Introduction
to
Microeconomics (220:102:01)
Professor Thomas Prusa
Course Syllabus
Contact
Information:
|
Email:
Office:
New Jersey Hall, Room 309 ( Office
Hours: Monday,
2:00-4:00pm |
Class
Times and Location
|
Monday and
Thursday, Period 3 – 11:30am to 12:50pm |
Problems
Sets, Lecture Notes, Discussion Board, Announcements:
|
|
Twitter
reminders & comments
|
Follow: http://twitter.com/Prusa_102_F09 |
Exam
Scores
|
Rutgers Gradebook |
·
You
do not have
to make an appointment to see me during my office hours.
·
To
make an
appointment to meet outside of my office hours email me.
·
I
will have extra
office hours before exams. Check the Aplia website announcements.
·
Before
emailing a
question you should check the discussion board on our class’ Aplia
website to
see if your question has already been asked (and perhaps answered) by
one of
your fellow classmates.
If it has not, please post your question to the class discussion board. I and/or my TA will check the discussion
board every day. You can learn a lot
from the information on the discussion board.
·
You
can also feel
free to email with any question related to the class.
I check my e-mail frequently. Let
me emphasize, however, that questions of
a general nature will likely be answered via a posting to the
discussion board
rather than a direct response.
The TA for the
course will
also hold weekly office hours.
Information regarding his/her office hours and e-mail address
will be
posted on our Aplia
course website.
The co-requisite or
pre-requisite for this course is pre-calculus (01:640:111, 112, or 115)
or
placement into calculus.
This is a
first course in microeconomics. Students
will learn the meaning and relevance
of basic economic concepts including opportunity costs, positive and
normative
economics, scarcity, tradeoffs, comparative advantage, marginal
analysis,
efficiency and equity, and market failure.
Other concepts students will learn:
1)
How
to use the
basic supply and demand model to understand how markets work.
2)
How
elasticity is
calculated and its relevance to understanding markets.
3)
How
to analyze
consumer behavior with respect to decisions about consumption, savings,
and
employment.
4)
How
to analyze
decisions firms make about pricing, output, employment, and investment.
5)
How
to analyze
the behavior of firms in alternative market structures including
perfect
competition, monopoly, monopolistic competition, and oligopoly.
6)
How
to use the
concepts of equity and efficiency to analyze and evaluate government
policies
in such areas tax policy, environmental policy, etc.
7)
How
to apply
economic concepts and ideas to situations not specifically covered in
class.
The economics
department has
a long-standing policy of not issuing special permission numbers for
any
economics class that is closed. The only
way you can enroll in this class (or any other economics class) is to
use the
regular online registration system. Keep
checking, and as soon as someone drops the course you want, grab the
opening
immediately.
(1)
Textbook – N. Gregory Mankiw’s Principles
of Microeconomics, 5th edition.
An inexpensive copy of the 4th edition will also be just
fine.
(2)
Aplia
subscription – You must have
a
subscription to the Aplia website. This
subscription gives you access to the online problem sets and also an
electronic
version of the textbook. The Aplia
course key for my course is FQAF-XDX6-CRG6
See the attachment (at the end of the syllabus) for registration
information
for Aplia. Please read this information
carefully. Do not buy anything until you
have read all of the information.
Before
purchasing the textbook you need to decide if you want a physical copy
of the
book. If the answer is “yes” then you
need to decide if you want a used copy of the book (either 4th
or 5th
edition) or a new book. The following
table might be helpful in deciding what to purchase:
|
If this sounds like you |
Then this is what you should purchase |
|
purchase an Aplia
access card (either directly from aplia.com or from a local
vendor) |
|
purchase Aplia
access card and a physical book together as a bundle (either
directly from aplia.com or from a local vendor) |
Note that aplia.com
allows
you to have free access to the electronic version of the textbook and
homework
problems until Sept-20th. This is a great way to “try out” the
course. At that time you must decide to
purchase just online access or whether you want both online access and
a
physical book.
You are required to
subscribe
to a website called Aplia. Our course
page on the Aplia
website will serve as the hub for this class. The
Aplia web site contains
·
All
required
homework for this class.
·
Supplemental
homework.
·
Lecture
notes.
·
Announcements.
·
A discussion board. The Aplia
discussion board should be the
first place you look for answers to questions you might have. The Aplia page should also be the place where
you post your own questions about the class
·
You
are
responsible for all readings, announcements, and assignments listed on
our
Aplia webpage.
I will send short
announcements & reminders relating to this course via twitter.
Follow Prusa_102_F09
Your grade will be
based on (1)
Attendance, (2) Graded Problem Sets, (3) Two “midterm” exams, and (4) a
Final
exam.
During every
lecture period I
will pose questions to the class. You
will need your iClicker to give your response.
You will get 10 points for simply clicking; you will get
3 “bonus”
points for clicking the correct answer. You
will receive a zero score if you fail to click.
Attendance will
account for
10% of your total points in the course. Over
the course of the term I will keep track of your iClicker points. In determining your “attendance grade”, you
will get credit for the fraction of iClicker points earned. In math, your attendance points will be
computed
Attendance Points
As an example,
suppose over
the course of the entire semester there are 90 iClicker questions
asked
in-class. Let’s also suppose that you
fail to click 10 times (e.g., are late for class, miss class, forget
your
clicker at home, or simply are sleeping during lecture).
Let’s also suppose that of the 80 questions
you clicked, you get 65 correct.
In this case your
attendance score
will be
Your iClicker Score =
With 90 questions
asked, your
attendance points would be 995/90 = 11.05.
A perfect
iClicker attendance score will earn you 13 points.
In effect, you can use good attendance plus
correct answers to earn extra credit points.
The problem sets
are an
integral part of the course. They will
help you learn how to use the tools of economics to analyze current
policy
issues and are designed to strengthen your grasp of the material
presented in
class and in the text.
There will about
30-35 graded
problems sets. This means that in some
weeks you will have to complete more than one graded problem set. The graded problems sets have a firm due date
and time (listed next to each assignment on the Aplia “Assignment” tab). Once the due date & time has passed, the
grade will be recorded and it will not be possible to change your
answers or
complete the assignment at this point. The
software does not care whether you have an excuse or not.
No late problem sets will be accepted under
any circumstances. Do the assignments early to avoid any
emergencies
preventing your completion before the due date.
Aplia will give you a score for each problem set
(e.g., 17.5 out of 26).
Problem
sets will account for 15% of your total points in the course.
In
determining your “problem set grade”, I will compute the percentage
questions
answered correctly. That is, the total
number of questions answered correctly divided by the total number of
questions
asked. In math, your problem set points
will
be computed
Problem Sets Points
As
an example, suppose over the course of the entire semester there are
380 graded
problem set questions and that you get 300 points.
In this case your problem set score will be
300/380 x 15 = 11.84 points. A perfect
problem set score will earn you 15 points.
You will receive a zero score for any missing assignments.
Although homework
will only
count for 15 percent of your grade, you can be sure that midterm and
final exam
questions will closely resemble those found in the homework assignments.
I encourage
students to work
together on the homework assignments, as they are far more fun (or less
painful) done as a team. Make sure,
however, that you do not rely too much on your study partners, because
teamwork
will NOT be possible on the
exams.
All exams and
problem sets
will consist of multiple choice (& perhaps some True/False)
questions. Check the Aplia website for
extra practice
problems, dates of review sessions, and information regarding the
material to
be covered on each exam.
|
Midterm #1 |
Monday,
October 5th
(in-class) |
|
Midterm #2 |
Thursday, November 12th
(in-class) |
|
Final Exam |
Monday, December 21st from
12:00PM to 3:00PM |
·
There
will be no
make-up midterm exams under any circumstances.
The grading scheme allows you to miss a midterm and still do
well in the
class. Read the grading section of the
syllabus for more information.
·
The
final is
cumulative.
·
If
you cannot
attend the final exam, do not
take this course. Mark your calendar now!!!
·
The
university
has clear rules for what constitutes a final exam conflict. See the Fall 2009 final exam schedule (http://scheduling.rutgers.edu/fallfinals.htm) for rules regarding final exams at Rutgers.
There will be two
grading
schemes in order to minimize the impact of a poor performance on any
one test. I will assign your final course
grade based
on the grading scheme that works best for you.
The two schemes will work as
follows:
Scheme 1. Attendance is worth 10 points; problem sets are worth 15 points; each midterm is worth 20 points; and the final is worth 35 points.
Scheme 2. I will drop
the lowest midterm score. So, under this
second method: attendance is worth 10 points; problem sets are worth 15
points;
the better midterm is worth 25 points; and the final is worth 50 points.
If you miss a midterm, for any reason, scheme 2 will be invoked. There will be no makeup midterms.
Cheating is totally unacceptable. The
University
has established severe penalties for cheating. The University’s policy
on
academic integrity is found in the official catalogue at http://catalogs.rutgers.edu/generated/nb-ug_current/pg21724.html . I want to bring
particular attention to one section of this policy:
Level
Three Violations
Level three offenses
involve dishonesty on a significant portion of coursework, such as a
major paper,
an hourly, or a final examination. Violations that are premeditated or
involve
repeat offenses of level one or level two are considered level three
violations.
Examples: Copying from or
giving others assistance on an hourly or final examination,
plagiarizing major
portions of an assignment, using forbidden material on an hourly or
final
examination, using a purchased term paper, presenting the work of
another as
one’s own, altering a graded examination for the purposes of regrading.
Recommended Sanctions:
Suspension from the University for one or more semesters, with a
notation of
“academic disciplinary suspension” placed on a student’s transcript for
the
period of suspension, and a failing grade in the course.
Grades will be posted to the SAS
Gradebook. SAS
Gradebook is the only way to find out
how you have done on the tests. Exam
grades will not be available via the
phone, email, in-class, etc.
It is my experience that a remarkably large
number
of students do not know what constitutes appropriate classroom behavior. Here is a short list of “do’s and don’ts”.
·
Be in
your seat before the class starting time.
·
Once
the lecture begins, you should remain seated throughout the entire
class.
·
Do
not read newspapers or have extended conversations with fellow
students during class.
·
Turn
off all electronic devices such as cell phones, pagers, etc. Do not browse the web, facebook, text, etc.
during class. You have been warned.
Lecture notes will
be posted in
advance of each period on the Aplia webpage.
Print them out and bring them to class.
Having the class notes in front of you while I lecture will help
you
concentrate on the material I am presenting.
Instead of having to take notes on everything I say, you can
simply
supplement the notes with what you think is important.
You should bring colored pens and pencils to
class. You might also want to bring a
small ruler. We will be drawing a lot of
graphs.
The schedule may
change but
gives you an idea of the topics I plan to cover as well as the pace of
the
course.
|
Week |
Date |
Chapter |
Topic |
|
1 |
Thurs, 9/3 |
1 |
Introduction,
Ten principles of economics |
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 |
Mon, 9/7
|
|
No class, Labor day |
|
Tues, 9/8 |
2 |
Thinking like
an economist (University is on a
Monday class schedule) |
|
|
Thurs, 9/10 |
3 |
Interdependence
and the gains from trade |
|
|
3 |
Mon, 9/14 |
||
|
Thurs, 9/17 |
4 |
Market forces
of supply and demand |
|
|
4 |
Mon, 9/21 |
||
|
Thurs, 9/24 |
5 |
Elasticity and
its application |
|
|
5 |
Mon, 9/28 |
||
|
Thurs, 10/1 |
6 |
Supply,
demand, and government policies |
|
|
6 |
Mon, 10/5 |
– |
MIDTERM 1 |
|
Thurs, 10/8 |
6 |
Supply,
demand, and government policies |
|
|
7 |
Mon, 10/12 |
7 |
Efficiency of
markets |
|
Thurs, 10/15 |
10 |
Externalities |
|
8 |
Mon, 10/19 |
11 |
Public goods
and common resources |
|
Thurs, 10/22 |
13 |
Costs of
production |
|
|
9 |
Mon, 10/26 |
||
|
Thurs, 10/29 |
14 |
Perfect
competition |
|
|
10 |
Mon, 11/2 |
||
|
Thurs, 11/5 |
15 |
Monopoly |
|
|
11 |
Mon, 11/9 |
||
|
Thurs, 11/12 |
– |
MIDTERM 2 |
|
|
12 |
Mon, 11/16 |
16 |
Monopolistic
competition |
|
Thurs, 11/19 |
17 |
Oligopoly |
|
|
13 |
Mon, 11/23 |
||
|
Thurs, 11/26 |
|
NO CLASS,
Thanksgiving break |
|
|
14 |
Mon, 11/30 |
18 |
Factors of
production |
|
Thurs, 12/3 |
|||
|
15 |
Mon, 12/7 |
21 |
Consumer
behavior |
|
Thurs, 12/10 |
|||
|
Final Exam |
Monday 12/21, |
– |
FINAL EXAM |