Economics 190 - Principles of Microeconomics Syllabus

Dominican University
Summer 2006

Instructor:

Richard Schwinn

Class Times:

May 23rd  – June 29th – TR – 6:00 pm-9:45 pm in Fine Arts 206

Office Hours:

By appointment.

Phone mail:

(708) 524 6697 ext. 1323

Email:
(Preferred)

rschwinn@dom.edu

Class Webpage:

http://blackboard.dom.edu

 

Many students have been persuaded, by their academic experience in high school and college, that taking a course consists of memorizing a set of conclusions.  Reading a textbook becomes an exercise in creative highlighting, designed to extract from 500 pages of verbiage the 30 or 40 pages containing the answers to the questions that will appear on the final exam. Such a collection of answers is about as easy to remember as a collection of random numbers, and not much more useful…

-David Friedman

consisting of three dotsOne cannot overemphasize the importance of understanding things rather than merely memorizing them.

 

[COMMUNICATION] [POLICIES AND GRADING] [PROPOSED SCHEDULE] [COURSE OBJECTIVES] [HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT ONE]

POLICIES AND GRADING

 

Text:

Mankiw, N. Gregory.  Principles of Microeconomics. 3rd edition. Mason, Ohio: Thomson-Southwestern Publishers, 2004. ISBN 0-324-17188-9

Attendance:

Attendance and participation will be taken into account. If you are not present, I will deduct 10 points from your participation grade. If however you notify me in advance, by email or in person, you will be exempted. (60)

Homework:

There will be 4 homework assignments with full credit awarded only to complete assignments submitted on time. (4 * 50 = 200)

Quizzes:

There will be 4 quizzes given during the final minutes of class according to the schedule.
(4 * 10 = 40)

Grading:

Attendance/Participation is worth 60 points; Each quiz is worth 10 points; each homework assignment is worth 50 points; and each exam (two midterms and one final) is worth 250 points each. (60 + 200 + 40 + 750 = 1050)

A 1050-900       B 899-800         C 799-700         D 699-600        F 599-000

 

I also reserve the right to make strong Pareto improvements in my grading policies.

Extra Credit:

I will announce extra credit problem sets as needed. Each is worth 10 points. I will not accept late extra credit.

 

Academic Integrity:

You are expected to adhere to the Student Code of Conduct. Those who do not risk penalty.

Other:

Students with special needs are invited to contact me.

 

PROPOSED SCHEDULE                                                                                [top]

 

CLASS

Readings & Assignments

Topics

Changes

One
(T 5/23)

     Read chapters 1 and 2

        How economics trumps common sense

        Ten Principles of Economics.

        Thinking Like an Economist.

 

 

Two
(R 5/25)

     Read chapters 3 and 4

     HW one due

        Interdependence and the Gains from Trade.

        Intro to the Supply and Demand Model.

        The Market Forces of Supply and Demand.

 

 

Three

(T 5/30)

     Read chapters 5, 6

     Quiz One

        Elasticity and Its Application

        Supply, Demand, and Government Policies.

 

 

Four

(R 6/1)

     Read chapters 7 and 21

 

        Consumers, Producers, and the Efficiency of Markets.

        The Theory of Consumer Choice.

        Summing People Up.

 

Five
(T 6/6)

     Exam One (covering 1-7, and 21)

     Read chapters 10 and 11

     HW two due

        Externalities

        Public Goods and Common Resources.

 

 

Six

(R 6/8)

     Read chapters 11 continued and 12

     Quiz Two

        More on Public Goods and how to pay for them

        The Design of the Tax System.

 

 

Seven

(T 6/13)

     Read chapters 13 and 14

        The Costs of Production.

        Firms in Competitive Markets.

 

 

Eight

(R 6/15)

     Exam Two (covering 10-14)

     Read chapter 15

     HW three due

 

        Monopoly for Fun and Profit.

 

Nine

(T 6/20)

     Read chapter 16

     Quiz three

        Oligopoly.

        Hard Problems: Game Theory and Strategic Behavior.

 

 

Ten

(R 6/22)

 

     Read chapter 17

 

        Monopolistic Competition.

        Fast-food and Toothbrushes

 

 

Eleven

(T 6/27)

     Read chapters 20 and perhaps 9

     Quiz four

        Income Inequality and Poverty.

        Application: International Trade.

 

 

Twelve

(R 6/29)

     Final Exam (covering 15-17, 20, and 9)

     HW four due

 

 

 

 

COURSE OBJECTIVES                                                                                   [top]

 

This course moves quickly! By June 29th you will:

            know how scarcity influences choices.

            understand why Economics is a science.

            be able to explain the law of demand and the law of supply.

            understand the difference between a change in demand (supply) and a change in quantity demanded (supplied).

            understand how a change in demand or a change in supply influences equilibrium price and quantity.

            understand the essential features of the price system.

            understand the economic impact of price ceilings and price floors.

            understand the economic impact of market failures.

            understand why diminishing marginal utility exists.

            understand how a consumer goes about maximizing utility.

            be able to compute the elasticity of demand for a product.

            be able to use income elasticity to determine whether a good is inferior or normal.

            know the characteristics of a competitive, monopolistic, monopolistic competitive and oligopolist market structures.

            know the main organizational forms of business.

            know the advantages and disadvantages of the main organizational forms of business.

            know the difference between the long-run and the short-run from a firm's standpoint.

            understand why the marginal physical product declines when a variable input is added to fixed inputs.

            describe the short-run and long-run cost curves a firm faces.

            identify when economies of scale or diseconomies of scale exist.

            identify the characteristics of the four market structures.

            determine how the profit maximizing quantity is determined in each of the four market structures.

            determine how the profit Maximizing price quantity is determined in each of the four market–structures.

            know short-run and long-profit possibilities in each of the four market structures.

            know when firms will enter or exit the industry in each of the four market structures.

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT ONE                                                              [top]

 

Due May 24th

A. Quickly define these terms citing whatever source you’d like:

 

Ceteris paribus

Empirical

Theories

Rationality assumptions

Comparative Advantage

Opportunity Cost

Scarcity

(PPC) Production possibilities curve

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


B. Answer the following questions:

(1)   For each of the following items, state whether a direct of an inverse relationship is likely to exist.

a.       The number of hours you study for an exam and your exam score.

b.      The price of pizza and the quantity purchased

c.       The number of Bulls games won (by the Bulls) last year and the number of season tickets sold this year.

 

(2)   Why are choices unavoidable? Explain in fewer than 5 sentences.

 

(3)   What is a model? Why do economists use models? Explain in fewer than 5 sentences.

 

(4)   When causation exists, would you also expect correlation to exist? When a correlation exists, would you also expect causation to exist? Explain in fewer than 5 sentences.