A) TRAINING OBJECTIVES To provide the basic analytical tools to understand the functioning of the economic-financial system and the role of households, businesses, the state, banks and the rest of the world, presenting economic science as a social science characterised by a plurality of theoretical positions. B) EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES 1. Knowledge and ability to understand: knowledge of economic theories and policies to understand the main issues of contemporary economics. 2. Ability to apply knowledge and understanding: learning the elementary tools for assessing the main critical issues and opportunities of an economy. 3. Autonomy of judgement: knowing how to identify the main relationships of the economic system in order to grasp its logic and explain it according to different theoretical approaches and with a critical capacity. 4. Communication skills: learning analytical rigour with the use of formulae and graphs and with the illustration of logical connections. 5. Learning ability: a condition for successful learning is the ability to independently and critically reconstruct introductory notions of political economy.