Honors Economics 1
Mark McNeil
Fall 2009
Welcome
to Honors Economics during the fall semester, 2009 at Irvine Valley College.
This course is microeconomics, the first of the principles of economics
series. In microeconomics we focus
on the behavior of individual economic units - individuals, households, and
firms, etc, and how they coordinate their activities. The major themes are
scarcity, rational decision-making, markets and their effects, and the economic
institutions that confront these issues.
The
honors economics course increases the breadth of the course (compared to the
normal Econ 1 course). We will be
able to cover a few more than the normal topics of a principles, microeconomics
course. These additional topics
include sections on capital, interest and corporate finance, environmental
economics, public goods and public choice. Additionally, the small class sizes present opportunities
for discussion that are not available in larger classes. It is therefore understood that
students in the honors class will come to class having read the assigned
material and prepared to discuss the dayÕs topics.
The
texts used in this course will be The Economic Way of Thinking by Heyne,
Boettke, and Prychitko, 11th ed, and Microeconomics, A Contemporary Introduction,
by William McEachern , 5th, 6th, 7th, or 8th ed. Finally, there will be supplementary materials,
articles and activities, relevant to the course that will be distributed as the
course progresses. One such
activity will be the Iowa Electronics Markets in which students can buy futures
options.
There
will be 2 midterm examinations (each counting 50 points) and a comprehensive
final examination (counting 100 points). The examinations will be a combination
of multiple choice questions, problems or graphical analysis, and relatively
brief essays. In addition to these tests, there will be problem sets, readings
to be analyzed and discussed, and quizzes. You will need to bring a Scantron form (one that has 5
possible answers, a-e)and a calculator to each test or quiz. The lowest 50
point test score will be dropped when computing your final grade. Final grades
will be assigned as follows: 90% or more of the total points, A; 80% of the
total points, B; 70%, C; etc.
COURSE OUTLINE AND ASSIGNMENT SCHEDULE
LESSON 1
Introduction
a Introduction to
economics, the issue is
cooperation.
b. Theory
c.
Specialization, trade and
comparative advantage.
d.
Production possibilities and my
degenerate brother.
Reading
assignment: Chapters
1 & 2, Heyne
Chapter
2, McEachern
Augmentation:
Functions
and production possibilities
LESSON 2 Supply & Demand
a. Demand and the issue of substitutes
b. Elasticity of demand
c. Opportunity costs and supply
decisions
Reading
assignment: Chapters
3 & 4, Heyne
Chapter
3 or 4, McEachern
LESSON 3
Market Processes
a.
Supply and demand Ð the basics
b. Scare City ( the big one!)
c. Supply and demand Ð the
applications
Reading
assignment: Chapters
5 & 6, Heyne
Augmentation: Supply
& demand exercises
Test 1
LESSON 4
The Role of Entrepreneurs and Uncertainty
a.
Wages, rent, interest and profit
b. Entrepreneurship
c. Profits and uncertainty
d.
Speculation and the role of
speculators
e. A little discounting
Reading
assignment: Chapter
7, Heyne
LESSON 5
Firms Making Decisions
a. Competition vs. monopoly
b. Price takers and price searchers
c.
Profit maximizing decisions
Reading
assignment: Chapters
8, Heyne
Chapters
7 & 8, McEachern
Augmentation: Decision
making with pure competition
Test 2
LESSON 6
Imperfect competition
a. Revenues and downward sloping
demand curves
b.
Monopoly, oligopoly, and
monopolistic competition
c. Making profit maximizing decisions
Reading
assignment: Chapter
9, Heyne
Chapters
9 & 10, McEachern
Augmentation: Decision
making with imperfect competition
LESSON 7
Government Intervention - Two Instances
a. Government policies to regulate
markets and control prices
b. Government policies to redistribute
income
c. The distribution of income Ð I want
a higher quintile!
d. Where is Gini?
Reading
assignment: Chapters
10, Heyne
LESSON 8
Externalities Ð Who Owns the Rights?
a. The issue of property rights and
externalities
b.
Maximizing well-being while minimizing cost
c.
Alternative methods of fixing
things
Reading
assignment:
Chapters 10, Heyne
LESSON 9
A Discussion of the Role of Government
a.
Government
b.
A call for humility
Reading
assignment: Chapters
11 & 16, Heyne
Final Examination
Please be aware of the following dates:
September 7, Labor Day (Monday)
November 13, Veterans' Day (Friday)
September 25, Last day to drop without
"W" (It is also the last
day to select the credit/no credit grading option.)
November 5, Last day to drop the class
November 26-27, Thanksgiving
December 14-20, Final Examinations
Office
number: A236 -- Telephone: (949) 451-5313 -- e-mail: mmcneil@ivc.edu
Office Hours
(please note that these are subject to change):
Mon-Wed 11-12:30
Wed 6-7pm
Friday
12:30
The McNeil, Microeconomics web page address is:
http://faculty.ivc.edu/mmcneil/
About the Issue of Academic Honesty:
a. It is a fundamental requirement of
the course that you do your own work and abide by the
academic honesty policy. If you cannot do this, you cannot pass the course.
b. Any work you turn in must be your
own. If you study and do your homework with other
students, you may work out the answers to the problems together, but when you write
your answers on the homework paper, it must be in your own words.
c. The penalties for any type of
cheating are very severe. Please be sure to do your own
work.
Mobile phones must be turned off. No
exceptions
If you want to make audio recordings of the class or
use computers in class, please discuss this with me first.
The information on this syllabus is subject to change
over the course of the semester. Information about any changes will be
discussed with and provided to the class.
Please forward your student email account to your home
account so that I can communicate with you should the need arise.