1,000 words ±10%, due Week 8), 10% weekly pre-workshop quizzes (best 10 of 12 count, 1% each), 10% participation/commentary (peer-reviewed via FeedbackFruits)
What is the BUSINESS115 exam or final-task format?
Final exam: online, open book, out of 100 marks, 2 hours plus an additional 30 minutes (for all online examinations); roughly 80 marks Economics / 20 marks Commercial Law; date and time TBA by the University.
Midterm (Week 5, Friday 21 August 6:30-8:30pm NZT): online, closed book, 30 MCQs plus 3 short answer/workout questions, 2 hours, sat remotely in Mode B through the Inspera Integrity Browser — You may have scratch paper and writing utensil, but no notes. You may use a non-graphing calculator, but you must show it on your video while you use it.
Does BUSINESS115 have a hurdle or component-level pass rule?
You need to achieve 50% overall across all assessments and sit/write the final examination to pass B115. In other words, you don't need to pass both the coursework assessments and the final examination, each with a grade of 50% or more, to pass B115 (there's no double pass requirement for B115). Sitting the final is itself the gate.
What prerequisites or restrictions apply to BUSINESS115?
No prerequisite stated. Restriction: must not have completed ECON 111, ECON 191, ECON 101, ECON 151/ECON 151G.
Is BUSINESS115 offered in Semester 2, 2026?
This resource is aligned to Semester 2, 2026. Confirm your class and assessment timetable in the current institutional system.
Is this BUSINESS115 resource an official university guide?
No. It is an independent BUSINESS115 study resource; current institutional instructions remain authoritative for assessment operation.
How to study for the exam
Retrieve the course map, practise the recurring method—combine a legal or economic model with New Zealand institutional context, trace effects across stakeholders and reach a qualified policy or business judgement—on changed scenarios, and verify every operational assessment detail in the live institutional system.
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