Instructor: Tibor Besedes
Office: 102 New Jersey Hall,
75 Hamilton Street,
College Avenue Campus
e-mail: dinamo@eden.rutgers.edu
Web Page: http://econweb.rutgers.edu/besedes/
Lectures: MF 8:10-9:30, Campbell A4
Office Hours: Tuesday, 10:30-12:00

Introduction to Microeconomics
Fall 2002 Course Syllabus

Textbook:
Case, Karl E. and Ray C. Ray, Principles of Microeconomics, 6th ed., Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2001.
Beveridge, Thomas, Study Guide Principles of Microeconomics, 6th ed., Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2001.

Prerequisites:
The pre- or co-requisites for this course is Precalculus Part I (640:111) or Precalculus College Math (640:115).

Course Objectives:
This course will investigate the foundations of microeconomics. We will study demand and supply to start with and then look into decision making by households and firms. We will examine how consumers choose which products to buy, how much to buy, how their choices change with prices and income, etc. Using consumer choices we will derive the demand curve. To derive the supply curve we will study the behavior of firms and questions such as how firms decide whether to produce, how much to produce if they will produce, how their decisions depend on the short and long run circumstances, how may inputs to purchase, how firms in different market structures behave, etc. The main goal of this course is to introduce you to microeconomics, the basic models studied, and to enable you to critically observe current events and apply what you learn.

Grading:
Your grade for the course will be based on three exams, two in-term exams on Friday, October 4, and Tuesday, November 5, and a final exam on Tuesday, December 17, at 8 a.m. The two in term exams each account for 30% of your final grade. The cumulative final exam accounts for the remaining 40%. 

Make-ups:
You are allowed to miss up to one exam. The make up will be held during the last class, Tuesday, December 10. You can miss only one exam. If you miss two exams you will be allowed to take only one make up. You can miss an exam for whatever reason. You do not have to tell me why you missed it, but if you do not take the make up, you will receive a zero grade for that exam. Although this may seem like an easy way out of an exam if you are not prepared, be aware that you will have much more to study in December. This is NOT A MAKEUP FOR A GRADE ON A PREVIOUS EXAM. You can only take the makeup if you miss one previous exam.

Attendance:
While attendance will not be graded, I strongly encourage you to attend classes, as performance in the class is usually highly correlated with attendance.

Extra Credit Assignments:
Any extra credit assignments will be assigned as homework for the whole class. There will be no special extra credits or extra work of any kind for the purpose of raising a grade during or after the semester.

General Information:
I plan to cover as much as possible during the course of this class. While I will mostly follow the textbook, I may add some material that is not contained in it. In that case, your lecture notes will contain all the relevant information that you will need on exams. If you are having trouble with the material you are strongly encouraged to come see me during the office hours. I strongly encourage you to work on the problems assigned in class and others. This will not only help you come exam time but also enable you to truly understand the material.
Please turn off all electronic devices such as cell phones, pagers, and beeping watches.

Academic Honesty:
Cheating is totally unacceptable. The Universityhas established rather severe penalties for cheating. I advise you to reviewRutgers’ policies oncheating which can be found in the Undergraduate Catalog.

Topics to be covered:
I plan to cover chapters 1 through 16. However, I will not push to cover all of the chapters. How many chapters are covered will depend on the speed of the course.

Your grade for the course will be based on three exams, two in-term exams on Friday, October 4, and Tuesday, November 5, and a final exam on Tuesday, December 17, at 8 a.m. The two in term exams each account for 30% of your final grade. The cumulative final exam accounts for the remaining 40%.

GRADES