Northeastern University College of Professional Studies CED 6050 Commerce and Economic Development Fall 2017, 12 -Week Term September 18 th 2017-December 17 th 2017 Instructor: Dean He h.he@northeastern.edu and 617-599-3816 (Cell) and 46658906 (Wechat) Office: Lake Hall 312 Office Hours: By Appointment Only Required Text(s)/Software/Tools: Access to Aplia courseware program (see registration below): An ebook version of the Gregory Mankiw s Principles of Economics 8 th edition text is included with this courseware. 1. Aplia Access Only [Mankiw Gregory. Principles of Economics 8 th Edition, 2018 Cengage Published.] Required Supplementary Readings: Major news media sources. Suggestions: Boston Globe (www.bostonglobe.com), New York Times (www.nytimes.com), Washington Post (www.washingtonpost.com); Wall Street Journal (www.wsj.com). In addition to the readings from the text, students are encouraged to follow current events on the decision-making process of federal, state and local government, local businesses (small and large), or local community groups, and the interaction and motivation of these decisions. For example, decisions on defense spending, housing subsidizes and rent control, transportation and education funding, environmental impacts, professional sports ticket prices and player salaries, and business location. It is also interesting and important to follow national and international issues and their impact on industrial output, employment, inflation, fiscal and monetary policy, the budget deficit, the trade deficit, and other areas of macroeconomics. These macroeconomic policies often influence microeconomic decisions. Course Prerequisites No prerequisites. Course Description This course introduces students to the fundamentals of economics and the variety of issues that can be analyzed using the economic optimization model. Information, institutions, and incentives are key and recurring concepts throughout the course. Students will have the opportunity to learn that the concepts such as scarcity, tradeoffs, incentives, and supply and demand can be applied to gaining a rich understanding of human behavior. Microeconomic (primarily in this course) and macroeconomic models are presented and used to evaluate public issues, both current and historic. Course Outcomes Economics provides a unifying optimization theory of social and political institutions. It also provides analytical tools for assessing public policy. The price system (microeconomics) explains individual consumer and producer decisions, and generally the efficient allocation of scarce resources. The equitable distribution of scarce resources is also explained in the context of both microeconomics, and macroeconomics. Macroeconomics explains the behavior of an economy as a whole, and is intimately connected to microeconomic concepts. Macroeconomics is presented in the context of existing economic institutions. This course is a necessary first step to support subsequent Masters-level consideration of public policy issues. 1
Students will have the opportunity to learn how to think critically and analytically. Using economic tools and models, students will analyze current events as well as historical concepts. The tools used in this course are designed to help students develop problem-solving skills in economics and enhance students ability to address economic issues around them, from borrowing for one s education, to purchasing a home or refinancing a mortgage. Upon the successful completion of this course, students should have an enhanced ability to comprehend and systematically critique economics news, and political speeches. 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 decisionmaking, social institutions and norms, and their consequences. Learning a way of 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. Markets and supply-and-demand analysis in theory, and applied to the real world; 2. Trade and its impact on social welfare; 3. Efficient allocation, and equitable distribution of resources; 4. Consumer and producer optimization behavior in both the short and long-run; 5. Opportunity cost: the difference between economic and accounting costs; 6. Basic models of market structures (trading environments): perfect competition, monopoly, oligopoly, and monopolistic competition; 7. Measurement of macroeconomic variables; 8. Unemployment, and inflation; 9. Basic macroeconomic models, aggregate demand and supply; 10. Fiscal and monetary policy; Course Methodology Each week, students are expected to: 1. Review the week's learning objectives. 2. Complete all assigned readings. 3. Complete all lecture materials for the week. 5. Complete and submit all assignments and tests by the due dates. Communication/Submission of Work In the Assignments folder, click on the View/Complete Assignment link to view each assignment. Attach your completed assignments here and click Submit to turn them in to me. Once your assignment has been graded, you will be able to view the grade and feedback by clicking on Tools, View Grades from the Northeastern University Online Campus tab. Grading/Evaluation Standards Grading will be based upon: Class Participation and Quiz (Cold Call) (10% total) Weekly Aplia Problem Sets (20% total) Exam #1 (20%) Week 5 Exam #2 (20%) Week Economics Case Study (10%) Week 10 Exam #3 (20%) Week 12 Each student s final course grade will be based on a final course score calculated from the weighted scores of the four above grading opportunities. An A represents impressive, superlative work across all areas. 2
Three Exams There will be two exams, and each is 20 percent of the course grade. Exams will be taking place in Class. Late exam submissions will not be considered without a documented legitimate reason (illness, family emergency, etc.) Economics Case Study Economics case study topics, which represent a documented case of economics policy making in the public or private sector, will be presented in class in the beginning of the quarter. Students will have the opportunity to rank their topic preferences. Based on these preferences, students will be placed in groups. Each group will then be required to do outside research to determine where the case stands, what has happened since the initial documentation of the case, and why. In addition to derive the underlying economics concepts in these cases, students should analyze the current state of affairs to determine what could have been done differently during the initial policy making time period, what worked well and what portions of the project are still too early to determine and why. Research and findings will be presented in a 20-page written case study. A final hard copy and electronic copy are both required to turn in. Aplia Homework/Problem Sets Weekly problem sets comprised 15 to 20 questions should take students approximately 60 to 120 minutes each week. Students need 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 Sunday by 11:45PM. Students are expected to independently submit all homework assignments. Weekly homework assignments are found on the Aplia website. The Aplia site requires a separate registration process. Here are the steps: Connect to 1. http://login.cengagebrain.com/course/kxhu-rw3u-kess 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 e-mailing support@aplia.com. Discussion Board, In-Class participation and Quiz Each week, depending on the content of teaching, you maybe asked to conduct either online discussion(via discussion board), in-class group discussion or pop quiz. Pop quiz is a new adventure this quarter and the goal is to examine your level of competence with the previous lecture materials. This section worth 20% of the final grade. 3
Class Schedule Week Dates Topic Assignments 1 9/18 9/24 Introduction I Ten Principles of Economics Thinking like an economist Interdependence and gains from trade 2 9/25 10/1 How Markets Work I The market forces of supply and demand Elasticity and its application 3 10/2 10/8 How Markets Work Part II Supply, Demand and Government Policies Consumers, Producers and the Efficiency of Markets 4 10/9-10/15 How Markets Work III: Applications The costs of taxation International Trade 5 10/16 10/22 Firm Behavior and the Organization of Industry I The costs of production Firms in competitive market 6 10/23 10/29 Firm Behavior and the Organization of Industry II Monopoly Monopolistic Competition Oligopoly 7 10/30 11/5 The Economics of Labor Markets I The markets for the factors of production Earnings and Discrimination 8 11/6 11/12 The Economics of Labor Markets II Income Inequity and poverty 9 11/13 11/19 The Economics of Labor Markets III Theory of Consumer choice Notice there is a Thanksgiving break in between this week and the next 10 11/27 12/3 The Data of Macroeconomics Measuring a Nation s income Measuring the cost of living 11 12/4 12/10 The Real Economy in the Long Run I Production and Growth Unemployment 12 12/11-12/17 The Real Economy in the Long Run II Unemployment Read Mankiw Ch. 1,2&3 Aplia Due 9/24 Read Mankiw Ch. 4 & 5 Aplia Due 10/1 Read Mankiw Ch. 6 & 7 Aplia Due 10/8 Read Mankiw Ch. 8 & 9 Aplia Due 10/15 Read Mankiw Ch. 13 & 14 Aplia Due 10/22 Exam #1 Read Mankiw Ch. 15, 16 & 17 Aplia Due 10/29 Read Mankiw Ch. 18 & 19 Aplia Due 11/5 Read Mankiw Ch. 20 Aplia Due 11/12 Read Mankiw Ch. 21 Aplia Due 11/19 Exam #2 Read Mankiw Ch. 23 & 24 Aplia Due 12/3 Case Study DUE Read Mankiw Ch. 25 Aplia Due 12/10 Read Mankiw Ch. 28 Exam #3 4
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 Reference Link. 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 co-author 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 Reference Link. 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. 5