ECONOMICS 2220 -- PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS II (MICRO)
SPRING 2008 INFORMATION SHEET -- DR. HIPPLE

INSTRUCTOR:

Dr. F. Steb Hipple, Professor of Economics

Office -- Room 304, Wilson Hall

Phone/Voicemail -- 423.439.5304

Fax -- 423.439.8583

Email -- hipples@etsu.edu

Website -- http://faculty.etsu.edu/hipples

Office Hours – after class meetings and by appointment.

 

TEXTBOOK:

Robin Bade & Michael Parkin, Foundations of Microeconomics, 3rd ed

Pearson Addison Wesley, 2007, with “MyEconLab in CourseCompass

(“a la carte” or loose leaf edition)

 

MEETING TIMES:

ECON 2220-ITV -- Thursday Evening, 7:00pm-9:50pm
..Section 521 -- Wilson Hall 123
..Section 522 -- Warf-Pickel Hall 517
..Section 531 -- Kingsport Center 232
..Section 541 -- Bristol Center 138
..Section 561 -- Greeneville Center 257

COURSE DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVES: This is an introductory survey course in economics, and is part of the Business Core Requirements of the College of Business and Technology. The course will provide a thorough understanding of the fundamental principles of microeconomics, and establish a foundation for further studies in economics, business, and the social sciences.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: At the end of this course, the student will be able to (a) understand the basic principles and operations of a market economy, (b) determine the appropriate circumstances for government intervention in markets, (c) comprehend the links between production theory and cost theory, (d) know the characteristics of different market structures, (e) understand the critical relationships of market structures to economic performance, and (f) analyze and discuss labor issues such as discrimination and income inequality.

COURSE ORGANIZATION:

PART 1  INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1. Getting Started

Appendix. Making and Using Graphs

Handout. The Economic Problem and Economic Systems

Chapter 3. The Economic Problem

Quiz #1 (Thursday, January 31)

Handout. Variables and Relationships

Chapter 4. Demand and Supply

Quiz #2 (Thursday, February 14)

PART 2  A CLOSER LOOK AT MARKETS

Chapter 5. Elasticities of Demand and Supply

Chapter 6. Efficiency and Fairness of Markets

PART 3  HOW GOVERNMENTS INFLUENCE THE ECONOMY

Chapter 7. Government Influences on Markets

Quiz #3 (Thursday, February 28)

Chapter 8. Taxes

Chapter 9. Externalities

Chapter 10. Public Goods and Common Resources

Quiz #4 (Thursday, March 20)

PART 4  A CLOSER LOOK AT DECISION MAKERS

Chapter 11. Consumer Choice and Demand

Chapter 12. Production and Cost

            Handout. Explicit and Implicit Costs.

PART 5  PRICES, PROFITS, AND INDUSTRY PERFORMANCE

Handout. Market Structures

Quiz #5 (Thursday, April 3)

Chapter 13. Perfect Competition

Chapter 14. Monopoly

Chapter 15. Monopolistic Competition

Chapter 16. Oligopoly

Quiz #6 (Thursday, April 17)

Chapter 17. Regulation and Antitrust Law

PART 6  HOW INCOMES ARE DETERMINED

Chapter 18. Demand and Supply in Factor Markets

Chapter 19. Inequality and Poverty

Quiz #7 (see below)

Comprehensive Make-Up Quiz (see below)

CLASS MEETINGS: For ECON 2220-ITV, classes will begin Thursday, January 17, and end Thursday, April 24. There are a total of 14 class meetings. We will not meet during Spring Break (Monday, March 3, to Friday, March 7). Classes will meet during exam week for the Quiz #7 and the Comprehensive Make-Up Quiz.

ECON 2220-ITV will meet at 8:10pm on Thursday, May 1.

PREPARATION: Assigned chapters should be carefully read before class meetings. Class lectures will focus on the theoretical and quantitative aspects of the textbook material.

MyEconLab: This course requires you to use the MyEconLab (MEL) from Pearson Education. Pearson is the parent firm of Addison Wesley, the textbook publisher. Our version of MEL is included in CourseCompass which is a Blackboard based system. We will have a class website at www.coursecompass.com.

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS: The homework assignments are a very critical element in this course. There will be a Homework Assignment in MEL for each Bade & Parkin chapter that we cover. You can work on the homework assignment until your score is 100%, and the exercises selected for your homework will be your guide to mastery of the chapter material. Most quiz questions will be based on the homework assignments. You should complete each homework assignment before the quiz, and not be satisfied with any score less than 100%. As an incentive, for each set of completed homework assignments with a score of 100%, five bonus points will be added to the quiz score. In addition, your semester average on homework assignments will count as the equivalent of one quiz towards your semester grade, so you should do all of the homework assignments. (The MEL also includes Study Plan which is practice exercises linked to “checkpoints” within each chapter, and two Sample Tests for each chapter. You may use these for self study, but they do not contribute to your semester grade.)

EXAMINATIONS: Seven quizzes will be given during the semester. You may drop your lowest quiz grade and/or miss one quiz. The quiz format will be multiple choice questions based on lecture, handouts, assigned chapters, MEL homework, and class discussions. A comprehensive make-up quiz will be given at the end of the semester. This is a bonus quiz and can be used to increase your semester quiz average.

GRADING: Your semester grade will be based on your six best quiz scores and your homework average. The grade scale is: "A" = 90 to 100; "B" = 80 to 89; “C” =70 to 79; and etc. If the class average is below 80, then the letter ranges will be adjusted accordingly. For example, if the class average is 75, then the letter ranges are: “A” = 85 and above; “B” = 75 to 84, “C” = 65 to 74; and etc. Plus and minus grades will be assigned at the end of the semester and show strong or weak performance within the letter range.

WEBSITE: The class website is at HTTP://faculty.etsu.edu/hipples. The website will include the syllabus, handouts, quiz answers and grade distributions, and announcements. Note this is not our CourseCompass class website.

ATTENDANCE: Class attendance is expected, and can actually help you get better grades!

HELP: I will have regular office hours to meet with you, or by appointment. Please feel free to ask questions. Contact me if you need help on your reading assignments or problems. Have a good semester.