Instructor:  Becky Chenevert

Course:  Principles of Microeconomics

               ECON 2302

Meeting Time:  8:00-9:50 MTWTh
Meeting Place:  AVRY 221

Contact Information:   You can email me at rcheneve@austincc.edu, and my voicemail box is 26248.  I will hold office hours after class every day for 15 minutes, and will stay longer if questions continue.  Please use email to contact me, and please feel free to contact me if you need to set up an appointment outside of office hours.

 

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:  Principles of Microeconomics by N. Gregory Mankiw, 4th 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 June 25.  Incompletes will be given only when extraordinary, documented events intervene after the withdrawal deadline so as to make completion of the course impossible.

 

Scholastic Dishonesty: Acts prohibited by the college for which discipline may be administered include scholastic dishonesty, including but not limited to cheating on an exam or quiz, plagiarizing, and unauthorized collaboration with another in preparing outside work. Academic work submitted by students shall be the result of their 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.

 

Students with Disabilities: Each ACC campus offers support services for students with documented physical or psychological disabilities. Students with disabilities must request reasonable 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.

 

Course Outline:

Week of May 27:  Introduction, Production Possibilities Frontier, Comparative

Advantage, Supply

            Chapters 1-4

Week of June 2:   Demand, Market Equilibrium, Elasticity, Consumer Theory

            Chapters 4, 5, 7, 21

Week of June 9:  Consumer Theory, Production, Perfect Competition,

            Chapters 21 and 13-14

            Tuesday, June 10:  Midterm 1

Week of June 16:  Monopoly, Oligopoly

            Chapters 15-16

            Thursday, June 19:  Midterm 2

Week of June 23:  Externalities, Public Goods, Taxes, Trade

            Chapters 6, 8-12

June 30: Finish Trade

July 1:  Review

July 2:  Final Exam