Syllabus
Principles of Microeconomics

Course Description

Economics is a social science.  Therefore, economists are interested in people, the decisions they make, and how these decisions affect society.  In particular, this course will focus on the decisions of consumers and producers.  We will examine, among other things, how these decisions determine what is produced, how it is produced, and how final goods are distributed among consumers. As we do, we will pay particular attention to issues of efficiency, equity, &  economic stability.

The subject matter of this course includes much that affects you daily.  The decisions you make about what to wear, what to eat, or where to work are (partly) economic decisions.  In fact, topics as diverse as unemployment, world hunger, pollution, and whether or not to go to class are all things that can be studied and analyzed using economic theory.  Despite this focus on such every-day topics, our approach in this class will largely be a theoretical one.  That is, in this course you will not be expected to learn a bunch of facts and figures.  Instead, you will be expected to learn a  series of relationships and how to use these relationships to logically evaluate a wide variety of issues.

Economics graduates enjoy interesting and rewarding careers.  Well-known economics graduates include former presidents Ford, Reagan, and Bush (the older one, #41), Sam Walton, Warren Buffet, Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke, Donald Trump, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tiger Woods, Ted Turner, the cartoonist Scott Adams, Astronaut Eileen Collins, Lionel Ritchie, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, political columnist William F. Buckley, Paul Newman, Ben Stein, Steve Ballmer (Microsoft), Scott McNealy (Sun Micro systems) and many other business and political leaders.  For more information on the economics major at Missouri State, please visit: http://www.missouristate.edu/econ/22809.htm 

Texts

Required: Colander, David C. (2010) Microeconomics, 8th  ed. Irwin/McGraw-Hill

Expectations

Learning is an active process.  As students, you must take primary responsibility for your education.  If you hope for a passing grade in this class, you should start by living up to these minimum expectations:

• Enroll in the Connect site for this course.
• Reading the syllabus and regularly checking the course website, and keeping track of  requirements and due dates.
• Showing up for class on-time and familiar with the day’s material.
• Contributing to the class by asking questions and offering your insights.
• Treating your classmates with respect.
• Behaving appropriately in the classroom. Talking out of turn, reading newspapers,  arriving late and leaving early, sleeping, and the like are distracting and disrespectful to me and to your classmates, and impede the learning process. Therefore, these behaviors will not be tolerated.
• Asking questions, in or out of class, when you need help.
• Studying about 6-10 hours outside of class each week, or as much as needed to earn an acceptable grade.  
• Behaving with honesty and integrity.
• Students are expected to stay in class the full period.  Leaving early is disruptive and disrespectful to your classmates and teacher.  Such behavior will cause a student's grade to be reduced by 10 points for each offence.  Leaving early is acceptable only in an emergency or with  prior arrangements have been made with the teacher.
• Students are expected to take responsibility for their graded assignments.  Not placing their name on a test or quiz will cost the student 10 points.  Students are also expected to pick up their graded quizzes and exams.  If not picked up, they will be thrown out after a week and will not be available to study.

Course Objectives

Among the many things students should learn in a microeconomics course, there are a few broad concepts that stand out for their importance in understanding the economy and for their vast relevance to public affairs.  By the end of the semester you should have a solid understanding of each of these important concepts:

1. The role of marginal analysis in rational economic decision making.
2. The importance of opportunity costs and the tendency for these costs to grow.
3. The mutual benefits from exchange.
4. The roles of specialization and comparative advantage in minimizing opportunity costs and generating wealth.
5. The use of supply and demand diagrams as a tool for analyzing a variety of issues.
6. The role of institutions in shaping behavior and economic outcomes.
7. The way in which consumers buy a mix of goods that will maximize their utility.
8. The way producers employ a mix of inputs that minimizes the costs for a given level of production.
9. The way producers select an optimal amount of output that maximizes their profits.
10. The way perfect competition can lead to economic efficiency and how this relates to Adam Smith's notion of The Invisible Hand.
11. How monopolies hinder efficiency.
12. The inefficiency of  oligopolies and how their interdependence makes them hard to predict.
13. The mixed results of monopolistic competition.
14. How public goods, externalities, transactions costs, and poor information sabotage market efficiency.

Grades

Final grades will reflect student performance on quizzes, two midterm exams and a final exam.  Deductions might also be made as outlined above.  Exams will be given on the days indicated in the class schedule. Scores will be weighed on the following basis:

In the case of borderline situations, the instructor may raise a student's grade by a "half" grade. Though the students should not count on such good fortune, the instructor reserves the right to modestly widen the ranges for passing grades.

Final Exam

The final exam will primarily cover material from the third unit.  Additionally, part of the exam will be comprehensive and cover topics from throughout the semester that are particularly important or that students failed to learn for earlier exams. 

Quizzes

Students will be given one or two quizzes each unit. These quizzes may be announced or unannounced and will borrow heavily from the questions found in previous semesters' final exams. These exams can be found at:   http://www.missouristate.edu/econ/27543.htm

There will be no  quiz make-ups. However, students may drop their lowest quiz score.

Extra Credit

At the discretion of the instructor, some extra credit assignments may be given.  These assignments will be on BlackBoard.  The extra credit is voluntary, but all students must register for BlackBoard.

Course Policies

Email:  Students should include "ECO 165" and  the section number  in the subject line of all emails.  Emails should also include the student's name and a full description of questions or concerns.

Technology:  All cell phones should be turned off when entering class.  For tests, only simple calculators will be allowed.  Graphing calculators, programmable calculators, and cell phones will not be allowed.   Laptop computers are strongly discouraged.    Students using laptops, smartphones, etc for anything other than class purposes will be asked to leave class or forfeit their laptop or smartphone.

Permission must be obtained from the instructor before using any recording device in class.  Violation of this policy may be considered an act of cheating or plagiarism (see below). The contents of class lectures are protected property.  Recordings of the class including, but not limited to  digital audio, digital video and tapes, is not allowed without first obtaining written permission of the instructor.

Absentee Policy: Attendance will be taken throughout the course. Although attendance and grades tend to be positively correlated, I will not directly deduct any points for absenteeism.

Plagiarism and Cheating Policy:  All members of the University community share the responsibility and authority to challenge and make known acts of apparent academic dishonesty. Any student detected participating in any form of academic dishonesty will be subject to sanctions as described in the Student Academic Integrity Policies and Procedures, http://www.missouristate.edu/assets/provost/AcademicIntegrityPolicyRev-1-08.pdf  also available at the Reserves Desk in Meyer Library, and in abbreviated form in the Missouri State Undergraduate Catalog.  Possible sanctions include issuing an "XF" for a semester grade.  It is your responsibility to read and fully understand Missouri State's Student Academic Integrity Policies and Procedures.

At a minimum, anyone caught plagiarizing or cheating will automatically receive a zero for the assignment. This zero will automatically be averaged into the semester's final score without any possibility of it being dropped, made-up, or weighted less.  Students caught cheating on a quiz will have their semester grade lowered one letter in addition to receiving a zero on the quiz. Cheating and plagiarism include a variety of activities. If in doubt, ask me.

Makeup Policy:  There will be NO make-up or early exams without an official, WRITTEN excuse. With a valid excuse, students will be allowed to take the exam on or before the day for which it was scheduled. After that day, the exam can be made-up only by taking an exam different than the one given in class.  Students hoping to take a makeup exam should contact me immediately.  The exam will be scheduled for the earliest time that is mutually workable. Students who do not make up their exam promptly will not be allowed to take it at all.

Please note there are additional  policies which are common to all MSU classes.  These policies, regarding Nondiscrimination, Disability Accommodation, Emergency Response, Academic Integrity, Dropping a Class and Cell Phone Usage, may be found on the Economics Department’s website:  http://www.missouristate.edu/econ/63185.htm