Syllabus for Society of College Scholars, Economics 201, Principles of Microeconomics.
Winter 2008, 12-2 M and W.
Professor Bill Harbaugh
Office: 538 PLC, phone: 346-1244
Office hours: 3-5 M, or email me for an appointment.
email: wtharbaugh@gmail.com
web: http://harbaugh.org
Go here for class documents, readings, etc
Textbook: The textbook for the class is Frank and Bernanke, Principles of Microeconomics. This textbook covers the standard material for a microeconomics principles class. It will be supplemented with more advanced material in lecture and by emails of additional brief readings.
Website: http://discoverecon.com You need to register for this site because itÕs where you will do your homework, and because it contains an abundance of study material that complements the textbook. A code should have come with your textbook.
Experiments: Economics makes lots of predictions about how people will behave in situations where they have an incentive to optimize. From time to time we will do experiments in class, to test these predictions. To make sure that you have the right incentives to optimize, weÕll do these experiments for cash payoffs. The cash comes from you. You will need to me $20 for these experiments. (If this is a problem for you please let me know and we can make alternative arrangements.) IÕll contribute $100 of my own money to the pot. So, on average, you should get back more than you put in – but of course itÕs possible that you might end with much more, or for that matter with nothing at all! Payments are due in class, Wednesday of week 2, at which time I will issue receipts. Cash checks, or paypal are all OK.
Research Project: Your research assignment for this class is to prepare a 15 minute oral presentation on an economic issue that interests you. You will meet with me once to develop the project, and then once to present it to me. No powerpoint, but you should prepare a one page handout to give me at the beginning of your talk, and you can use a blackboard as well. Your grade for this project will be determined by my evaluation of your preparation, knowledge of the material, and ability to present it. Before the initial meeting with me you should think about 3 topics which interest you and do a little background work on each. The textbook, the reading list on my website, and the blogs
http://newmarksdoor.typepad.com/mainblog/
http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/
are excellent resources for topics.
Grades:
Grades are based on the following :
Online problem sets: (I drop the lowest 8 assignments) 20%
Report: 10%
Midterm: 35%
Final, 35%
Late assignments will be accepted with a note from the arresting officer or attending physician. This is an honors class, so there is no set curve, I expect everyone to work hard and do well. The last time I taught the course the median grade was B+.
The final is comprehensive. In addition to simple questions, my exams include short essay type questions asking you to apply the appropriate economic model to a particular situation. This often involves drawing a diagram and explaining what it shows. There will also be problems where you have to work out a solution mathematically and explain it. I will reschedule the final only for students who can document a conflict with another exam, and who do so at least 2 weeks in advance.
If you have a documented disability and anticipate needing accommodations in this course, please request that the Counselor for Students with Disabilities send me a letter verifying your disability, and make arrangements to meet with me within the first week of class.
Schedule: This is just advisory, it will change.
Week 1: (1/7)
Monday: Comparative advantage and PPFs. Experiments on Supply and Demand.
Reading: Ch 1. Thinking Like an Economist
Reading: Ch 2. Comparative Advantage: The Basis for Exchange
Wednesday: Surplus, shortage, adjustments, changes and shifts, price controls, gains from trade.
Reading: Ch 3. Supply and Demand: An Introduction
Week 2: (1/14)
Monday: S&D catchup and elasticity.
Reading: Ch 4. Elasticity
Wednesday: Information cascade experiment.
Reading: Information Cascades in the Laboratory. Lisa R. Anderson, Charles A. Holt. The American Economic Review, Vol. 87, No. 5. (Dec., 1997), pp. 847-862.
Week 3: (1/21) (No class Monday, MLK holiday)
Wednesday: Demand, Indifference Curves.
Reading: Ch 5. Demand: The Benefit Side of the Market
Week 4: (1/28)
Monday: Perfect competition and Cost curves
Reading: Ch 6. Perfectly Competitive Supply: The Cost Side of the Market
Wednesday:
Reading: Ch 7. Efficiency and Exchange
Week 5: (2/4)
Monday:
Reading: Ch 8. The Quest for Profit and the Invisible Hand
Wednesday: Catchup and review.
Week 6: (2/11)
Monday: Midterm, Ch 1-8.
Wednesday:
Reading: Ch 9. Monopoly and Other Forms of Imperfect Competition
Week 7: (2/18)
Monday:
Reading: Ch 10. Thinking Strategically
Wednesday:
Reading: Ch 11. Externalities and Property Rights, Ch 14. The Environment, Health, and Safety
Week 8: (2/25)
Monday:
Reading: Ch 12. The Economics of Information
Wednesday:
Reading: Ch 13. Labor Markets, Poverty, and Income Distribution
Week 9: (3/3)
Monday: Catchup
Wednesday:
Reading: Ch 15. Public Goods and Tax Policy
Week 10: (3/10)
Monday: Catchup
Wednesday:
Reading: Ch 16. International Trade and Trade Policy
Experiments: markets, cascade, risk, tournament, ultimatum, trust, voting
FINAL: Tuesday 3/18, 10:15 AM