Class Meetings: Days: Fall Term 2014 Time: Fall Term 2014 Location: TBD Prerequisites: Some CRN: 83259 (83260 Academ-e) ECO 120: Principles of Microeconomics Online, Fall 2014 Course Basics Instructor Contact Information: Aaron Hoshide, Adjunct Assistant Professor & Faculty Associate, School of Economics Phone: (207) 945-6830; (207) 659-4808 (cell) Contact Hours: By appointment E-mail: aaron.hoshide@umit.maine.edu Teaching Assistant Contact Information: Teaching Assistants in the Economics Lab, Center Stevens Hall Room 305 TA Office Hours: Mondays through Thursdays from 10am to 2pm Course Description: This course is intended to introduce students to the concepts and terminology of microeconomics, and demonstrate to students how microeconomic analysis can explain (and contribute to solving) current issues. We will develop an understanding of how markets work to allocate limited resources and will focus on the conditions necessary for an outcome to be efficient (and what it means when those conditions are not met). Online Text, Optional Text, and Readings: 1. Aplia online readings and homeworks. Available at bookstore; Listed on Syllabus as Aplia. 2. Mankiw, Principles of Microeconomics, 7 th edition (OPTIONAL: Purchase if you need hard-copy). 3. Readings should be done prior to the class that is covering them. What to Buy: 1. Aplia you need to purchase this since this is an online text, has posted lecture slideshows, and has interactive homeworks (10%), experiments (10%), and exams (60%) worth a total of 80% of the course grade. Aplia s cost is similar to a hard-copy textbook. Course Promise and Learning Objectives 1 : This course promises you will be able to help a business figure out correct pricing and how to improve profitability. This course is a requirement for many majors and minors including: economics, business administration (including concentrations in marketing, finance, accounting, etc.), construction management and many more. Additionally, this course meets the University of Maine s general education requirement for the area of Social Contexts and Institutions. This course aims to: Expand understanding of the economic relationship existing between individuals, firms and social institutions such as government. Introduce you to essential tools of economic analysis, including equilibrium for markets, and optimal choices for individuals. Reveal important role economics plays in everyday life and help you explain everyday phenomena from an economic perspective. Therefore, it is expected that by the end of the semester you should be able to: 1) Use the basic terminology of microeconomics, including a brief definition of microeconomics. 2) Apply the concepts of scarcity and opportunity cost in discussing consumer and firm decision-making. 3) Identify market equilibrium, and the impact on consumer and firm welfare. 4) Identify changes in supply and demand, and their impact on market equilibrium. 5) Discuss demand and supply elasticities and their impact on consumer, producer and government choices. 6) Understand how different market structures affect market equilibrium and welfare outcomes. 7) Identify market failures, and understand economic and social policies which affect market equilibrium and welfare outcomes. 1 The above stated objectives address the learning outcome goals for the University of Maine s general education requirement for the area of Social Context and Institutions which state: Courses included in the Social Contexts and Institutions category focus upon the ways in which social contexts shape and limit human institutions. The specific focus may be upon ways in which social contexts and institutions interact with human values, the role of institutions in expressing cultural values, or the social and ethical dimensions attendant upon particular academic disciplines. 1
CLASS PROCEDURES AND REQUIREMENTS 1. How will I (the student) be graded? Grading Percentages: Attendance: 0% No attendance since online Aplia Homeworks: 10% Due on Friday at midnight specified in syllabus entered into Aplia Aplia Experiments (1 of 4): 10% Preparing for and Analyzing exercises as well as experiment due dates TBD Exam 1: 20% Due Friday, October 10, 2014 Exam 2: 20% Due Friday, November 7, 2014 Exam 3: 20% Due Friday, December 5, 2014 Application: Survey 5% Friday, October 3, 2014 (Demand survey or Paper or Paper Topic analysis due; research paper topic to Google Drive) Final Draft 15% Due midnight, Friday, December 12, 2014 of Application (E-mail to instructor Excel, PowerPoint, and pdf or peer-reviewed reference OR research paper) *Present Week of December 8-12, 2014 (*If you or your team are doing an interactive presentation online with the instructor instead of a PowerPoint) *There is NO Final Exam during finals week. UMAINE ALLOWS STUDENTS TO MAKE UP GRADED CLASS COMPONENTS FOR THE FOLLOWING FOUR (and a FIFTH optional) EXCUSED ABSENCES: 1) Family Reasons These include deaths, marriages, and traditional family events of high importance. Significant others and children are included in family. If your significant other or child has an emergency, this is a family reason. A letter or e-mail from your family will do. 2) Medical Reasons Including sickness, surgeries, medical appointments, and any other health problems. A note from Cutler or your doctor will do. 3) UMaine Class or Group Events This includes labs for other classes not initially scheduled in these other classes syllabi, varsity athletic team meetings, and mandatory group meetings of extreme significance that cannot be rescheduled to another time. A letter or e-mail from your teacher, coach, or head of your campus group will do. 4) Late Adds If you add the class after the first class, you will be allowed to make up missed team exercises. No documentation required. 5) Legally Paid Job Conflicts This is an optional excused absence by UMaine. Since most students at UMaine work, this is allowed. You are not allowed an excused absence for illegal jobs. In no way does this class condone illegal jobs. A note from your boss will do. *Please provide DOCUMENTATION such as a signed letter, medical note, or e-mail from an appropriate third party that can verify your excused absence (not needed for late adds). Suggested documentation is provided in italics above. Without such documentation, you will NOT be allowed to make up graded components of the class or classes you miss. Graded Class Components: Attendance: 0% since online Aplia Homeworks: 10% There will be equally weighted homework exercises done REGULARLY online in Aplia throughout the semester. Homeworks must be completed INDIVIDUALLY in Aplia by midnight on Fridays where they are graded automatically in Aplia with keys posted. Students must complete homeworks individually but can work together with their teams established at the start of the semester. Completing and understanding homeworks may improve exam performance. Homeworks will be posted in advance. Exam questions will be based on these Aplia homeworks and on Aplia experiments. 2
Aplia Experiments (1 of 4): 10% Each student needs to complete 1 of 4 Aplia Experiments this semester due on the day(s) assigned in Aplia. YOU ONLY NEED TO COMPLETE 1 EXPERIMENT. Experiments are interactive online simulated exercises. For example, the first one is an equilibrium experiment where each student is given the role of a buyer or seller of textbooks. For buyers, each student gets a unique willingness to pay. For sellers, each student gets a unique willingness to sell. During five 2-minute rounds, students bid on textbooks with the goal of making the most beneficial transaction. Even with small numbers of participants, Aplia fills in with bots to insure equilibrium is achieved. Exams: 60% Exam #1-3 at 20% each There will be three exams this semester (DUE on October 10, November 7, and December 5, 2014). Exams will have 40 multiple choice questions. If you miss an exam for an excused reason (i.e. illness, family loss, athletics, conferences, etc.), please let me know ASAP but definitely BEFORE the exam you will miss. Please e-mail proof (i.e. third party DOCUMENTATION) of your reason for not completing an exam during the week it is assigned. Failure to take an exam, or produce documentation for missing an exam, will result in a grade of zero. Late exams must be done ASAP. Please do not use other people s notes, exercises, and books and obviously, please do not copy others people s exams. Exams ARE CUMULATIVE since course topics build on themselves. Exams will be primarily based on Aplia homeworks and experiments. Application: 20% Application at 20% There are 2 choices to complete the Application: A) Extreme Makeover: Business Management Edition described below requiring completion of an Excel analysis file, submission of pdf file for peer-reviewed journal article (with abstract, volume number, etc.), plus a presentation OR B) that is 5 pages double-spaced using a 12-point font like Times New Roman on a micro-economic topic of your choice along with submission of pdf file for peer-reviewed journal article (with abstract, volume number, etc.) A) EXTREME MAKEOVER: BUSINESS MANAGEMENT EDITION The application applies economic theory and concepts to helping a real life business or potential business. These can be completed in a team or done individually. Teams or individuals should pick a good or service and/or business that all team members or each individual are/is interested and invested in and motivated to analyze. PLEASE DESTROY ALL SURVEY DATA AT THE END OF THE SEMESTER. Each team will be presenting their demand, budget, and market analyses and findings during the last week of class in one of two ways: 1) submission of a PowerPoint presentation OR 2) live presentation via Google Hangouts which does not require making a PowerPoint presentation. Business owners are welcome to be present. If you find it difficult to collaborate with others online, you are more than welcome to do your application project individually. Part One: Demand Survey Each team or individual will survey a minimum of 30 folks (i.e. 6 team members x 5 friends = 30 people) regarding each person s willingness to pay for a good or service at several different price levels. PLEASE PICK A TOPIC YOU ARE INTERESTED 3
IN!!! Each team needs to have survey data processed in OneDrive Excel by Friday, October 3. Finishing this data processing on time is worth 5% of your grade. A one-page template Excel file for data processing and graphing will be available in OneDrive. Part Two: Representative Budget & Market Model Analysis Each team or individual will complete a representative budget analysis plus industry and market model overview and recommendations for one product line produced by a local Maine business. Teams are encouraged to focus on a business owned by a team member or a team member s family. A representative template budget in Excel is available for your use and is also located in OneDrive. Please submit team PowerPoint AND Excel files your team uses to do its data analyses for the Application directly as an e-mail to the instructor. PowerPoint (or presentation via Google Hangouts) AND Excel files are worth 15% of your grade and are due at the end of classes at midnight on Friday, December 12. Your PowerPoint should have at least two references. One can be the text, the internet, or a magazine or newspaper article. The second reference needs to be a peer-reviewed journal article. Please use Fogler Library s Databases and then the EconLit search engine to find and submit a pdf of this article. Each team or individual that does not submit a PowerPoint presentation file must present to the instructor via Google Hangouts during the last week of class. Evaluations will also be done within each team by team members measuring their relative contribution to the application. In order for an individual s grade to equal the team grade, the within team rating must be a 70% or greater. ELSE your individual grade = team grade x within team rating (<70%). Evaluations will be completed online on http://www.surveymonkey.com/ after presentations. Presentations (PowerPoint file OR Google Hangouts presentation) are 1/5 of the application grade. B) RESEARCH PAPER Research papers must be on micro-economics (not macro-economics) and follow similar reference requirements (1 of the 2 must be a peer-reviewed journal article) as option A. 2. How will you (the instructor) communicate with the class? How can I get help? Please e-mail if you have questions or concerns or contact me via phone or e-mail or invite me to assist you and/or your team via Google Hangouts: https://plus.google.com/hangouts/ 3. What are the course policies? Emailing Policy - You get bonus points for any e-mails sent of a non-sensitive nature sent through First Class. These will be counted as bonus points at the end of the semester. Disability Policy - Students with a disability, who may require accommodation, please speak with me as early as possible to promote success in this course and/or with Ann Smith, Coordinator of Services for Students with Disabilities (Onward Building, 581-2319). 4. Can I earn extra credit? How? You can earn bonus points (BP s) for your next exam (worth 1% of your exam grade each and capped at 5% per exam). For example, if you get a bonus point and your exam grade is an 89, your exam grade is now 89 + 1 = 90. Bonus points (BP s) are for participating online, forwarding articles and examples, asking great questions, redoing questions you got wrong, and for other things showing class engagement. BP s are huge! 4
COURSE OUTLINE Week Date Class Topic Readings Assessments 1 Tu to F *Last day 9/2-9/5 of add is 9/8, while drop is 9/15* 2 M to F 9/8-9/12 3 M to F 9/15-9/19 4 M to F 9/22-9/26 5 M to F 9/29-10/3 Introduction - Supply & Demand Introduction Aplia Econ. Systems Intro & Graphing Opportunity Cost & the PPF Demand Demand (cont.) Supply Demand Elasticity Market Equilibrium & Efficiency & Taxes Chap 1 & 2 Chap 4 Chap 4 (cont.) Chap 5 Chap 6 & 7 Aplia HW#1 Due 9/12 Aplia HW#2 Due 9/19 Aplia HW#3 Due 9/26 Aplia HW#4 Due 10/3 Aplia HW#5a&b Due 10/3 Demand Survey Data Analysis Due 10/3 5 to 14 TBD APLIA EXPERIMENT Do 1 of 4 Experiments Log on to Aplia 6 M to F 10/6-10/10 Wrap up and Exam Review EXAM #1 Review Chap. 1-2, 4-7 Review Chap. 1-2, 4-7 Chap. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 & 7 EXAM #1 7 M & Tu, October 13 & 14, 2014 Enjoy Fall Break! 8 M to F 10/20-10/24 9 M to F 10/27-10/31 10 M to F 11/3-11/7 11 M to F 11/10-11/14 Consumer & Firm Behavior Consumer Behavior Indifference Curves Costs of Production for the Firm Pure Competition Chap 21 Chap 13 Chap 14 Market Structures & Failure Wrap up and Review Chap. 21, Exam Review 13-14 EXAM #2 Chap. 21, 13, & 14 & Exam #1 Aplia HW#6 Due 10/31 Aplia HW#7 Due 11/7 Aplia HW#8 Due 11/14 Also Review Exam #1 EXAM #2 5
Week Date Class Topic Readings Assessments 12 M to F Monopoly Aplia HW#9 Chap 15 Due 11/21 11/17-11/21 13 M to Tu *Course Evaluations 11/24-11/25 Monopolistic Competition & Oligopoly Chap 16 & 17 Aplia HW#10a&b Due 12/1 W, Th & F, November 26-28, 2014 Enjoy Thanksgiving Break! 14 M to F Wrap up and Review Chap. Also Review 12/1-12/5 Exam Review 15-17 Exam #1 & #2 15 M to F 12/8-12/12 EXAM #3 Preparation for Paper Presentation or submission of Chap. 15, 16, & 17 & Exams #1 & #2 based on material covered weeks 1-13 EXAM #3 APPLICATION OR PAPER Final PP & Excels or due by midnight 12/12 ** This syllabus may be modified during the semester** * Please use whatever you need to help you focus and help you concentrate. This may be a snack, coffee, cola, Red Bull, Mountain Dew, chocolate, Redman chew, ginkgo biloba, etc. Pulling on your earlobes also works very well CLASS QUOTES FOR THE SEMESTER Most of economics can be summarized in four words: 'People respond to incentives.' The rest is commentary. -- Steven E. Landsburg in The Armchair Economist: Economics and Everyday Life Exemplary college teaching spurs students to an active involvement in their own learning. -- Joseph Lowman in Mastering the Techniques of Teaching Tell me and I will forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I will understand. Confucius (A long time ago) Do, or do not. There is no try. -- Yoda (A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away ) 6