Fall 2004

Professor: Billy Mertens

Office: ECON 4A

Office phone: 303-492-3021

E-mail: mertens@colorado.edu Web: http://spot.colorado.edu/~mertens

Office Hours: M,W 10:15-10:45, 1:15-1:45, 5:15-5:45; F 10:15-10:45, 1:15-1:45, 3-4 and by appt.

Course Description:

Principles of Microeconomics (ECON 2010) is a companion course with Principles of Macroeconomics. Together the courses introduce you to the "economic way of thinking". The central fact that underlies economics is the fact of "scarcity" in the short run. By this it is meant that our wants exceed the goods freely available from nature in the immediate future – hence choices must be made among the many things we want. This leads to the fundamental economic questions, narrowly defined, which face all societies: What to produce? How to produce? And for whom to produce? But economics really is much broader in scope than this; it is really the study of wise decision-making in all areas of life.

The issues we discuss are complex but they do lend themselves extremely well to critical thinking and rational inquiry, which are the guiding principles of this course. Our goal is to become and remain informed about issues related to economics and, even more importantly, acquire the ability to think about complex issues in a logical objective manner. Thinking critically is what permits us to differentiate between the illogical and the sensible, between the misleading use of statistics, misleading anecdotal evidence, and the reasonable presentation of information.

As well as covering the material in the text, we will discuss current issues and how they relate to the economy. I may post some summary outlines on the course website, but these very brief outlines and the book are meant to complement what you learn in class – they are not substitutes for lecture materials!

The topics covered in this course can be divided into four main categories: Supply and Demand, Consumer Choice, Firm Production, and Applications. After a brief introduction to the economic way of thinking, we will study supply and demand. Supply and demand analysis provides us with a graphical way of understanding how the price and quantity of a good will change when factors such as income, population, and input costs change. By studying elasticity, we will develop an understanding of what determines how much price and quantity change.

After finishing supply and demand we will discuss the derivation of supply and demand. Specifically, we will examine how a demand curve is derived from consumer decisions about how to allocate their budget between various goods. We will also examine the underlying issues behind supply by explaining how a firm decides how much to produce. We will develop this in the context of several different market settings.

A more detailed outline of covered material and chapters will be handed out or posted separately.

Readings: Mankiw, N. Gregory; Principles of Microeconomics 3^rd ed.

Assignments:

You will be given problem sets that will be instrumental in your preparation for exams. I will cover all necessary material to complete these problem sets and prepare for exams in class.

Exams:

There will be four hourly exams each worth 17% of you’re your course grade, and a cumulative final, worth 20%. Tests will consist of multiple-choice questions and some longer problems. Exams (other than the final) are not cumulative, but the material does build on itself so it is important to understand all of the concepts as we go. No makeup or early exams will be given. If you miss an exam for any reason, then the weight of your final exam will be increased by the weight of that exam. There are no exceptions to this rule. NO exams will be dropped!!!

Grading:

Hourly exam total 68%

Final exam 20%

Problem set total 6%

Recitation 6%

Grading Scale:

Your score Grade

92% to 100% A

90% to 91% A-

88% to 89% B+

82% to 87% B

80% to 81% B-

78% to 79% C+

72% to 77% C

70% to 71% C-

68% to 69% D+

62% to 67% D

60% to 61% D-

Below 59.5% F

Exam Schedule:

Exam One: September 20^th

Exam Two: October 15^th

Exam Three: November 5^th

Exam Four: December 3^rd

Final Exams:

For 2010-030 the final exam is on Tuesday, December 14^th at 1:30pm.

For 2010-040 the final exam is on Friday, December 10^th at 4:30pm

Additional Notes:

If you qualify for accommodations because of a disability, please submit to me a letter from the Disability Services (DS) early in the semester so that your needs may be addressed. DS determines accommodations based on documented disabilities (303-492-8671, Willard 322, www.colorado.edu/sacs/disabilityservices).

Accommodations can be made if there are any conflicts with religious holidays, but you must notify me in advance.

You cannot get credit for both Economics 1000 and Economics 2010/2020.