ECONOMICS 2220 – DR. HIPPLE

PRINCIPLES OF MICROECONOMICS

SPRING 2015 INFORMATION SHEET

INSTRUCTOR INFORMATION:

Dr. F. Steb Hipple, Professor of Economics

Office -- Room 304, Sam Wilson Hall

Phone/Voicemail -- 423.439.5304

Email -- hipples@etsu.edu

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

Office Hours – after class meetings and by appointment.

DEPARTMENT INFORMATION:

Department of Economics and Finance

Office -- Room 227, Sam Wilson Hall

Phone -- 423.439.4202

CLASS MEETING TIMES:

ECON 2220-201 Tuesday Evening

7:00pm-9:50pm, Sam Wilson Hall 302

ECON 2220-ITV Tuesday-Thursday

2:15pm-3:35pm, Instructional Television Course

Section 501: Sam Wilson Hall 202

Section 531: Kingsport Center 235

Section 561: Greeneville Center 221

PRINCIPLES OF MICROECONOMICS:

· Counts toward the social science component of the ETSU General Education Program.

· Is a required course in the business core curriculum of the College of Business and Technology.

TEXTBOOK:

Robin Bade & Michael Parkin, Foundations of Microeconomics, 6th ed

Pearson Addison Wesley, 2013.

ON-LINE MATERIALS:

MyEconLab (MEL) in “Pearson MyLab/Mastering” to accompany

Robin Bade & Michael Parkin, Foundations of Microeconomics, 6th ed

COURSE CATALOG DESCRIPTION:

A study of economics which concentrates on micro-theoretical concepts such as pricing, consumer choice, business production, and profit decisions.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: At the end of this course, you will be able to:

• use the supply-demand model to demonstrate the effect of various events on price and quantity traded in product, factor, and financial markets.
• interpret various measures of market elasticities.
• analyze the effects of market interventions by government, including price ceilings & floors, and taxes & subsidies.
• explain the causes of, and provide potential solutions to market failures associated with public goods and common resources.
• identify market externalities, and apply the concept of externalities to public policy issues such as taxation of polluters and subsidization of public education.
• define and measure fundamental concepts associated with both short run and long run production & costs.
• use marginal cost-benefit analysis to make optimal decisions.
• explain the implications of highly competitive versus less competitive market structures for the welfare of consumers, producers, and society as a whole.

COURSE OUTLINE:

PART 1 INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1. Getting Started

Appendix. Making and Using Graphs

Chapter 2. (Omit)

Handout. The Economic Problem and Economic Systems

The Circular Flow Models (class)

Chapter 3. The Economic Problem

Quiz #1 (Tuesday, February 3)

Handout. Variables and Relationships

Chapter 4. Demand and Supply

PART 2 A CLOSER LOOK AT MARKETS

Chapter 5. Elasticities of Demand and Supply

Quiz #2 (Tuesday, February 17)

Chapter 6. Efficiency and Fairness of Markets

PART 3 HOW GOVERNMENTS INFLUENCE THE ECONOMY

Chapter 7. Government Actions in Markets

Chapter 8. Taxes

Chapter 9. (Omit)

Quiz #3 (Tuesday, March 3)

PART 4 MARKET FAILURE AND ITS SOLUTIONS

Chapter 10. Externalities

Chapter 11. Public Goods and Common Resources

Chapter 12. (Omit)

PART 5 A CLOSER LOOK AT DECISION MAKERS

Chapter 13. Consumer Choice and Demand

Quiz #4 (Tuesday, March 24)

Chapter 14. Production and Cost

PART 6 PRICES, PROFITS, AND INDUSTRY PERFORMANCE

Handout. Market Structures

Chapter 15. Perfect Competition

Quiz #5 (Tuesday, April 7)

Chapter 16. Monopoly

Chapter 17. Monopolistic Competition

Chapter 18. Oligopoly

Quiz #6 (Tuesday, April 21)

PART 7 INCOMES AND INEQUALITY

Chapter 19. Markets for Factors of Production

Chapter 20. Economic Inequality

Quiz #7 (see below)

Comprehensive Quiz (see below)

CLASS MEETINGS: Classes will begin Tuesday, January 20, and end Thursday, April 30. We will not meet during Spring Break (Monday, March 9 to Friday, March 13). Econ 2220-ITV has a total of 28 class meetings; Econ 2220-201 has a total of 14 class meetings; . We will return during exam week for the last quizzes.

EXAM WEEK SCHEDULE:

ECON 2220-201 – Tuesday, May 5, 8:10pm-10:10pm.

ECON 2220-ITV – Tuesday, May 5, 10:30am-12:30pm.

NOTE ON TEXTBOOK AND ON-LINE MATERIALS: This course requires you to enroll in MyEconLab (MEL) from Pearson Education. Pearson is the parent firm of Addison Wesley, the textbook publisher. You may purchase a textbook package from the ETSU bookstore which will include an access kit with the registration information. Or, if you purchase a textbook without the access kit, you can directly enroll in MyEconLab on the internet. MEL registration will be closed after February 28.

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

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 homework exercises will be your guide to mastery of the chapter material. 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 one-seventh of your semester grade, so you should do all of the homework assignments. (MEL also includes Study Plan which is practice exercises linked to “checkpoints” within each chapter, and Sample Tests for each chapter. You may use these for self study, but they do not contribute to your semester grade.)

EXAMINATIONS: Eight quizzes will be given during the semester. There will be seven regular quizzes plus the comprehensive make-up quiz. Your semester grade will be based on your six best quiz scores (plus your homework average). You may miss or drop up to two quizzes. The quiz format will be multiple choice questions based on lecture, handouts, assigned chapters, MEL homework, and class discussions.

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.

WEBSITES: This class will have three websites. (1) My website at http://faculty.etsu.edu/hipples. This website will include the syllabus, handouts, and announcements. (2) The class website at http://www.pearsonmylabandmastering.com will contain the homework exercises. (3) The ITV class will use the University D2L site to access the ITV video recordings. The Economics 2220-201 class will not use the D2L 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!