ECC3146 Community, market and government
Faculty of Business and Economics
ECC3146 Community, market and government is a level 3, 6-credit-point, undergraduate unit from the Faculty of Business and Economics, offered in 2026 in Semester 1 at Clayton. It needs ECC1000.
- Credit points
- 6
- Offered in 2026
- Semester 1
- Clayton
- Assessment
- No exam
- 3 tasks
- Workload
- 144 hours
- per semester
This is the 2026 handbook entry. See the 2027 entry.
Reviews
No reviews yetNo reviews yet. Be the first to review ECC3146.
Requisites
Before ECC3146
Prerequisites
Pass these before you enrol.
After ECC3146
No unit lists ECC3146 as a prerequisite in the 2026 handbook.
Overview
Many important human activities take place in the community and are not mediated by the price mechanism through the market. People give to charities, donate blood, join environmental movements, engage in discussion on the internet that shape public opinions. This unit first discusses how community affects the provision of social insurance and redistribution; public health outcomes; effectiveness of law enforcement; and the governance of common pool resources. It then discusses the interactions between community, market, and government. This will be done through examining issues such as fair trade and consumer activism; public policy and charitable giving; the relationship between public policies, social interaction and public health outcomes; social influence and polarisation online and offline. It concludes with a discussion on community failure vis-a-vis-market failure and government failure.
Offerings in 2026
| Teaching period | Campus | Mode |
|---|---|---|
| First semester | Clayton | On campus |
Assessment
- Exercise30%
- Quiz / Test50%
- Presentation20%
Assessment details may change. Please refer to the assessment information in Moodle closer to the start of the teaching period.
Learning outcomes
When you finish this unit, you should be able to:
- 1
understand how community facilitates human interactions and have significant effects on social welfare
- 2
critically consume the fast-growing literature that studies how social and economic incentives interact to shape community interactions
- 3
develop a good understanding of the substitutability and complementarity between community, market, and government.
Workload and teaching
- Workshops24 hours
- Assessments2 hours
- Teaching approachResearch activities
- Teaching approachActive learning
- Teaching approachEnquiry-based learning
- Teaching approachCase-based teaching
- Teaching approachProblem-based learning
Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. Independent study may include associated readings, assessment and preparation for scheduled activities. You are expected to complete all pre-class activities prior to your scheduled class, and post-class activities should be completed after your scheduled class. Learning activities may include a combination of teacher directed, peer directed and online engagement activities.
This unit allows you to develop your research skills by engaging in structured inquiry using a systematic approach and discipline-specific methodologies.
This unit engages you in actively applying your knowledge, skills and attributes in interactive, collaborative and reflective activities.
This unit engages you in enquiry-based learning, where you will be encouraged to use your own knowledge to develop and engage in a process of enquiry, study and research to identify areas to be investigated and an approach to doing so.
This unit includes case-based teaching, where you apply your knowledge and engage in analytical and reflective thinking to solve complex contextual scenarios. Activities are often designed so that there is not one clear answer, but you need to work together to examine, analyse and make decisions to resolve the situation.
This unit includes problem-based learning approaches, where you engage in research, integrate theory and practice and apply knowledge and skills to develop viable solutions in response to a problem or set of problems.
Learning resources
Required resources
Readings will consist of journal articles from both economics and related disciplines and chapters from the following books:
Bowles, Samuel, 2016. The Moral Economy: Why Good Incentives Are No Substitute for Good Citizens, Yale University Press.
Morson, Gary Saul, and Morton Schapiro. 2017. Cents and Sensibility: What Economics Can Learn from the Humanities, (Princeton University Press), Chapter 4.
Smith, Vernon L, and Bart J Wilson. 2019. Humanomics: Moral sentiments and the wealth of nations for the twenty-first century (Cambridge University Press).
Where it fits
ECC3146 is part of 3 areas of study in the 2026 handbook.
Contacts
- Chief Examiners
- Mr Weijia Li
Common questions
What are the prerequisites for ECC3146?
You need ECC1000 before you enrol.
When is ECC3146 offered?
In 2026, ECC3146 runs in Semester 1 at Clayton.
How much work is ECC3146?
The handbook expects about 144 hours of study across the semester. No students have rated its difficulty yet.
Does ECC3146 have an exam?
No. ECC3146 has 3 assessment tasks and no exam.
Which majors and minors include ECC3146?
ECC3146 is part of Economic analysis; Economics; and Economics and economic policy.