Syllabus for Introduction to Microeconomics Fall 2014 (TENTATIVE)

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1 Syllabus for Introduction to Microeconomics Fall 2014 (TENTATIVE) Professor Jeffrey Rubin Office Location: NJ Hall, 75 Hamilton St., College Ave. Campus, Room 430 Office Hours: Tuesday 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and by appointment Phone: :102 Section 1 This course satisfies Core Curriculum goals: I, M and N 11:30 a.m. to 12:50 p.m. Tuesday and Friday Scott Hall Room 123 College Avenue Campus First class is Tuesday September 2 nd at 11:30 a.m. First Exam: October 10 and Second Exam: November 14 Last Class is Tuesday, December 9, 2014 Rutgers adjusts its calendar around Thanksgiving. On Tuesday Nov. 25 th, Rutgers follows a Thursday schedule; this means we do not meet that day. But, on Wed. Nov. 26 th Rutgers follows a Friday schedule, which means we do meet on that Wednesday before Thanksgiving. (We will talk about the supply and demand of turkeys.) The final exam for this class is scheduled for Thursday, December 18th at noon. It is VERY important that you make your travel plans accordingly. I will positively, absolutely, definitely not give the exam at any time other than the designated period. The room for the final exam will be announced at a later date. Any type of AUDIO-VISUAL RECORDING (sound, still photos, video) OF CLASS is NOT permitted without the explicit written authorization of the instructor and notification of other students in the class, except where notification from the Office of Disability Services is provided. 1

2 The TA for this course is Han-Yen Kao. He will post office hours early in the semester. The pre-requisite for this class is pre-calculus (01:640: 111, 112 or 115) or placement into calculus. Text: Microeconomics, Krugman and Wells, 3 rd edition Study Guide, Kelly, 3rd edition (The study guide will be available at the sakai site for the class.) I will frequently post articles relating to microeconomics and hope to have a discussion in sakai on some of them. There are many good sources for interesting articles where you can apply basic economics principles and see how others have tried to apply basic economic principles. One source I read every day is the NY Times at nytimes.com. You can also check out the Wall Street Journal (wsj.com). Check out washingtonpost.com now and then too. You may be able to get full access to these sites by going through the RU library website. Other places to find articles relevant to microeconomics include google news, yahoo news, bloomberg.com and numerous blogs. Two influential economics blogs are written by Paul Krugman at krugman.blogs.nytimes.com and by Greg Mankiw of Harvard at gregmankiw.blogspot.com. For this course you will need access to SaplingLearning, which is an online homework system. Information about Sapling will be available under Resources in Sakai. Do not buy anything until you read my announcement about Sapling and the book. You will be able to get a package including a loose leaf version of the book, the study guide and a Sapling access code at the bookstore OR you will be able to purchase an e-version of the book directly through Sapling and save money. Going directly to Saplinglearning.com for Sapling access and the e-book will be $90. (The study guide won t be on Sapling but I will post it in sakai under Resources.) The package at the bookstore is likely to cost between $190 and $210, though you will be able to get some money back if you sell the physical book back at the end of the term. Another option is to buy access to Sapling ($40) only and get a used book someplace else. This course consists of two 80 minute class meetings each week. Class meets Tuesdays and Fridays in Scott Hall 123 on the College Ave. Campus. In the lectures I will present basic material in microeconomics, with an emphasis on the analytical techniques commonly used in economics. In Introduction to 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. 2

3 Students will learn: 1. Basic economic concepts including opportunity costs, scarcity, positive and normative economics 2. How to analyze production possibilities of firms and countries, the sources of their comparative advantages, and gains from trade 3. How to use the supply and demand model to understand how markets work. 4. How elasticity is calculated and its relevance to understanding markets. 5. How to analyze consumer behavior with respect to decisions about consumption, savings and employment. 6. How to analyze decisions firms make about pricing, output, employment and investment. 7. How to analyze the behavior of firms in alternative market structures including perfect competition, monopoly, monopolistic competition and oligopoly. 8. How to apply basic game theory to strategic interaction between companies and individuals 9. How to use the concepts of equity, efficiency, and market failure to analyze and evaluate government policies such as price floors and ceilings, tax policy, environmental policy, etc. 10. How to apply economic concepts and ideas to situations not specifically covered in class. I build my lectures around a set of slides that are based on the Krugman text. The slides are posted in the RESOURCES section of Sakai. Some students prefer to print the slides (or load them on a tablet or laptop) and bring them to class and make notes directly on the printed slides. Your grade will be determined by your performance on two hourly exams, a final exam, assigned homework problems and some additional in class and out of class assignments. Each hourly exam will be worth 220 points and the final exam will be worth 400 points (and it will cover the entire course). The Sapling homework assignments will be worth a total of 100 points. There also will be a series of assignments (in and out of class) worth a total of 60 points. (More on this in class.) Your grade will be based on your total score out of 1,000 points. The exact cutoff points for different letter grades will be determined after the final exam. You should assume the cutoffs will be the standard ones: 900 (90%) for an A, 800 (80%) for a B etc. In all likelihood I will lower those cutoffs (i.e., curve the grades) after the final exam. I will discuss this some more in class. The hourly exams are on Friday October 10th and Friday, November 14 th. These exams will be given during the regular class period in the Scott Hall classroom. The final exam is on Thursday December 18 th at noon.. 3

4 No calculators, cell phones, Ipads, tablets or other electronic devices may be used during the exams. Hourly exams consist of 55 multiple choice questions and the final exam will have 100 multiple choice questions. To encourage you to work through the Study Guide, some multiple choice questions on each exam will come directly from the Study Guide. Also, it is important to practice using graphs and to become familiar with these before the first exam. If the first time you draw a graph without the book open and without seeing it on the screen during a lecture is during the first exam, it is too late. General course announcements and other related news, advice and suggestions will be posted on the announcement, discussion, and chat room portions of the Sakai site for this class. You are expected to check this Sakai site several times a week to get important information about the course. Discussion boards will be available at sakai.rutgers.edu under the tab for this course. I will also monitor and participate in the chat room on sakai at various times throughout the term. You are also responsible for regularly checking Sapling for homework assignments. There are absolutely NO extensions for missed work in Sapling. There are a few important rules that you should know. First, cheating is totally unacceptable. The University has established severe penalties for cheating. The University s policy on academic integrity is found at: Second, once the lecture begins, you should remain seated throughout the entire class. There is almost nothing that upsets the person who makes up the exams (me) and determines the curve (me) than the sight of a student walking out in the middle of a lecture. This is entirely inappropriate and should be avoided. If you know you have to leave early, see me before class; otherwise you are expected to remain until class is over. Third, this class begins promptly at 11:30 a.m. Please be seated by that time. Late arrivals disturb me and the rest of the class. Class ends at 12:50 p.m. and in an effort to ensure that you get your money's worth, I almost always go to the end of the scheduled period. I do not need to be reminded of the time through the traditional shuffling of papers and closing of notebooks. Some of my best material comes at the end of class! Fourth, it is not appropriate to read newspapers, send text messages, view your Facebook page, do crossword puzzles or have extended conversations with fellow students during class. 4

5 Fifth, turn off all electronic devices including cell phones. Laptops are acceptable but limit your viewing to appropriate material and definitely do not laugh out loud or have all the people around you lean in to watch a video. Sixth, I will not officially take attendance, but it is my strong impression that those who attend class get better grades than those who find something else to do with their time. (There is an intriguing "cause and effect" problem buried in the interpretation of my observation. Do you see it? If so, you have a head start in understanding economics.) Students are expected to attend all classes; The University now has an absence reporting website: that can be used to indicate the date and reason for your absence. An is automatically sent to me. If you are only missing a single class it is really not essential to use this system. If you will be missing multiple classes in a row you should use this system to self-report your absences. The University also has a code of student conduct: Here is a summary from the catalog: University Code of Student Conduct: Preamble I. PREAMBLE Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is dedicated to teaching that meets the highest standards of excellence; to conducting research that breaks new ground; and to turning knowledge into solutions for local, national, and global communities. As it was at our founding in 1766, the heart of our mission is preparing students to become productive members of society and good citizens of the world. When students choose to accept admission to Rutgers University, they accept the rights and responsibilities of membership in the University s academic and social community. As members of the University community, students are expected to uphold our stated values by maintaining a high standard of conduct. Because the University establishes high standards for membership, its standards of conduct may exceed federal, state, or local requirements. The primary purpose of the student conduct process should be to foster the personal, educational, and social development of students. The process should also serve as deterrence to misconduct to enhance the safety and security of the community. Students are expected to take responsibility for their conduct. Disciplinary consequences therefore serve both educational and deterrence objectives. Those working within the conduct system balance the individual needs of students with the expectations set by the University to provide a safe community. The 5

6 University, through authority given to it by its Board of Governors, is responsible for communicating behavioral expectations to students and the consequences for violating standards. This Code of Student Conduct describes the behaviors that are inconsistent with University values; it outlines procedures to respond to such behaviors; and it suggests possible sanctions and interventions that are intended to educate and safeguard members of the University community. For more information see: 6

7 Tentative Course Outline September 2 and 5 Introduction and Chapter 1 September 9 and 12 Chapter 2 (plus appendix) September 16 and 19 Chapters 2 (plus appendix) and 3 September 23 and 26 Chapters 4 and 5 Sept. 30 and Oct. 3 Chapters 5 and 6 October 7 Chapter 7 October 10 EXAM 1 October 14 and 17 Chapters 9 and 10 (skipping chapter 8) October 21 and 24 Chapters 10 (plus appendix) and 11 Oct. 28 and 31 Chapters 11 and 12 November 4 and 7 Chapters 13 and 14 November 11 Chapter 14 November 14 EXAM 2 November 18 and 21 Chapters 15 and 16 November 26 (Wednesday) Chapter 17 NOTICE THAT DURING THANSGIVING WEEK RUTGERS FOLLOWS A THURSDAY SCHEDULE ON TUESDAY THE 25 TH and a Friday schedule on Wednesday the 26th. December 2 and 5 Chapters 19 (plus appendix) and 20 December 9 Review and Catch-Up Final Exam Thursday December 18th from Noon to 3 p.m. (Location to be announced) 7

8 Department of Economics Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey February 2008 Learning Goals for Economics Majors 1. Economic Literacy - Students who complete the major in economics should understand and be able to articulate, both orally and in writing, the core economic principles, concepts and theories that form the foundation for modern economic analysis and economic research. 2. Economic Numeracy - Students who complete the economics major should be familiar with the tools, techniques and methods of empirical economics. They should be able to analyze data using computer applications and should be familiar with regression methods and other statistical techniques. They should be able to read and assess general interest articles on economic topics. In addition, they should be able to understand and evaluate key findings in published economic research from a wide range of sources including academic economists, public policy think tanks, and government agencies. 3. Economic Citizenship - Upon completion of the major students should be able to apply their understanding of core concepts and quantitative tools to analyze and research real world problems and evaluate alternative economic policy proposals on microeconomic and macroeconomic issues. 4. Economic Scholarship Qualified majors should have an opportunity through such avenues as advanced coursework, faculty interactions, national and local competitions and honors courses and programs to utilize up-to-date methodological tools and become fully engaged in economic research and issues on the frontiers of economics. 8

Firms and Markets Saturdays Summer I 2014

PRELIMINARY DRAFT VERSION. SUBJECT TO CHANGE. Firms and Markets Saturdays Summer I 2014 Professor Thomas Pugel Office: Room 11-53 KMC E-mail: tpugel@stern.nyu.edu Tel: 212-998-0918 Fax: 212-995-4212 This