Instructor: Becky Chenevert

Course: Principles of Microeconomics

ECON 2302

Meeting Time: 9:05-10:35 am, Monday-Friday
Meeting Place: NRG2 2120

Contact Information: You can email me at rcheneve@austincc.edu, and my voicemail box is 26248. My office is in 2111/2112 in building 2000, and I will hold office hours Monday-Thursday from 10:35-11:35. If office hours are not convenient for you, please email me to set up an appointment.

Course Description: Principles of Microeconomics deals with the interactions between individual households and business firms. The concepts of supply and demand will be studied; students will learn what these concepts mean, how they operate, and how prices are determined. Market structure, market failure and income distribution will also be considered.

Required Text Book: Microeconomics by Roger A. Arnold, 7^th Edition.

Course Rationale: 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.

Course Objectives:

Students who complete this course will be able to understand:

• the basic concepts of scarcity and opportunity cost;
• the 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;
• the theoretical market structures of perfect competition and monopoly.

Course Evaluation/Grading: 25% of your grade will be determined by each midterm exam, 35% by the final exam, and the remaining 15% will be determined by class participation. Exams will have multiple choice, short answer and essay questions. Class participation will consist of attendance and attentiveness in class and homework assignments. The purpose of the homework is to teach you economic concepts so that you may perform well on the exams. I encourage you to work hard on the homework, because that hard work will be rewarded with your exam performance. However, homework will only be graded on a credit/no credit basis.

Course Policies: Missed exams are generally treated as zeroes; only serious and substantiated medical or personal emergencies may be accepted as legitimate excuses for a missed exam. Makeup exams are generally composed entirely of technical essay questions rather than multiple choice items. I will not withdraw students from this course. If you need to withdraw from this course, you must fill out a withdrawal form and submit it to the admissions office on or before Tuesday, July 31. Incompletes will be given only when extraordinary, documented events intervene after the withdrawal deadline so as to make completion of the course impossible.

Course Outline:

Week of July 9: What economics is about, Trade, Opportunity Cost, Supply and Demand

Basics

Chapters 1-4
Week of July 16: Elasticity, Consumer Choice, Utility Maximization Indifference

Curves

Chapters 5-6

Thursday, July 19: Midterm 1

Week of July 23: The firm, Production and costs

Chapters 7-8

Week of July 30: Perfect Competition, Monopoly, Oligopoly

Chapters 9-11

Tuesday, July 31: Midterm 2

Week of August 6: Game Theory, Government Interaction with the Market, Labor

Market (if time)

Chapters 11-13

August 13: Review

August 14: Final Exam (Comprehensive)