ECNM08029: pass the exams, not just read the notes
Your complete guide to The University of Edinburgh's economics 2a module. See where the marks are, work real practice questions, and study with an AI tutor that knows ECNM08029.
Sia generates ECNM08029 practice questions, walks through microfoundations of the macroeconomy and long-run growth step by step, and quizzes you on the material the exam weights most heavily.
Worked example
In a simple growth model output per worker is the square root of capital per worker, the saving rate is 0.2 and capital depreciates at 5% a year. What is the steady-state level of capital per worker?
The steady state is where investment exactly replaces depreciation, so saving per worker equals depreciation per worker: s × f(k) = d × k.
Divide both sides by sqrt(k) and rearrange: sqrt(k) = 0.2 / 0.05 = 4, so k = 16.
Output per worker in the steady state is then sqrt(16) = 4, and consumption per worker is 4 minus 0.05 × 16 = 3.2.
The trap: Stopping at 4, which is steady-state output per worker rather than capital per worker. The second common error is treating a higher saving rate as raising the growth rate permanently: in this model it raises the level of the steady state, not the long-run growth rate, and that distinction is exactly what the long-run material is testing. classic slip!
One exam decides 70% of your grade. The bulk of the mark; the catalogue describes teaching as including structured exam preparation. This whole page is built around that.
Overview
What ECNM08029 is, and where it sits
Economics 2A is the first half of Edinburgh's intermediate macroeconomics sequence, new for 2026/27. It replaces the first semester of the former full-year Economics 2, which is not delivered this year, and is followed by Economics 2B in Semester 2.
The course develops a theoretical framework of the macroeconomy from microfoundations, then uses it to analyse aggregate demand and supply, long-run growth, the labour market, wage and price setting, business cycles, and the transmission of fiscal and monetary policy. The catalogue is explicit about the organising logic: emphasis is placed on modelling the long-run equilibrium in order to understand short-run deviations from it, which is the opposite order to how most students expect macroeconomics to be taught.
What you are asked to do with the models matters as much as the models themselves. Students learn to apply comparative-statics and dynamic reasoning, to interpret empirical relationships, and to critically evaluate stabilisation policy. Teaching combines lectures and tutorials with a strong focus on analytical problem-solving and structured exam preparation. Enrolment is restricted to second-year students on the economics and economics-joint programmes.
Always treat your own course outline and the exam timetable as authoritative.
Difficulty & time commitment
Is ECNM08029 hard, and how much time does it take?
ECNM08029 is manageable if you keep a weekly rhythm and treat the back half as the main event. The pattern is consistent: it starts gently and steepens, and the heaviest assessment is the part that separates grades.
The difficulty curve and the assessment weighting point the same way: the back half is harder and worth more. Front-loading effort there is the highest-return decision in the module.
Is this module for you
Who tends to do well, and who tends to struggle
You will likely do well if
- You are comfortable deriving a result rather than recognising it; comparative statics is the core skill.
- You can hold the long-run equilibrium in mind while analysing a short-run deviation.
- You keep the first-year mathematics fluent, since it is used immediately.
- You treat the weekly problems as the course rather than as homework.
You may struggle if
- You expect macroeconomics to be descriptive. This version is analytical from the first week.
- You skip the growth block to get to policy; the policy analysis is defined relative to the long-run equilibrium built there.
- You memorise diagrams without the algebra behind them.
- You assume the old Economics 2 advice applies; the course structure and assessment have changed this year.
- For every model, state the long-run equilibrium first, then describe the deviation. That is the course's own logic and answers structured this way read as fluent.
- Practise comparative statics as a routine: change one parameter, trace every consequence, state the sign of each.
- Learn to read the Phillips curve as a model-implied relationship rather than an empirical regularity.
- Rehearse critical evaluation of stabilisation policy in writing; it is a stated outcome and it is not a calculation.
Syllabus
The 8 topics, topic by topic
The exam-weight marker on each topic shows where the marks concentrate. The amber topics carry the highest exam weight.
T1 · Microfoundations of the macroeconomy
FrameworkBuilding the aggregate framework from individual behaviour rather than asserting it. The choice that shapes the whole course.
T2 · Long-run growth and capital accumulation
Long runWhat determines output per person over decades: capital accumulation, productivity, and steady-state analysis.
T3 · Money, inflation and expectations
Long runThe role of money and prices in determining long-run outcomes, and how expectations enter.
T4 · The labour market, wage and price setting
LabourHow wages and prices are set, and what that implies for equilibrium unemployment.
T5 · Aggregate demand and supply
Short runThe goods-market framework, and how demand and supply interact at the level of the whole economy.
T6 · Shocks and short-run fluctuations
Short runHow demand, supply, financial and policy shocks move output, unemployment and inflation away from the long-run equilibrium.
T7 · Monetary policy frameworks and policy transmission
PolicyHow policy acts on the economy, and the critical evaluation of stabilisation policy the course asks for.
T8 · Interpreting macroeconomic data
EmpiricsReading empirical relationships such as the Phillips curve within the theoretical framework rather than as standalone facts.
How it's assessed
Assessment structure
| Component | Weight | Format & timing |
|---|---|---|
| Degree exam | 70% | Written examination. End of semester diet. The bulk of the mark; the catalogue describes teaching as including structured exam preparation. |
| Class exam | 20% | Class examination held during the semester. During the semester. A substantial in-semester check on the analytical material. |
| Weekly homework and quizzes | 10% | Homework and quizzes set weekly alongside tutorials. Weekly. Tutorials focus on analytical problem-solving, and this component tracks weekly engagement. |
- The published components sum to 100. No separate hurdle is published for this course. Note that the course it replaces did carry a forced-fail rule on its final examination, so any advice you have inherited from earlier cohorts about Economics 2 should be checked against this year's catalogue.
- Written examination is 70% in one degree exam, with a further 20% in a class exam during the semester. The catalogue publishes no exam information table, so no paper length is stated.
- Calculator policy: Not stated in the course catalogue entry.
This is an exam-cram module. With the exams at 70% of the grade and the degree exam alone at 70%, your result is overwhelmingly decided by how well you perform under time pressure. The bulk of the mark; the catalogue describes teaching as including structured exam preparation.
How to actually pass it
A weekly rhythm, two checklists, and the traps to avoid
The module rewards consistency over cramming, and practice over re-reading. Here is the loop that works, then what to have nailed before each exam.
The weekly loop
Before the mid-semester checklist
- Microfoundations and how the aggregate framework is assembled
- Growth, capital accumulation and steady-state analysis
- Money, inflation and the role of expectations
- Comparative statics done cleanly and signed correctly
Before the final heaviest topics
- Labour market equilibrium, wage and price setting
- Goods-market and monetary-policy frameworks
- Shocks and their effect on output, unemployment and inflation
- Policy transmission, and the limits of stabilisation policy
- Interpreting the Phillips curve within the framework
The mistakes that cost marks
Confusing the level and the growth rate. In the standard growth model a higher saving rate raises the steady-state level of output per worker, not the long-run growth rate. Questions are written to catch this.
Analysing a short-run deviation without the long-run anchor. The framework defines fluctuations relative to the long-run equilibrium, so an answer that skips it has no reference point.
Reading empirical relationships as laws. The Phillips curve is interpreted within the model, and the course asks for that interpretation rather than the correlation.
Carrying over advice about the old Economics 2. The course is new this year, split across two semesters, and its published assessment differs, including the absence of the forced-fail rule.
Teaching team
Who teaches ECNM08029
The bios below are factual. We do not rate lecturers; any star ratings are submitted by students who have taken ECNM08029.
Dr Christoph Hedtrich
Listed as course organiser for Economics 2A in the 2026/27 course catalogue for the School of Economics, and previously for Economics 2, the course it replaces.
Teaching team as listed in the module materials reviewed. AskSia does not rate lecturers; star ratings are submitted by students who have taken ECNM08029.
Formula & concept sheet
The vocabulary and formulas you must own
- Microfoundations
- Building aggregate relationships from individual optimising behaviour rather than assuming them.
- Steady state
- The long-run position where capital per worker is constant because investment just offsets depreciation.
- Comparative statics
- Changing one parameter and tracing the consequences for the equilibrium.
- Aggregate demand and supply
- The whole-economy counterparts of the market model, used to analyse output and prices together.
- Wage and price setting
- The two relations whose interaction determines equilibrium unemployment in the labour market block.
- Phillips curve
- The relationship between inflation and unemployment, interpreted here within the theoretical framework.
- Policy transmission
- The channels through which fiscal and monetary actions reach output and inflation.
- Stabilisation policy
- Policy aimed at damping fluctuations, which the course asks students to evaluate critically rather than assume effective.
- Expectations
- What agents believe about the future, which changes how nominal variables behave.
- Shock
- An unexpected change in demand, supply, financial conditions or policy that moves the economy from equilibrium.
Common acronyms: {'term': 'SCQF', 'def': 'Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework'} · {'term': 'ECTS', 'def': 'European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System'} · {'term': 'DRPS', 'def': "Degree Regulations and Programmes of Study, the university's course catalogue"}.
Set texts
The prescribed reading
The syllabus references map straight onto these.
Macroeconomics
Gottfries.
Maths for Economics
Renshaw.
Where it fits
Prerequisites, related modules & why it matters
Students must have passed Economics 1A and Economics 1B, or Economics 1. Enrolment is restricted to second-year students on the economics and economics-joint degree programmes. Semester 1 visiting students may enrol and should usually have at least one introductory economics course at grade B or above.
Your ECNM08029 study toolkit
Study the module with Sia, not just read about it
Each tool already knows ECNM08029: your syllabus, your texts, and where the marks are. Grouped by how you study, from first contact to exam week.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is this the same as Economics 2?
It is the replacement for its first half. Economics 2 is not delivered in 2026/27; the full-year 40-credit course is now Economics 2A in Semester 1 and Economics 2B in Semester 2.
How is Economics 2A assessed?
Degree exam 70%, class exam 20%, weekly homework and quizzes 10%.
Is there still a forced-fail rule?
Not for this course. The former Economics 2 required 40% on its final examination separately from the overall pass mark; the 2026/27 entry for Economics 2A publishes no such hurdle. Check your own course handbook, since catalogue entries and handbooks are updated at different times.
What are the prerequisites?
Economics 1A and Economics 1B, or the former Economics 1. Enrolment is also restricted to second-year students on the listed economics and joint programmes.
What is the textbook?
Gottfries, Macroeconomics, with Renshaw's Maths for Economics suggested for mathematical support.
Why does the course start with the long run?
Because the framework treats short-run fluctuations as deviations from a long-run equilibrium. The catalogue states this ordering explicitly, and it is why the growth and steady-state material comes before the business cycle work.
Study ECNM08029 with Sia
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