203syllabus.html
Edmonds Community College
Microeconomics – ECON 201D – Spring 2009
Online Course
Instructor: Andy Williams
Textbooks: Economics: Principles, Problems and Policies, 18th Edition, by
McConnell, Brue, Flynn is required. The textbook authors have made additional materials available at their Online Learning Center at .
Equipment and software: A calculator, paper and pencils will prove to be handy, as will skills with word processing, spreadsheets and the internet. Students must have reliable access to the internet throughout the course.
This is an online course and we will use Blackboard to communicate, for testing and for submitting assignments. Students are expected to access Blackboard via the internet daily and to participate actively in course discussions throughout the course.
You can find additional information at the EdCC Blackboard site at .
Availability: The best way to reach me is via email at . You can also reach me by phone at 425-640-1450. If you want to meet in person, you can find me in my office in SNO #235. My office hours are Monday - Thursday: 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. You can also find additional information on my web page at .
Prerequisites: Successful completion of Math 90, Intermediate Algebra, is a prerequisite for this course. Successful completion of English 105 is also a prerequisite for this course.
This is a class that is delivered using the tools of the internet, as well as standard business software, such as spreadsheets and word processors. You should be familiar with these tools before taking this course. We will be using the Blackboard software for our virtual classroom. Blackboard creates a complete online classroom on a Web site. Students need access to the internet and a Web browser; no other online software is required. Complete instructions for logging into Blackboard are located at the EdCC Online website. Also at that site are links to various resources, plug-ins, and tips and tricks that you may find useful!
Accessibility: If you require an accommodation for a disability, please contact Services for Students with Disabilities at MLT 159, 425.640.1320. ssdmail@edcc.edu.
Course Objectives
Edmonds Community College has identified four abilities in which graduates must demonstrate their proficiency. The following college-wide abilities and specific learning outcomes are applied in ECON 201:
Critical Thinking Outcomes:
• Observe, analyze, synthesize, apply and evaluate business information.
• Identify arguments, evaluate claims, and form conclusions based on standard business practices.
• Identify and analyze problems and options, then select and implement appropriate solutions, and evaluate outcomes appropriate to course content.
• Examine and evaluate personal thinking as well as the thought process and perspectives of others.
Communication Outcomes:
• Prepare and present clear, concise, well-developed written communications in Standard English with correct punctuation and spelling, using business-appropriate word processing formats and styles.
• Write clear organized short informational reports using correct format and report writing principles.
• Use listening skills that enhance relationships in a business environment.
Quantitative Skills Outcomes:
• Use mathematics to solve quantitative business issues and problems.
• Calculate and explain the costs and benefits of simple financial choices encountered in financial planning and strategic decision-making.
• Use personal computers and other tools most commonly used by business to obtain, store, organize and communicate quantitative business information.
Specific Course Outcomes for ECON 201
• Define ‘economics’ and describe elements of economic perspectives. Identify economic policies and goals as accepted by society, and describe their interrelationships.
• Identify the economics problem, productive efficiency, allocative efficiency, and the production possibilities curve. Describe basic economic systems and the allocation of resources and products.
• Define supply and demand, describe the laws of supply and demand, and describe how various forces may shift the market supply and demand curves.
• Define the basic components of a competitive market system.
• Define price elasticity of demand, the price elasticity coefficient and formula, describe the differences between elastic and inelastic demand.
• Use the law of diminishing utility and the utility-maximizing rule to describe consumer behavior in terms of choice and budget restraint.
• Define cost, economic cost, opportunity cost, explicit costs and implicit costs. Explain the law of diminishing returns.
• Identify and describe the characteristics of the four different market structure models.
• Describe the conditions necessary and the options available to maximize profits for a firm operating in a purely competitive market.
• Identify and describe the characteristics of a pure monopoly. Provide examples of monopolies. Define barriers to entry, and provide examples of common barriers that block market competition.
• Identify and describe the characteristics of monopolistic competition.
• Identify and describe the characteristics of an oligopoly.
• Describe the economic effects of technological advances, inventions and innovations.
• Define public goods, spillover costs and benefits, their effects and remedies.
General Course Schedule
Week One: Limits, Alternatives and Choices
4/6 - 4/13 Learning Objectives
• Define ‘economics’ and describe elements of economic perspectives.
• Define theoretical economics and empirical economics, and describe their purposes.
• Define material wants, utility, the concept of scarcity and the factors of production.
• Identify the economics problem, productive efficiency, allocative efficiency, and the production possibilities curve.
• Define opportunity cost, and describe the law of increasing opportunity costs
• Define marginal cost, marginal benefit, and describe conditions at the optimal point on the production possibilities curve.
• Apply the concept of the production possibilities curve to current social issues.
• Identify and describe pitfalls to sound economic reasoning.
• Describe the relationship between dependent and independent variables in a graph, define direct and inverse relationships as depicted in a graph, and determine the slope of a line on a graph.
Week Two: The Market System and the Circular Flow
4/14 - 4/20: Learning Objectives
• Define the basic components of a competitive market system
• Identify and describe the characteristics of modern economies, including the differences between command and market systems.
• Describe how the market system determines production goals, production methods and allocates resources.
• Describe the role of competition in a capitalistic economic system.
• Describe how a market system adjusts to changes.
Week Three: Demand, Supply and Market Equilibrium
4/21 - 4/27: Learning Objectives
• Define a market, and describe various types of market locations and participants.
• Define demand, describe the law of demand, and describe how various forces may shift the market demand curve.
• Define supply, describe the law of supply, and describe how various forces may shift the market supply curve.
• Define market equilibrium and the rationing function of prices.
• Describe the effects of changes in supply, demand and equilibrium prices and quantities.
• Describe the impacts of externally imposed prices and how they can result in product surpluses and shortages.
Week Four: Elasticity, Consumer Surplus, and Producer Surplus
4/28 – 5/4: Learning Objectives
• Define price elasticity of demand, the price elasticity coefficient and formula, describe the differences between elastic and inelastic demand.
• Identify the determinants of elasticity of demand.
• Describe how elasticity predicts how changes in price will affect revenues.
• Define price elasticity of supply, and identify the determinants of supply elasticity. Describe how time may affect the elasticity of supply.
• Define substitute goods, complementary goods and independent goods in terms of cross elasticity of demand.
• Apply the concept of price elasticity to shortages, surpluses and other effects of price controls.
• Define consumer surplus, producer surplus and describe efficiency losses.
• Midterm Exam
Week Five: Consumer Behavior
5/5 - 5/11 Learning Objectives
• Explain the law of demand in terms of the income effect and substitution effect.
• Define and describe the characteristics of the concept of utility. Distinguish between total and marginal utility.
• Explain the law of demand in terms of the law of diminishing utility.
• Use the law of diminishing utility and the utility-maximizing rule to describe consumer behavior in terms of choice and budget restraint.
Week Six: The Costs of Production
5/12 - 5/18 Learning Objectives
• Define cost, economic cost, opportunity cost, explicit costs and implicit costs.
• Distinguish between normal profits and economic profits.
• Distinguish between short and long time frames.
• Explain the law of diminishing returns.
• Define short-run production costs, including fixed, variable, total, average and marginal costs. Identify the causes of shifts in cost curves.
• Define long-run production costs, and describe the effects of time on various types of costs.
• Define the concept of economies of scale, and describe the factors that contribute to the attainment of economies of scale.
Week Seven: Pure Competition
5/19 - 5/25 Learning Objectives
• Identify and describe the characteristics of the four different market structure models.
• Describe the conditions necessary and the options available to maximize profits for a firm operating in a purely competitive the links between the law of diminishing returns, production costs and product supply.
• Describe the effects of price changes on market conditions in the long run.
• Identify four deterrents to allocative efficiency in a competitive economy.
Week Eight: Pure Monopoly
5/26 – 6/1 Learning Objectives
• Identify and describe the characteristics of a pure monopoly. Provide examples of monopolies.
• Define barriers to entry, and provide examples of common barriers that block market competition.
• Define price discrimination, provide examples of price discrimination, and describe the consequences of price discrimination.
• Describe the economic effects of monopolies on society and the effects of price regulation on monopolies and society.
Week Nine: Monopolistic Competition and Oligopoly
6/2 – 6/8 Learning Objectives
• Identify and describe the characteristics of monopolistic competition. Provide examples of industries where monopolistic competition exists.
• Analyze the efficiency of monopolistic competition. Define non-price competition and product differentiation, and their relationships to economic efficiency.
• Identify and describe the characteristics of an oligopoly. Provide examples of industries where oligopolies exist and explain why.
• Describe the interrelationships between competitors within oligopolies, including collusive agreements, cartels, etc.
• Analyze the efficiency of oligopolies. Define non-price competition and product differentiation, and their relationships to economic efficiency.
Week Ten: Public Goods, Externalities and Information Asymmetries
6/9 - 6/15 Learning Objectives
• Define public goods, spillover costs and benefits, their effects and remedies.
• Describe the economic causes of environmental problems and economic responses to environmental problems
• Describe the role of information in market operations, as well as the relationships between buyers and sellers.
• Final Exam
Assessment of Learning Outcomes:
Please read my policy on Academic Integrity!
Student achievement of the course objectives will be assessed by a variety of instruments, including objective testing, completion of written homework problems and discussion questions, participation in class discussions and written analysis of cases.
There will be objective weekly quizzes as well as a midterm exam and a final exam. NO LATES QUIZZES OR EXAMS WILL BE ALLOWED for any reason without prior approval before the due date from the instructor.
NO LATE HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE ACCEPTED for any reason without prior approval from the instructor. Homework assignments will be graded on the bases of quality of presentation, completeness, and accuracy.
Classroom discussions and your active participation in class activities and exercises are integral parts of the learning process. Your questions, and your responses to the questions of others, reveal the quality of your efforts and the depth of your understanding. Accordingly, grade points will be earned based on your consistent and quality participation in those discussions. At a minimum, you should be actively participating at least three times weekly and should be checking in with the class on a daily basis. Grades: Points will be earned as follows:
|Midterm Exam |100 |
|Final Exam |150 |
|Weekly Quizzes |100 |
|Participation |100 |
|Total possible |450 |
Decimal grades will be determined by the Decimal Grading Table.
V” grades are not available. If you need to withdraw from the course, please do so by the date on the EdCC Academic Calendar.
“I” grades are only available with prior approval of the instructor based on extenuating circumstances and a specific agreement to complete the class in a timely manner.
Accounting Department Decimal Grading Scale
|Percentage of Total Points |Decimal Grade |Letter Grade Equivalent |
|95 - 100% |4.0 |A |
|94 |3.9 |A |
|93 |3.8 |A |
|92 |3.7 |A |
|91 |3.6 |A- |
|90 |3.5 |A- |
|89 |3.4 |B+ |
|88 |3.3 |B+ |
|87 |3.2 |B |
|86 |3.1 |B |
|85 |3.0 |B |
|84 |2.9 |B |
|83 |2.8 |B |
|82 |2.7 |B |
|81 |2.6 |B- |
|80 |2.5 |B- |
|79 |2.4 |C+ |
|78 |2.3 |C+ |
|77 |2.2 |C |
|76 |2.1 |C |
|75 |2.0 |C |
|74 |1.9 |C |
|73 |1.8 |C |
|72 |1.7 |C- |
|71 |1.6 |C- |
|70 |1.5 |C- |
|69 - 67 |1.4 |D+ |
|66 |1.3 |D |
|65 |1.2 |D |
|64 |1.1 |D |
|63 |1.0 |D- |
|62 |0.9 |D- |
|61 |0.8 |D- |
|60 |0.7 |D- |
|Score < 60% |0.0 |No Credit |
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