Northeastern University Online College of Professional Studies CED 6010.20506 Applied Microeconomic Theory Winter 2018, 12-Week Term Monday January 8th, 2018 - Saturday March 31st, 2018 Instructor: Rezwan Haque r.haque@northeastern.edu Office Hours: By Appointment Required Text(s)/Software/Tools: Access to the Aplia courseware program (see registration later in the syllabus) is required for this course. ebook versions of the textbook are included with this courseware. N. Gregory Mankiw 2018. [Mankiw] Principles of Microeconomics, 8th Edition Cengage ISBN-10: 1337096555 ISBN-13: 9781337096553 Course Prerequisites None. Course Description This course is about the efficient allocation, and fair distribution of scarce resources. This course explores the microeconomic theory required to apply the leading literature and develop models to explain behavior of households, firms, and markets, as well as to evaluate economic policy. Various elasticity concepts and applications, theories of demand and production, and derivation of cost curves comprise the core theory for this course. Focusing on analyses of pricing and output behavior in the several market structures with the allocation of welfare and the pricing of resources, this course establishes the microeconomic foundation for students of Commerce and Economic Development. Course Outcomes Economics provides a unifying optimization theory of social and political institutions that frame Commerce and Economic Development. This course introduces the analytical tools necessary for assessing managerial decisions, consumer behavior and public policy. Microeconomics is used to explain individual consumer and producer decisions, and generally the efficient allocation of scarce resources. Students will have the opportunity to learn how to apply critical and analytical thinking to understanding markets and their environments. Using economic tools and models, students will analyze current events as well as historical concepts. Students are expected to model and apply problem-solving skills in economics. Upon the successful completion of this course, students should have an enhanced ability to model and analyze product and resource markets and clearly identify institutional constraints. In the course students will access major media sources (such as The Wall Street Journal and The Boston Globe) in order to learn more about current events and the application of economics. By studying these issues, students will gain an understanding of how economics is used to understand rational decision-making, social institutions and norms, and their consequences. Learning a way of 2
thinking, not a set of facts, will help students to independently analyze events and situations. Students will have the opportunity to become knowledgeable and conversant about the following: 1. Supply and Demand. Equilibrium Analysis. Marginal Analysis. Positive and Normative Questions 2. Consumer Behavior--Rational Consumer Choice Theory. Optimization Procedures. Individual and Market Demand. Elasticity. 3. Application of Rational Choice Theory--Gas Tax, School Vouchers, Intertemporal Choice, etc. 4. Rational Choice under Uncertainty--Information Economics, Expected Utility, Insurance, Adverse Selection, Moral Hazard, Lemons. 5. Firm Theory--Short, and Long-run Production, Costs, Cost Minimization, Profit Maximization. 6. Market Structure--Perfect Competition, Monopoly, and selling environments. 7. General Equilibrium and Market Efficiency. Course Methodology Each week, you will be expected to: 1. Review the week's learning objectives. 2. Complete all assigned readings. 3. Complete all lecture materials for the week. 4. Participate in the Discussion Board. 5. Complete and submit all assignments and tests by the due dates. Communication/Submission of Work Weekly graded assignments will be available through the Aplia website. Once your assignment has been submitted you will be able to view the grade on Aplia. I am available for contact via e-mail and online office hours yet students are encouraged to ask questions on the discussion board so all students may benefit from questions and answers. Grading/Evaluation Standards Grading will be based upon: 1) Two exams (50%) - Weeks 7 and 12 2) Weekly Aplia Problem Sets (25%); and, 3) Class Participation and Bi-weekly Discussion Board Questions (25%) Each student s final grade will be based on a final course score calculated from the scores of the grading opportunities and the weightings listed above. The statistical mean and standard deviation of the class scores will be calculated and used to rank order and qualitatively assess each student s relative and absolute performance. A B is a good grade evidenced by the fact that it represents honors level. A B represents above average work. An A represents impressive, superlative work across all area. Average work falls in the B-/C+ range. 3
Exams There will be two exams and each is 25% of the course grade. Absence from the exams will not be considered without a documented legitimate reason (illness, family emergency etc.) A schedule for the two exams is listed above and below. Each exam should take students approximately 120 minutes to complete; at least two hours will be allowed for the completion of the exams. Aplia homework questions are also a good indicator of exam questions. Students are expected to work independently on all exams and abide by the Academic Honesty and Integrity Statement; any breach of academic integrity (i.e. cheating on an exam or plagiarism in a writing assignment) will result in failure for the entire course. Aplia Homework/Problem Sets Weekly problem sets should take students approximately 240 to 360 minutes each week. Students need time to access the Aplia system and complete the problems and exercises by the due date and time; late submissions will not be considered without a documented legitimate reason (illness, family emergency, etc.) Weekly homework will be due by Saturday 11:59PM. Students are expected to independently submit all homework assignments. Weekly homework assignments are found on the Aplia website. The website requires a separate registration process. Here are the steps: 1. Connect to http://login.cengagebrain.com/course/2lvy-g6wp-mxl3 2. Follow the prompts to register for your Aplia course. You will only need to register once. After the registration process is complete, you will not need to enter the course key again. For technical problems or problems signing in, please send Aplia an e-mail by clicking on the Help link in the upper right corner of any page or by emailing support@aplia.com. Discussion Board Two questions will be posted to the discussion board bi-weekly (every other week). This exercise is worth 25% of the course grade and is designed to help and check students ability to process information, systematically analyze data/evidence and verbally articulate the information that you have learned from course lectures, the required readings and our class discussions. It is expected that students will need 60 to 90 minutes to successfully demonstrate understanding of the questions and support their classmates with insights based on course material. Students must post at least one primary response (answering a discussion question) and two secondary responses (responses to other students posts) for each question. Answers should be complete and concise (about 100 to 200 words), follow college-level academic style guides for writing, and be free of typographical and grammatical errors. The postings are due no later than the end of each week; students should post their primary responses by the middle of the week to allow others time to reply. Failure to complete this assignment in a timely manner will result in a grade deduction. Students are expected to present their own answers to discussion questions and all referenced materials require attribution. appropriate 4
Class Schedule Week Dates Topic Assignments 1 1/8 1/14 Introduction Principles of Economics Mankiw Chapter 1, 2, and 3 2 1/15 1/21 MLK Day No in-class meeting Supply and Demand Demand Curve Supply Curve Equilibrium 3 1/22 1/28 Supply and Demand (Continued) Elasticity Government Policies 4 1/29 2/4 Markets and Welfare Consumer surplus Producer surplus International Trade Taxation 5 2/5 2/11 Public Sector Economics Externalities Public goods Design of the Tax System 6 2/12 2/18 Midterm 7 2/19 2/25 President s Day No in-class meeting Review and prepare for midterm Discussion Board #1 Mankiw Chapter 4 Mankiw Chapters 5 and 6 Discussion Board #2 Mankiw Chapter 7, 8, and 9 Mankiw Chapters 10,11, and 12 Costs of Production The Production Function Fixed and Variable Costs Short Run and Long Run Costs Economies of Scale Discussion Board #3 Midterm (covering weeks 1-6) Mankiw Chapters 10, 11, and 12 Discussion Board #4 5
8 2/26 3/4 Perfect Competition Profit Maximization Short Run and Long Run Equilibrium 9 3/5 3/11 Monopoly Production and Pricing Decisions Natural monopolies Price discrimination Monopolistic Competition 10 3/12 3/18 Oligopoly Markets with Few Sellers Game Theory Antitrust Policy 11 3/19 3/25 Frontiers of Microeconomics Asymmetric Information Political Economy Behavioral Economics Mankiw Chapter 13 Mankiw Chapter 14 Discussion Board #5 Mankiw Chapters 15 and 16 Mankiw Chapter 17 Discussion Board #6 12 3/26-3/31 Final Exam Final Exam (covering weeks 1-12) 6
Academic Honesty and Integrity Statement The University views academic dishonesty as one of the most serious offenses that a student can commit while in college and imposes appropriate punitive sanctions on violators. Here are some examples of academic dishonesty. While this is not an all-inclusive list, we hope this will help you to understand some of the things instructors look for. The following is excerpted from the University s policy on academic honesty and integrity. For the complete policy, click the link to download the Student Handbook. Cheating intentionally using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information or study aids in an academic exercise. This may include use of unauthorized aids (notes, texts) or copying from another student s exam, paper, computer disk, etc. Fabrication intentional and unauthorized falsification, misrepresentation, or invention of any data, or citation in an academic exercise. Examples may include making up data for a research paper, altering the results of a lab experiment or survey, listing a citation for a source not used, or stating an opinion as a scientifically proven fact. Plagiarism intentionally representing the words or ideas of another as one s own in any academic exercise without providing proper documentation by source by way of a footnote, endnote or intertextual note. Unauthorized collaboration Students, each claiming sole authorship, submit separate reports, which are substantially similar to one another. While several students may have the same source material, the analysis, interpretation and reporting of the data must be each individual s. Participation in academically dishonest activities Examples include stealing an exam, using a pre-written paper through mail order or other services, selling, loaning or otherwise distributing materials for the purpose of cheating, plagiarism, or other academically dishonest acts; alternation, theft, forgery, or destruction of the academic work of others. Facilitating academic dishonesty Examples may include inaccurately listing someone as coauthor of paper who did not contribute, sharing a take home exam, taking an exam or writing a paper for another student. Northeastern University Online Policies and Procedures For comprehensive information, please click the link to download the Student Handbook. Northeastern University Online Copyright Statement Northeastern University Online is a registered trademark of Northeastern University. All other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. This course material is copyrighted and all rights are reserved by Northeastern University Online. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any language or computer language, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, magnetic, optical, chemical, manual, or otherwise, without the express prior written permission of Northeastern University Online. 7