MicroeSonomics Page I of 9



Principles of Microeconomics

ECON 2302.035

Instructor: Don Tompkins

SPRING 2003

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Office Hours Blackboard

Course Description Testing

Textbooks Homework/Class Participation

Learning Objectives Grading

Course Attendance Incompletes

Scholastic Dishonesty Withdrawals

Students with Disabilities

Works

OFFICE HOURS

Office: Round Rock High School, Rm. 610

Phone: Voice Mail 223-1795, Mail Box 25627

Email: dtompkin@austincc.edu

Office Hours: Monday Class Days

5:00-5:30 & 8:10-9:00 P.M.

Conferences outside of office hours may be arranged by appointment

The section number of this class is: ECON 2302.035

The synonym for this class: 46943

COURSE RATIONALE

Course Description

This course is meant to give students insight into the dynamics of a market based economy and how through its mechanism scarce resources are allocated. The theoretical and actual role of the government in this market system will also be addressed. The knowledge gained in the course will make students better informed citizens and allow them to follow the debates over various economic events and policies reported in the news media. This course is also a foundation course that will prepare students to be successful in upper division finance, marketing, business administration, economics, government, and social work courses.

More specifically, the purpose of this course is to familiarize the student with the generally accepted principles of microeconomics. Microeconomics is concerned with how societies allocate scarce resources. Microeconomics deals with the interactions between and among households and business firms; it focuses on the behavior of people and deals with the process by which we make our living under conditions of free market capitalism.

The course is divided into several major areas as follows:

Course Objectives and Student Outcomes

In this course you will study:

• The economic problem—scarcity

• Opportunity cost

• Comparative advantage and trade

• Capitalism and socialism

• Efficient allocation of scarce resources

• Demand and utility analysis

• Supply and cost analysis

• Factor markets

• Income distribution

• Market failure

Students who complete this course will be able to understand:

• Basic concepts of scarcity and opportunity cost

• Forces of demand and supply and how they interact to determine an equilibrium price

• How and why equilibrium prices might change and their impact on resource allocation

• The theory of consumer behavior

• The theory of the firm

• Theoretical market structures of perfect competition and monopoly

• Market structure

• Government intervention failures

INSTRUCTIONAL METHODOLOGY

The instructional methodology of this class will be lecture, discussion, and individual current event presentation and discussion.

Textbooks

Required:

Principles of Microeconomics. Second Edition by N. Gregory Mankiw (Harcourt College Publishers,2001)

Optional:

Study Guide Principles of Microeconomics, Second Edition by David Hakes (Harcourt College Publishers 2001)

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Learning Objectives

Learning objectives for each chapter you will study are listed at the beginning of each

chapter in the textbook; a more extensive list can be found in the Study Guide. Read them

carefully before you read the chapter. They are there to help you read the chapter. They are

there to help you focus your mind on the important concepts and theories discussed in the

chapter. The exams will test your knowledge of and ability to apply these learning objectives. Knowing this will help you efficiently allocate your mental energies. In addition, the essay questions at the ends of the chapters will compose part of the exams and will function as broad learning objectives that will be discussed in class.

COURSE POLICIES

Attendance

Regular attendance is expected. Frequent exposure to an instructor's explanations is an important factor in your ability to master the material covered. Although you will not be penalized for missing class (you are hurting yourself by cutting), current events used in class to illustrate course-work will be included in test questions.

Scholastic Dishonesty

Acts prohibited by the college for which discipline may be administered include scholastic

dishonesty. Scholastic dishonesty includes but is not limited to cheating on an exam or quiz,

plagiarizing, and unauthorized collaboration with another in preparing outside work.

Academic work submitted by you is to be the result of your own thought, research, or self-expression. Academic work is defined as, but not limited to tests, quizzes (whether taken electronically or on paper), projects (either individual or group), classroom presentations, and homework.

Penalties for scholastic dishonesty in this class can range from being assigned a zero grade

for an assignment on which dishonesty took place to being dropped from this class with a failing grade for cheating on exams. If the latter occurs, then the incident and the student will be reported to the Dean of Students. Further repercussions could follow from the Dean.

Students with Disabilities

Each ACC campus offers support services for students with documented physical or psychological disabilities. Students with disabilities must request accommodations through the Office for Students with Disabilities on the campus where they expect to take the majority of their classes. Students are encouraged to do this three weeks before the start of the semester. During the first or second week of class, students with disabilities must present the instructor with the sheet from the Office for Students with Disabilities listing the reasonable accommodations they require.

Blackboard

Blackboard is an on-line classroom management tool. It includes a grade book, a discussion board, ways to communicate between students and between students and professor, and a testing facility. Your Online Login username and password is your 7-digit ACC student ID number.

Please change your password while you are logged on for the first time. To change your password, click the "User Tools" button. When that page opens up, click on the line that says "Personal Information." When that page opens up, click on the line that says "Change Password." The rest should be self-explanatory. It is important to change your password so that you can be secure in the knowledge that no one besides your instructors can see your grade information. Even then, each instructor will only be able to see the grades in the course they are teaching.

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COURSE EVALUATION AND GRADING SYSTEM

Testing

Midterm examinations will consist of .two parts: 1) objective questions and 2) essay questions. At least 50% of the questions will be selected from the questions and problems in the text. There will be two midterm examinations plus a final exam. The final exam will be comprehensive

All essay portions of examinations must be done in a Blue Book. The same Blue Book may be used for all exams.

Homework/Class Evaluation

Each student will select a current event newspaper or magazine article that applies to one or more of the Ten Principles of Economics in Chapter One. You will lead a discussion regarding the economic significance of the event you choose, supplying a copy of the article for each class member. This activity is worth 50 points. Several of the questions on the exams will be taken from these presentations.

Bonus points of up to 50 points may be earned by completing and handing in problems selected by the instructor at the end of each chapter. Bonus points maybe used to improve your grade but in no event will total points exceed 500.

All assignments must be completed on time as agreed to in class. I will not accept any late homework no matter what the reason.

Grading

There are 500 points available all together. The two midterms will be worth 125 points apiece or 250 points all together. The Final Exam will be worth 200 points. The homework/class participation assignments will be worth 50 points.

Final letter grades will be distributed according to the following scale:

Grade Points Percent

A 500-450 100-90%

B 449-400 90-80%

C 399-350 80-70%

D 349-300 70-60%

F 299-0 59-0%

Incompletes

Incompletes are discouraged. They will be given only when extraordinary events intervene so as to make completion of the course impossible. Incompletes will not be given to students who are behind schedule when the semester nears its end, nor will incompletes be given to students who need just a few more points to make the next higher letter grade. Plenty of opportunity exists during the semester to accomplish your goals.

To receive an incomplete you must have completed the first two exams with a C or better. If you need an incomplete, the reason must be documented by filling out a special form, available from the instructor. If the form is not filled out, an incomplete grade will not be given.

If you find yourself way behind or many points short toward the end of the semester you may withdraw without a grade penalty up to four weeks before the end of the semester. Please read the following note about withdrawals.

Withdrawals

You are responsible for withdrawing yourself from this course if that is what your personal situation requires. This means that if you have taken no tests or only a few of the tests and the semester ends without having withdrawn, your grade for the course will be an F. The instructor makes no promise either implicit or explicit to withdraw you from the course. However, the instructor does reserve the right to withdraw you if he/she believes the situation warrants such action. For example, if you miss more than seven classes, the instructor can unilaterally initiate a student withdrawal.

The last day to withdraw from this course without penalty is Monday, April 21.

Tentative Lecturing/Test Schedule

Week Date Chapter Assignments

1 Jan, 13 Chapter 1 & Graphing

2 Jan 20 MLK-- No Class

3 Jan 27 Review & Chapter 2

4 Feb 3 Chapter 3 & 4

5 Feb 10 Chapter 5 & Test

6 Feb 17 Review & Chapter 6

7 Feb 24 Chapter 7 & 8

8 Mar 3 Chapter 9 & 10

9 Mar 10 Spring Break—No Class

10 Mar 17 Chapter 11 & 12

11 Mar 24 Chapter 13 & Test

12 Mar 31 Review & Chapter 14

13 Apr 7 Chapter 15 & 16

14 Apr 14 Chapter 17 & 18

15 Apr 21 Chapter 19 & 20

16 Apr 28 Chapter 21 & Review

17 May 5 Final

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