Instructor: Professor Mark Griffin Smith, 103 Palmer Hall, Telephone: Ext. 6411
Room: Palmer 217
Class Hours: 9:00 – 12:00: Monday - Friday, 1:00 – 2:30: Tuesday & Thursday
Office Hours: Immediately after class everyday and by appointment.
Course Texts:
Mansfield, Edwin & Behravesh, Nariman. Economics U$A, 5th ed., New York: W.W. Norton, 1998. (Required) (M&B)
Buchholz, Todd G. New Ideas from Dead Economists: An Introduction to Economic Thought, New York: Penguin, 1990. (B)
Other readings to be distributed.
This course has three fundamental objectives. The first is to introduce you to the process of thinking like an economist. Thinking like an economist involves, first, understanding the vocabulary and basic principles of economics. Once you have learned the basics, you will then examine how economists abstract the essential economic issues from complex social and economic problems and develop analytical models to rigorously evaluate such problems.
The second objective is to understand the intellectual context within which modern economics developed. We will examine the history of economic thought through the study of the lives and ideas of the most influential economists of the last two centuries. Through this study we will come to a greater understanding of not only how major economic ideas developed but also why certain ideas have had such great influence on people and governments.
Finally, we will examine the difference among different ideological
perspectives which may cause disagreement on economic and political issues
stemming from either value differences or differences in positive analysis.
We will examine how each of these perspectives views the proper role of
government with respect to several of the most urgent economic issues of
our day.
Percentage Assignment of Grade
(1) Quizzes or Mid-Block Exam (July 16) 20%
(2) Final Exam (July 21) 20%
(3) Homework 20%
(4) Data Analysis 15%
(4) Website Presentation 5%
(5) Final Paper: Business Plan 15%
(6) Class Participation 5%
There will be six quizzes given at the beginning of class on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays as noted on the syllabus. Each quiz will have the same value of ten points and will cover material from the readings, lectures and experiments. In addition to the quizzes, students will have the option of taking a mid-term exam on the afternoon of the second Friday of the block. Those students choosing to take the mid-term exam will be assigned the higher or their cumulative quiz grade or the grade from their mid-term exam.
The final exam will be distributed at the end of class on Tuesday, July 20. It will be due at noon the next day. The exam will ask you to analyze a major economic question using the concepts and tools you have learned in the course.
Much of economics involves the analysis of data to both understand the nature of important relationships in the economy as well as to test economic theories. Your initiation into the study of economics should include not only the exposure to the major questions in economics, but also allow you to explore questions that interest you, personally. Moreover, it should expose you to the wealth of data now available for analysis through electronic sources.
The assignment consists of three parts:
Part 1: The Question: Identify a microeconomic question that interests you. In one paragraph describe the question, in a second paragraph identify the type of data that you think will help understand this question. Possible questions include:
Is the gap widening between rich and poor?
Do women earn less than men?
How has the minimum wage changed over time?
Does economic growth cause environmental degradation?
Is company X a good investment?
Will the stock market continue to rise?
Due: Thursday, July 8
Part 2: Find the Data and Graph It. The second part of the assignment is to find data that will help you understand your question and to analyze the data by graphing it.
Turn in 2-4 graphs of your data and a 1-2 page (typed, double-spaced) description of what you see in the data.
Due: Tuesday, July 13
Part 3: In 2-3 page paper (typed, double-spaced) explain why you think the relationship you have observed in the data exists. In addition to drawing upon readings and lectures, you may also use additional sources, i.e. books, journals, periodicals, etc..
Due: Monday, July 19
It is my expectation that you will come to class each day having read the material assigned for that day in advance of the class meeting. This will facilitate both your understanding and our class discussion of the material.
The course is based upon an experimental approach to economics. Much of the course material will be introduced by experiments conducted in class. It is extremely important for the learning experience of the entire class that you come to class ready to participate in the day’s experiment. Each experiment has a "Warm-up Exercise" to prepare you to do the experiment. While these will not be collected, they must be completed in advance of the day of the experiment.
Each experiment has an associated lab report and homework assignment that must be completed and turned in at the class session following the experiment. These assignments will be graded and returned to you. Your homework grade will be a substantial portion of your overall grade in the course.
The World Wide Web is becoming an increasing important source of information, especially in economics and business. To encourage you to explore the Web and critically evaluate the information you find, each of you will be asked to find a web site focusing on economic or business issues and to make a brief presentation to the class describing the information/data available from this site. Presentations should be no longer than 5 minutes. Please bring several copies of the homepage (including the site’s web address) to class. In addition, please note any particularly helpful "links" you may have found while searching, i.e. sites that may not be interesting in themselves, but that identify and have links to, other useful sites.
Each block course at C.C. is expensive and there are relatively few in your four years of undergraduate education. It is important that you participate fully and enthusiastically in the activities of the course if you (and your parents or whomever is paying your tuition) are to receive your full measure of value from it. It is equally important to the other students in the course that you share your opinions and respect theirs, participate in class activities, and otherwise assist in the "joint" learning experience which can be an important element of the class. A portion of your class grade will be based upon the instructor's evaluation of your participation.
You will learn as much economics as your motivation and efforts allow; for some this will not be enough to pass the course, while for others it will be more than enough to earn an "A." The incentive to learn and explore economics must come from you. The instructor is a resource person who will help guide the class through the material; individual students will take advantage of this resource in different ways according to their motivation and initiative. Remember that the initiative must come from you, after which assistance in many forms can be made available.
You are expected to come to class prepared, namely having read the
assigned material and made an effort to understand it. "Read" here means
not just a cursory glance, but rather a careful study and check to see
that concepts and definitions are firmly understood. In class we will cover
some of the more difficult materials and discuss some of the more interesting
aspects. These class sessions will not be a comprehensive review or presentation
of everything in the assigned readings. You will be expected to raise questions
on materials you do not understand. Extra help sessions are possible to
review difficult aspects of the course materials.
It is highly recommended that you study with others in small groups on a regular basis. This will permit active rather than passive learning as you explain concepts to others, have them explain things to you, and debate correct answers and possible test questions. Look around the class for others who are working at the same pace as you, since group study works well only if all members are attuned basically to the same material at the same time. Remember, if you understand the material well enough to explain it to a fellow student, then you truly understand it.
For students having a particularly hard time with the material a tutor should be considered as early as possible. By close to the end of a block it is usually too late for help to be beneficial.
This is a reminder that as in all academic work at C.C., the Honor Code applies to all work in this course. For exams it means that no assistance can be received or given to other students before, during or after the exam which would violate the Honor Code. Please take special note of the fact that students not present for an exam will take a make-up before or after the class session. No discussion of the contents or possible answers to an exam is allowed until all students in class have completed that exam. Before you discuss an exam, determine if the other student has also completed the exam. If in doubt, ask before you discuss.
If you have any questions about the Honor Code or how it might apply in a particular situation, seek clarification from the instructor or a member of the Honor Council.
1. Opportunity Cost
2. Market Demand
3. Market Supply
4. Elasticity (Demand, Supply, Income, Cross-Price)
5. Equilibrium
6. Consumer Behavior - Utility Maximization
7. Producer Behavior - Profit Maximization
8. The Time Value of Money
9. Why Markets Fail
10. Variants of Imperfect Competition: Monopoly, Oligopoly, Monopolistic Competition
11. Externalities and Public Goods
12. Taxes and Their Effects