Econ 2301: Principles of Microeconomics

California State University, East Bay | Winter 2016

Course Description

Prerequisites

Textbook

Coursework and Course Organization

Assignments can be submitted up to three times (an initial submission and two retakes) before its due date. Students can work together on assignments, either in person or on the Blackboard discussion board. Two makeup assignments will be available at the end of the term, in case family emergencies, illness, or work schedules cause students to miss due dates or underperform on assignments. Students who must miss more than two assignments because of extreme, unforeseen, but fully justified, reasons should meet with the professor about receiving a grade of "I (Incomplete)". Assignment due dates may be extended following prolonged university-wide server outages, but individual extensions will not be granted for personal reasons or network difficulties.

The course will have a midterm exam and a cumulative final exam. Both exams will be open note and open book. Exams can be taken at any time during an allotted period (30 January to 9 February for the midterm, 12 March to 18 March for the final). The midterm exam will have two parts, each of which must be completed within 60 minutes of being accessed. The final exam will have three parts, each of which will have a 60 minute time limit. A detailed study guide and technical instructions will be available at the start of the week of each exam. A makeup midterm exam will be available to all students, but will carry a 30 percentage point late penalty. No makeup final or extension for the final exam will be given.

Grades

The two lowest assignment scores may be replaced with the scores from the makeup assignment. No extra credit opportunities are likely.

Letter grades will be assigned by the following scale:

A	92.50%-100%
A-	89.50%-92.49%
B+	86.50%-89.49%
B	82.50%-86.49%
B-	79.50%-82.49%
C+	76.50%-79.49%
C	72.50%-76.49%
C-	69.50%-72.49%
D+	66.50%-69.49%
D	59.50%-66.49%
F	0%-59.49%

Other policies

Disability accommodation - If you have a documented disability and wish to discuss academic accommodations, please contact me as soon as possible. Students with disabilities needing accommodation should speak with the Accessibility Services.

Emergencies - Information on what to do in an emergency situation (earthquake, electrical outage, fire, extreme heat, severe storm, hazardous materials, terrorist attack) may be found at: http://www.aba.csueastbay.edu/EHS/emergency_mgnt.htm. Please be familiar with these procedures. Information on this page is updated as required. Please review the information on a regular basis.

Reposting - Please do not repost the course materials. Do not upload the video lectures or any other materials to any outside service or website.

Learning Objectives

Course Learning Objectives

Upon successful completion of the course a student will be able to:
• Understand how households (demand) and businesses (supply) interact in various market structures to determine price and quantity of a good produced.
• Understand the links between household behavior and the economic models of demand.
• Represent demand, in graphical form, including the downward slope of the demand curve and what shifts the demand curve.
• Understand the links between production costs and the economic models of supply.
• Represent supply, in graphical form, including the upward slope of the supply curve and what shifts the supply curve.
• Understand the efficiency and equity implications of market interference, including government policy.
• Understand how different degrees of competition in a market affect pricing and output.
• Apply economic reasoning to individual and firm behavior.
• Understand the meaning of marginal revenue and marginal cost and their relevance for firm profitability.
• Understand the major characteristics of different market structures and the implications for the behavior of the firm.

Learning Objectives for Social Science Area of the General Education requirement

• Demonstrate, orally and in writing, recognition of the application of disciplinary concepts derived from at least three social or behavioral sciences in the study of human behavior, individually and in society.
• Demonstrate, orally and in writing, recognition of the inquiry methods used by at least one of the social or behavioral science disciplines.
Demonstrate, orally and in writing, the ability to describe how human diversity and the diversity of human societies influence our understanding of human behavior, individually and in societies, both local and global
• Demonstrate, orally and in writing, some knowledge of the political, social, and/or economic institutions of a country other than the United States.
• Demonstrate, orally and in writing, the ability to describe major positions and contrasting arguments made on one or more significant contemporary issue area confronting US society as applied to human behavior.

Schedule