Principles of Microeconomics - WKU



Principles of Microeconomics

Econ 202

Fall 2008

Dr. Claudia Strow

Office: Grise Hall 413

Office phone: 745-3627

E-mail: claudia.strow@wku.edu

Office hours: Tuesday and Thursday 7:30-8:00 11:00-12:45 & 2:05-2:35

And by appointment

Text: Hall, Robert E. and Marc Lieberman. Microeconomics Principles and Applications. 4th ed. Cincinnati: South-Western College Publishing, 2008 .[1]

ISBN: 0-324-42147-8

Also Required: A nonprogrammable calculator and a scantron for each quiz or test.

Internet links:

Course webpage:

A link to your book’s webpage is available on the course webpage.

Course Description and Objectives

“This course fulfills one requirement for General Education category C -- Social and Behavioral Sciences. It is designed to provide an understanding of the concepts, ideas, policy issues, and methods of analysis which are central to understanding economies at the local, regional, national, and global level. Upon completion of this course, students should be able to apply concepts to contemporary issues and understand the impact that economic decisions and actions have on individuals and society.”

The major goals of this course are to help students develop their critical thinking skills and to equip them with a toolbox of methods for analyzing and better understanding individuals’ actions. This course will also use applications to relate what is learned to real world examples. There will be a few definitions and concepts to memorize, but the vast majority of the concepts covered in the course will require students to think through relationships and to be able to critically analyze problems and recommend solutions. Upon completion, students will also understand tradeoffs, opportunity cost, marginal analysis, costs and benefits, and supply and demand equilibrium.

Students will be asked to do basic algebra and use graphing techniques to summarize major concepts and relationships. Economics is not a discipline that can be learned the night before an exam, so it is crucial that you keep up with the reading and your class notes. Material covered in this class builds upon earlier material, so please come see me as soon possible if you have trouble understanding anything. My office hours are as listed above, but if you cannot make these times feel free to make an appointment with me. I also frequently check my e-mail and am happy to answer questions e-mailed to me.

You are responsible for all material and announcements covered in class. It is your responsibility to get missed notes and announcements from another classmate.

Practice Problems and Handouts

I will not be collecting the practice problems and handouts that I will make available to you. However, it will be very difficult – impossible for most people – to do well in this course without doing the problems I assign on your own before the following class period. You should do these problems, check your answers either in class or with the answer keys I provide, and if you don’t understand something please come and see me!

Course Requirements & Important Dates

There will be three exams (Sept. 18, Oct. 23, and Nov. 20), 3 quizzes (Sept. 11, Oct. 9, and Nov. 11) and one comprehensive final as scheduled in the course bulletin.

If exams or quiz dates are changed (which is highly unlikely), it will be announced in class with as much advance notice as possible. If class is cancelled for any reason on a quiz or test date, assume that the quiz or test will be given in the next scheduled class.

Quizzes will be given at the beginning of the scheduled class time and no extra time will be given in response to tardiness. There is no such thing as a makeup exam or quiz for any reason.

If you must miss an exam or quiz for a university event (participation in a college sanctioned event such as a club trip or a sports game in which you are playing out of town) then you may take the exam or quiz prior to the scheduled exam period. However, in order to schedule an earlier administration of the exam, you must provide notice and documentation at least one week prior to the exam or quiz’s scheduled date. For those absences that are unpredictable but university excused (death in the family, serious illness, etc) no makeup will be given but the final exam will count extra. For these types of absences to be excused, you must contact me either by telephone or e-mail before the class period in which the exam is given. In compliance with university policy, students with disabilities who require accommodations (academic adjustments and/or auxiliary aids or services) for this course must contact the Office for Student Disability Services in DUC A-200 of the Student Success Center in Downing University Center.

Material covered on each exam will be announced in class prior to exam dates. To help in studying, I will place a study guide on my webpage along with copies of previous exams. We will not go over these in class, but I encourage you to work on them with a partner as practice for the exam. I also will be glad to discuss your work on these with you in office hours. In addition take advantage of the online quizzes located at the book’s website given above. These should provide further practice for quizzes and exams.

In Class Behavior and Academic Integrity

I expect each student to behave in a manner that is respectful of our fellow students and me. You should arrive to class on time and should turn off your cell phone or set it to silent while in class. You must neither give nor receive help on any exam or quiz. Academic misconduct includes not only direct cheating on tests or assignments, but more subtle acts as well. Discussing the contents of an exam or quiz with someone who has not yet taken the exam or quiz or giving or receiving help in any other form or fashion constitutes cheating and will result in a grade of zero on the assignment and potentially an F in the course without the possibility of withdrawal. A motion may also be filed with the Office of the Dean of Student Life for further action.

Tutoring: I am always willing to help you better understand the material. If you should prefer additional assistance in this or other general education courses, The Learning Center (TLC) (located in the Academic Advising and Retention Center, DUC-A330) has tutors available for major undergraduate subjects and course levels throughout the week . To make an appointment, or to request a tutor for a specific class, call 745-6254, stop by DUC A330, or log on to TutorTrac at . TLC hours: M-Thur. 8am-9pm, Fri. 8am-4pm, Sat.-Closed, and Sundays 4pm-9pm.

Grading

I will calculate your grade as follows:

Exams (each exam is worth 20%) 60%

Quizzes (each quiz is worth 5%) 15%

Comprehensive Final Exam 25%

Total 100%

Grading Scale

90-100 A

80-89.9 B

70-79.9 C

60-69.9 D

Below 60 F

Main Topics to be Covered Chapters

Economic Tools: Introduction 1,2 Scarcity

Opportunity Cost

Supply and Demand 3 Price floors and ceilings 4

Elasticity

Microeconomic Decision Makers:

Consumer Choice 5

Production Costs 6

Profit Maximization 7

Product Markets: Perfect Competition 8

Monopoly 9 Monopolistic Competition 10

Oligopoly 10

Input Markets: The Labor Market 11 Inequality 12

Capital & Financial Markets 13

-----------------------

[1] Other editions of this book are acceptable but may require some additional verification on page numbers and problems from the new version when assigned in class.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download