LEWIS-CLARK STATE COLLEGE ECON 202-01: Principles/ Theory of Microeconomics Fall 2018 Sam Glenn Complex, Room 204 Monday and Wednesday 10:30AM - 11:45AM Instructor: Billy Lemus, M.A. Office: TJH 107 Office Hours: Mondays and Wednesdays 1:00PM-2:00PM, Tuesdays 10:30AM-11:30AM, and by appointment. E-mail: blemus@lcsc.edu Phone: 208-792-2793 General Education Competency Area Social and Behavioral Ways of Knowing Course Materials Hubbard, R.G. & A.P. O Brien (2015). Economics, 5 th edition, Pearson. Minimum Technology Requirements Students will need access to Microsoft Word, or similar software. LCSC students can download a free version of Microsoft Office (which includes Word and Excel) by visiting the Microsoft Office webpage. Minimum Skills Required Students will need to be able to read and create graphs, as they will be used to simplify many various economic concepts. The appendix to Chapter 1 in the textbook will give students a good review of graphing. Course Description This course covers the basic theories and applications of Microeconomics, the field of economics that focuses on the decisions and behaviors of individual consumers, producers and resource owners in a market. Among the topics covered are absolute and comparative advantage, the interaction of supply and demand, basic price theory, market failure, market efficiency, utility maximization, profit maximization, perfect competition, and monopolies. Student Learning Outcomes After successfully completing the course, students should be able to analyze real-world economic decisions made by firms and individuals. Students should also be able to: Explain the concepts of scarcity and opportunity costs. Use models to describe demand and supply and the market price system. Examine the goal of the firm and its production decisions. Differentiate between a perfectly competitive market and its alternatives. Use models to describe the economic consequences of government intervention and market externalities.
Grading Final grades will be dependent on student performance in the following course components: Assignments: There will be 12 homework assignments worth 20 points each. The student should follow all instructions to receive full credit. Assignments should be submitted through Blackboard on the specified due dates. Absolutely no late assignments will be accepted unless a legitimate, documented excuse is presented. An issue with Blackboard is not a legitimate excuse, as the student will have plenty of time to complete assignments. The two lowest scores will be dropped, meaning only ten will count toward the student s final grade. Exams: There will be three exams worth a total of 100 points each. Exams will not be explicitly cumulative, but they will presuppose an understanding of earlier material. Exams cannot be made up. If the student has a legitimate reason for not being able to take the exam on the dates they are scheduled and wishes to reschedule, I must be informed beforehand. Otherwise, the student will receive a zero for the missed exam. The third (final) exam will be administered according to the time and date indicated in the course schedule below. Final Project: Students will create a demand and supply model for a fictional business to determine the price and quantity at which they will maximize profit. Project specifics will be available later in the semester. This project will be worth 100 points. A total of 600 points are available for the class. Grading Scale Grade % A 93-100 A- 90-92 B+ 87-89 B 83-86 B- 80-82 C+ 77-79 C 73-76 C- 70-72 D+ 67-69 D 60-66 F 0-59 Attendance Consistent attendance is crucial for success in this course and student should make an effort to actively participate while in class. Although attendance will be taken every day, students will not be graded on attendance.
Extra Credit Extra credit may be assigned throughout the course at my discretion. You will need to be present when it is assigned to be able to receive any credit. To be fair to all students, no individual extra credit will be assigned. Tips for succeeding in this class The best way to do well in the class is to spend a significant amount of time reviewing notes and readings, and practicing problems. The material in this class builds on itself and it is important that the student understands a concept before moving on to the next. The student should also: Read the chapters before coming to class and be prepared to discuss them. Attend class. If necessary, the student should seek clarification and reinforcement of the concepts and topics covered. Ask questions! Ask for help. I am here to help. I will respond to emails in a timely manner and am available during office hours, so the student should not hesitate to reach out to me. Read the newspaper, articles, and keep up with what is going on with the national and international economy. Drops The instructor is not responsible for dropping enrolled students. Students are obligated to officially withdraw even if they have not attended classes. Students who fail to officially withdraw are subject to a failing grade in the course.
Tentative Course Schedule: Week Date Topic Reading 1 Aug 20 Course Intro/ Foundations and Models Ch.1, appendix Aug 22 Foundations and Models Ch. 1 2 Aug 27 Trade-offs, Comparative Advantage and the Market System Ch. 2 Aug 29 Trade-offs, Comparative Advantage and the Market System Ch. 2 3 Sep 3 Labor Day (campus closed) Sep 5 The Interaction of Demand and Supply Ch. 3 4 Sep 10 The Interaction of Demand and Supply Ch. 3 Sep 12 Economic Efficiency Ch. 4 5 Sep 17 Economic Efficiency Ch. 4 Sep 19 Review 6 Sep 24 EXAM #1 Sep 26 Externalities Ch. 5 7 Oct 1 Externalities Ch. 5 Oct 3 Elasticity Ch. 6 8 Oct 8 Elasticity Ch. 6 Oct 10 Consumer Choice Ch. 10 9 Oct 15 Consumer Choice Ch. 10 Oct 17 Technology, Production, and Costs Ch. 11 10 Oct 22 Technology, Production, and Costs Ch. 11 Oct 24 Review 11 Oct 29 EXAM #2 Oct 31 Perfect Competition Ch. 12 12 Nov 5 Perfect Competition Ch. 12 Nov 7 Monopolistic Competition Ch. 13 13 Nov 12 Monopolistic Competition Ch. 13 Nov 14 Oligopoly Thanksgiving Break Nov 19-23 14 Nov 26 Monopoly Ch. 15 Nov 28 Monopoly Ch. 15 15 Dec 3 Project Presentations Dec 5 Review 16 Dec 10 Final @ 10:30 AM Dec 12
Econ 202 Component Hours A. Accounting (ACT) 0 B. Marketing (MKT) 5 C. Finance (FIN) 1 D. Management 1. Management Principles (MGT) 3 2. Organizational Behavior (OB) 0 3. Human Resource Management (HRM) 0 4. Operations Management (OM) 0 Total Management 3 E. Economic/Social/Legal Environment 1. Legal Environment of Business (LAW) 0 2. Economics (ECN) 35 3. Business Ethics (ETH) 0 Total Economic/Social/Legal Environment 35 F. Decision-Support Tools 1. Information Systems (IS) 0 2. Quantitative Methods/Statistics (QM) 0 Total Decision-Support Tools 0 G. Global Dimensions of Business (GLOB) 1 H. Integrative Experience (INT) 0 Total Contact Hours 45