Download Course Syllabus for Intermediate Microeconomics | ECON 4010 and more Assignments Microeconomics in PDF only on Docsity!
ECONOMICS 4010
Spring 2009 www.econ.utah.edu/lozada
Professor Lozada [email protected] 308 Bus. Ofc. Bldg. Phone: 581-
CLASS MEETING TIME & PLACE: MW 9:40am–11:00am, Marriott Library 1725. (The schedule says the class ends at 10:30am but that is a mistake by the Scheduling Office as it does not match the course’s credit hours.)
TEXT: Intermediate Microeconomics and Its Application, 9th edition, by Walter Nicholson. ISBN 0324171633. We will not use the computer disk which may be included with the book.
You may if you wish get the latest (10th) edition, written by Walter Nicholson along with Christopher M. Snyder (ISBN 0324319681). However, used copies of the 9th edition are available for sale at low prices ($20 or less) on the Internet, while the 10th edition new costs more than $140. In my opinion, for the purposes of this class, the 9th edition is just as good as the 10th edition, so I’ve officially adopted the 9th edition in order to save you money.
Do not get Nicholson’s other textbook, called “Microeconomic Theory: Basic Prin- ciples and Extensions.” That is a master’s level book. Just make sure the title of the book you order has “Intermediate” as its first word.
In addition: old exams from this class, answers to old exams, answers to home- work problems, and a small packet of class handouts can all be found by going to www.econ.utah.edu/lozada and clicking on “Econ. 4010.” Your exams will come from the material in this packet, so it is very important that you study it. If you want to buy a bound version of the material which I put on the internet, it will be sold by the Union Copy Center (Union Room 158, 587-7928); you should call them before you go to be sure the material is ready, which will probably be in about two weeks. The costs of the bound version just go to cover duplication expenses; I get no money from those sales.
COURSE DESCRIPTION: We will study neoclassical principles of resource allo- cation. Topics include the theory of consumer choice, the theory of the firm, in- troduction to general equilibrium and welfare economics, and the theory of market structures. The prerequisites for this course are: College Algebra and Econ. 2010, 2020 and 3620, or instructor’s consent.
COURSE OVERVIEW: We will first study how to sketch the graph of a function’s average and of its marginal. Next, neclassical consumer theory (utility maximization subject to budget constraints). The middle part of the course is a very careful study of the neoclassical theory of the firm: total product curves (& their averages and
marginals), total cost curves, both in the short run and in the long run (& their averages and marginals), total revenue curves (& their averages and marginals), and total profit curves (& their averages and marginals). After this comes single-market equilibrium (competitive and monopolistic), and an application to tax incidence. The course ends with an introduction to general equilibrium and welfare economics using the Edgeworth-Bowley Box.
COURSE OBJECTIVES: The major objective is for you to fully understand the derivation of neoclassical demand and supply curves from first principles, under- stand market equilibrium, and understand the optimality (or lack thereof) of dif- ferent types of market structures. A minor and distinctly secondary objective is for you to gain a superficial familiarity with the most important critiques of neoclassical microeconomic theory.
COURSE WORKLOAD: This is a 3 credit hour course. According to the University of Utah’s Policy 6-100 III Sec. 3F, (see www.regulations.utah.edu/academics/ 6-100.html), “at the University of Utah we assume that there is at least one hour in class and two hours outside of class per week [or the equivalent combination] connected to every credit hour” (brackets added). So you should expect to study for Econ. 4010 about 6 hours outside of class every week.
Most students—including myself when I was an undergraduate in Louisiana a long time ago—find Intermediate Microeconomics the hardest economics class in the undergraduate curriculum. The reason is that this class stresses deep understanding of detailed, even mathematical, issues. In principle it would be possible for a student who did nothing but listen to my lectures to make an ‘A’ in this class, just like in principle a student could become a structural engineer after a 60-minute lecture on Newton’s three laws of motion, because the rest just logically follows. In practice, it takes very many hours, working problem after problem after problem, in order for most students to realize what all the implications of the basic concepts are. Once you do that, you’ll realize that all you have to memorize are the basic principles, because you can construct an answer to any question just from those. In the same way, an experienced structural engineer realizes that all there is to making sure a bridge stands up is applying Newton’s Laws.
Another analogy is that my lectures about economics are like a swimming instruc- tor’s lectures about how to swim. Lectures about how to swim are useful, but you do not learn how to swim unless you get in the water and do it—eventually, all by yourself. Lectures about economic theory are useful, but you do not learn economic theory unless you can open a set of problems and work them—eventually, all by yourself. You will be a dismal failure at swimming if you try to learn how to do it just by memorizing, and you will be a dismal failure at economic theory if you try to learn how to do it just by memorizing, too.
is the microeconomic theory of exhaustible resource industries. However, I have published work in other areas of dynamic economics, such as finance. I regularly teach microeconomic theory at the undergraduate and PhD levels, and resource and environmental economics at the introductory, advanced undergraduate, and advanced PhD levels. I have also taught Mathematical Economics at the PhD level.
OFFICE HOURS: My office hours this semester will be MW 11:00–12:00PM. You may also make an appointment to see me. In addition, you can stop by my office without an appointment at any time, and if I am not being pressured by other work I will make time then to answer your questions.
GRADING: There will be two closed-book in-class exams, each worth 25 points. The final exam will be comprehensive, and will be worth 50 points. At the end of the semester, your course grade will be based on the sum of the grades you have made on the three exams. It will not be based on anything else: there is no way to do “extra work” at the end of the semester to raise your grade.
If you make above an 80% you are guaranteed to make an A−; if you make above a 55% you are guaranteed to make at least a B−; if you make above a 40% you are guaranteed to make at least a C−; and if you make above a 20% you are guaranteed to make at least a D−. However, if the following curve results in a higher grade for you then I will use it (approximately): 15%, A; 30%, B; 35%, C; 15%, D; 5% or less, E.
In a recent past semester, the 35 students who took 4010 generated the following distribution out of 100 points possible:
- 3 students scored between 81 and 100
- 6 scored between 61 and 80
- 10 scored between 41 and 60
- 10 scored between 21 and 40
- 6 scored between 0 and 20
The high score in that class was 97 out of 100; the low score (among students who took all three exams) was 4 out of 100.
For exams, you should bring a blue book. You may use a calculator, but only a simple one; it should not be able to graph or store text.
POLICIES:
- You cannot miss an exam and take a makeup exam unless I give you permission to do so. Without my permission, you will earn a zero on any exams which you miss. To get my permission to take a makeup exam, you must give me notice before the class takes its exam (if at all possible), and before you take the makeup exam, you must supply written evidence of your reason for missing the in-class exam. If the reason is illness, a note from a doctor will be sufficient. I will let you know if I think your reason is good enough to warrant letting you take a makeup exam. If your reason is that you are participating in a university-sponsored activity, I will always allow you to take a makeup. Otherwise, I will make the decision on a case-by-case basis. In addition, there are limited circumstances in which I may let you take an exam early. I will only give a makeup final if: (a) You are very ill. You must be under a physician’s care for this condition, and you must supply a note from your physician stating that it is his/her opinion that you were too ill to take the exam at its regularly scheduled time. (b) An immediate family member is very ill and you have a very good reason why this prevents you from attending the final. I will be the judge of whether your reason is good enough. I will require a note from your family member’s physician verifying your story about the illness. If you had a last-minute automobile breakdown or other transportation failure, I expect you to get to the final as quickly as you can and take it then. In such a situation, I may or may not extend your time to finish the exam.
- Incompletes will be given only for reasons of illness or a family emergency. You must supply written evidence for the reason. According to university regulations (Policy 6-100 III Section 8), you must be passing the class at the time you get an incomplete.
- Cheating on exams and other forms of academic dishonesty may lead to expul- sion from the class, failure of the class, or more severe penalties. In accordance with University regulations (University Policy 6-400, Section V, “Academic Misconduct,” 4), if you are caught cheating in this class, I must send a let- ter to your dean about that, and the letter will be put in your permanent University file. I have done this for several students already, so don’t cheat.
- All students are expected to maintain professional behavior in the classroom setting, according to the Student Code, available at www.regulations.utah.edu/academics/6-400.html.
