Principles of Microeconomics
ECON 2302.019
Saturday 9:00am-11:40 NRG2 2120
Instructor: Don Tompkins
Fall 2008
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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: NRG 2111
Email: dtompkin@austincc.edu
Phone: Cell (emergencies)512-468-7541
Office Hours: Saturday
8:30-9:00am and 11:40-12:15
Conferences outside of office hours may be arranged by
appointment
The section number of this class is: ECON 2302.019
The synonym for this class: 22291
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:
In
this course you will study:
The economic problemscarcity
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 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
The instructional methodology
of this class will be lecture, group discussion, individual current event
presentation with peer review, and brainstorming on relevant political and
social issues.
The key in
understanding economics is gaining the ability to solve problems. In doing so, first, one must understand the
material; second, one should use the given tools such as graphs and formulae to
arrive at the correct answer. In lecture
examples will be used to demonstrate how it is done. You will gain experience and knowledge from
solving problems with your classmates. On practicing problem solving, it is
important to work together and give help when needed because problem solving
is a key to mastering economics.
Textbooks
Required:
Principles of Microeconomics. Fourth
Edition by N. Gregory Mankiw (Thomson Learning, South-Western, COPYRIGHT 2007)
Optional:
Study Guide Principles of Microeconomics, Fourth Edition by David R. Hakes (Thomson Learning, South-Western, COPYRIGHT 2004)
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, essay questions at the ends of the chapters will function as broad learning objectives that will be discussed in class. Essay questions similar to those will compose part of the exams.
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.
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 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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Testing
Midterm examinations will
consist of .two parts: 1) objective questions and 2) essay questions. The
questions will be similar to the questions and problems in the text. There will
be three midterm examinations plus a final exam. The final exam will be
comprehensive
Provide
advance notice and reasons if you will miss a test, make up tests must be
completed at the testing center within six days.
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 grade points. Several of the questions on the exams will be taken from these presentations.
Bonus points of up to 70
points may be earned by completing an in-class exercise after chapter 2 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 for bonus points must be completed on time as agreed to
in-class. I will not accept any late homework no matter what the reason.
There are 500 grade points available all together. The three midterms will be worth 100 points each or 300 points all together. The Final Exam will be comprehensive and be worth 150 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%
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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.
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
Beginning in the Fall of 2007 academic term, and applying to students who enroll in higher education for the first time during the fall of 2007 or any term subsequent to the 2007 term, an institution of higher education may not permit an undergraduate student to drop a total of more than six courses, including any course a transfer student has dropped at another institution of higher education.
The
last day to withdraw from this course without penalty is Monday, November
24.
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Week Date Chapter
Assignments
1
Aug 30 Introduction
2 Sept. 6 Chapter 1& 2
3 Sept
13 Graphing & bonus
exercise, Chapter 3
4 Sept
20 Chapter 3 & 4
5 Sept 27 Chapter 4,5 & 6
6 Oct 4 Chapter 6 & Test MT-1
7 Oct 11 Chapter 7 & 8
8 Oct
18 Chapter 9, 10 & 11
9 Oct 25 Chapter 11 & 12
10 Nov 1 Chapter 12 & Test MT-2
11 Nov
8 Chapter 13 & 14
13 Nov 22 Chapter 17 & Test MT-3
14 Nov 29 Thanksgiving Holiday
16 Dec
6 Chapter 18, 19 & 20
17 Dec 13 Final
Semester Ends Sunday, December 14th