Introduction to basic microeconomic principles: price theory, theory of the firm, trade and comparative advantage, public goods, taxation, welfare economics, and industrial organization. Public policy with regard to the environment, consumer protection, and other problems is also examined. (Fall, Spring, Summer) [Graded (Standard Letter)]

What You Need to Get

Materials for this course are available as an Inclusive Access Package.

You pay for this along with your tuition and fees.

You do not have to buy anything at the SUU Bookstore.

This package includes:

• Access to the class site at McGraw-Hill Connect (which includes an eBook version of your textbook.
• Access to a separate service called MobLab.

Most graded homework assignments will be drawn from Connect, while graded in-class activities and some graded homeworks will be drawn from MobLab. Tests will be based on lectures and the eBook (Connect and MobLab will help you do better on the tests, but there won’t be test questions specifically about them).

If you are using Connect and/or MobLab for another class, you can and should use the same username and password, but you must buy access for each course separately.

You do not need to have a physical book for the class. But, if you want one, we will be using Microeconomics (soft cover, cheaper, for this class only) by David C. Colander, 12th edition. I don’t object if you buy it new, buy it used, share it, rent it, borrow it, or do without. Do note that a physical book can also be ordered for a discounted price through the Inclusive Access package.

An opt out option is available for Inclusive Access Packages. For this class, I do not recommend this option. (since you’d be opting out of Connect and MobLab too).

Supplementary Materials and Readings

I usually post these to the class folder on Google Drive.

The School of Business has an arrangement for students to get access to articles from the Wall Street Journal. We will be using this a bit (directions coming as needed).

I also have a blog for class related material, and will occasionally post links to posts whose content may show up on activities.

Class Folder on Google Drive

There may also be a shared folder for the class on Google Drive. You will receive an invitation to this if we need to use it.

At SUU, learning outcomes for classes come from three levels: university, college or school, and department. All classes are required to cover some of these at each level, no class is expected to cover all of them.

SUU’s Essential Learning Outcomes

This is a general education class; the Provost’s website offers details about fifteen essential learning outcomes. Three are incorporated into each general education class. This class covers:

• Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical and Natural World
• Critical Thinking
• Civic Engagement

School Learning Outcomes

This course is offered by the School of Business; the course catalog details the following:

• Students will demonstrate a basic knowledge of each major functional area of business, including accounting, economics, finance, information systems, international, legal and social environment, management, and marketing.
• Students will demonstrate a basic proficiency in fundamental professional skills, including written communication skills, oral communication skills, critical thinking skills, analytical skills, and ethical decision-making skills.

This class supports your achievement of the italicized parts of both learning outcomes.

Department Learning Outcomes

This course is offered by the Department of Economics which has 6 learning outcomes:

• Demonstrate effective written and verbal communication skills.
• Demonstrate strong critical thinking skills.
• Understand microeconomic principles at an intermediate level and be able to apply them to the analysis of individual, firm, and market behavior.
• Understand macroeconomic principles at an intermediate level and be able to apply standard models to contemporary policy questions and problems.
• Understand basic probability and statistical inference and be able to apply these concepts in data analysis and decision making.
• Be able to conduct basic econometric analysis; appreciate the major issues involved in estimating, using, interpreting, and evaluating econometric models.

This class supports your achievement of the second and third bullet points.

Other Activities

There will be some other activities in the course. These are not Smartbook homeworks from Connect or quizzes in Canvas. So I lump them together as “MobLab and Other Activities”.

These may include simulations done outside MobLab, extra readings and homeworks about them, or homeworks that need to be hand graded, and so on.

Grades

We will be covering 14 chapters. You will get a percentage grade for each one. Your overall class average will be the average of these 14 percentages.

Within each chapter, you will get 3 grades. I will drop the lowest grade and the highest grade.

One grade for each chapter will come from a SmartBook assignment in Connect. These are homeworks.

One grade for each chapter will come from a quiz in Canvas. In this class, there are no formal tests. Instead, a test is just the collection of quizzes for the preceding few chapters. So every 2-3 weeks you’ll be given a couple of days to do 2-3 chapter quizzes, and I’ll call that whole process the test.

One grade for each chapter will come from “MobLab and other related activities. There will be 1 or more activities for each chapter. Each will get a grade, and I will average those grades, and copy that over as the third grade for that chapter.

Raw Scores Versus Scaled Scores

Everything you do for this class will have a certain number of possible points. The points you get for correct answers form a raw score. So some raw scores will tend to be higher if there are more possible points.

Canvas keeps track of raw scores, but it’s always calculating your grade with scaled scores. Percentages are just scores that have been scaled to be out of 100.

I’m telling you all this because Canvas goofs up a lot of students (and faculty). It interprets assignments with more possible points as being weighted more heavily … whether or not that’s any human’s understanding.

This makes a difference because Connect reports raw scores to Canvas automatically. I will do my best to fix any problems that arise from this promptly, but bear in mind that my fix is the one that counts. Typically I send out an email if I have to fix these.

A similar problem arises with MobLab. However, on my side there’s more work doing these grades, so I tend to find and fix the issues before Canvas blasts out something that’s incorrect. But if I don’t, the same caveat applies.

Canvas quiz scores can also have this problem. Usually this is due to a bad question sneaking through and getting retroactively dropped.

Grading Promptness

Connect reports raw scores to Canvas shortly after its due time. I also believe it may report them early if you get a perfect score.

Canvas quizzes are graded and entered shortly after you submit the quiz.

Scoring for MobLab and other activities is 1) slower, 2) not automatic, and 3) sometimes really time consuming. Do not expect to see these scores in Canvas promptly. I will upload these into their own group, and when the group is complete I’ll copy that over to your chapter grades. Please be patient with me.

Tests

N.B. Canvas only uses the word quizzes. SUU only uses the word exam, and then only for mid-terms and finals. I am using the word test to be distinct from both of those.

There will be 6 tests. The last one is the final exam. There is no formal mid-term exam.

The 6 Tests correspond to the 4 sections of the text we’ll cover, plus 2 more for the longer sections.

Each of those 6 Tests will cover 2-3 chapters. Each of those chapters has a quiz.

A test’s quizzes will be done in Canvas. You will be given a few days to get them all done.

Chapter Quizzes

Each chapter has a quiz that is 10 questions long, and each correct answer counts for one point.

Homeworks

Homeworks in this class are mostly done online through Connect. Connect is required for this class: you are not excused from doing homeworks because you have not paid for Connect.

SmartBook assignments are designed to be something that you do after having started reading a chapter but before you finish it. SmartBook assignments are interactive: Connect will feed you more questions if you’re doing poorly, and fewer as you do better.

SmartBook grading is based on the proportion of the assignment that you finish. This means that you can score well on this just by being diligent.

Other homeworks, including ones that have be handwritten will be assigned as needed. Your scores on these will count towards MobLab and Other Activities.

How Micro and Macro “Splits” Work

Your Inclusive Access Package includes an eBook version of the text. The organization of the eBook is based on the physical book, so imagine for this section that I am describing physical books.

There are texts for Principles of Economics that include both microeconomics and macroeconomics, and are usually used for two semester sequences. These are usually hardcover. The microeconomics portion of these books is towards the front and fairly obvious.

But, most students in this class will use a “split”: all the chapters for that subject, plus a few chapters that are shared between the splits. These are paperback or loose-leaf, and they are cheaper.

Within Connect you will also find an eBook. This is identical to the one-semester split version I used when I required a physical book.

Your split text is divided into Part I and Part II. Part I is the 5 chapters shared by the macro and micro splits, while Part II is all the micro chapters.

Please note that if you buy a cheap physical text on the internet, these are often being sold cheaply because of mistakes in printing the chapter or page numbers. It is your responsibility to sort this out.

Material Sections

The text is divided into 2 parts (with Roman numerals) and 8 sections (no numbers or letters for those).

Part I is one section. We will cover this in its entirety. You will have a test after Chapters 1-3, and another after Chapters 4-5.

Part II has 7 (unnumbered) sections:

• The Power of Traditional Economic Models
• International Economic Policy Issues
• Production and Cost Analysis
• Market Structure
• Factor Markets
• Choice and Decision Making
• Modern Economic Thinking

In Part II, we will cover the first, third, and fourth sections (it’s a little longer so we’ll have a test in the middle of it)

In all, this is chapters 1-8, and 11-16.

So, a test at the completion of each section, plus one each in the middle of the longer first and last sections, for a total of six.

Web Chapters

The text includes web chapters. I do not cover these.

Appendices

These are required (but are not tested as heavily).

Course Outline

After today, holidays, Test days, and other excused days, we have about 32 days to cover 14 chapters. We will spend 1-3 days on each chapter.

Test Dates and Material

The first five tests on Canvas open on Wednesday after 12:01 am and close on Saturday after 11 pm.

• January 28th to 31st — Chapters 1-3
• February 11th to 14th — Chapters 4-5
• March 4th to 7th — Chapters 6-8
• March 25th to 28thth — Chapters 11 and 12
• April 8th to 11th — Chapters 13 and 14
• April 17th to 22nd — Chapters 15 and 16

Note that the last one starts on Friday and is open until after your scheduled final exam.

Some of you may wish to fix zeroes by taking quizzes with paper and pencil in class. This is not required, nor is attendance required on these class days if you don’t need to take a quiz.

• Wednesday February 11th — Chapters 1-5
• Friday March 6th — Chapters 1-8
• Wednesday March 25th — Chapters 1-8, 11 and 12
• Wednesday April 8th — Chapters 1-8, and 11-14
• Friday April 17th — Chapters 1-8, and 11-16
• Tuesday April 21st (11 a.m.) — Chapters 1-8, and 11-16

Makeups

There are no makeups for Connect assignments. You will have a window of a few days in which to complete these.

There are no makeups for Canvas quizzes. You will have a windows of a few days in which to complete these.

There are some items in MobLab and other activities for which makeups are possible. Don’t count on this: most of them will have no makeups.

The policies of 1) having a few days to complete things, and 2) dropping low scores, should eliminate any need for makeups.

Of course, exceptions are sometimes made when medical or legal evidence is provided.

Fixing Zeroes

As the semester progresses, if you’re not diligent, you may end up with zeroes that are bringing your overall grade down. On designated days for in-class testing, you may take chapter quizzes on paper. Your new score may replace one zero for that chapter.

Be advised that this is the most difficult way to earn points in this class.

Flexibility Freedom, and Special Considerations

My class is very flexible, and it gives you a lot of options for earning a grade in a way that works best for you.

My class also gives you a lot of freedom to manage your workload. Please note that while there may be ways to procrastinate in my class, there are few ways to get out of ultimately doing the work.

Because I give you freedom and flexibility, I am far less inclined to make an exception for you in a special case. By all means, feel free to ask — perhaps you do deserve an exception. But please keep in mind that I am inclined to refuse such requests: the whole point of giving you flexibility and freedom is so that you’ll address your own problems in the best way you can manage.

I do not give points for attendance, or take points away for absences.

We will do simulations using MobLab in some class periods. These are for credit, and some extra credit will be given too. If you are not participating that day, these points are not available to you. Most of the simulations can be done remotely as long as you are synchronous.

Most simulations have introductory and follow up assignments in MobLab. Some of these will be assigned before the day of the simulation, and some after. These can still be done if you skipped the simulation. There may also be some MobLab assignments that are meant to be done in class with the simulation. These can’t be done if you’re not there.

On some days, I will cover some current events. Supporting documentation for these will be saved to the class folder on Google Drive. You may be assigned homeworks on these.

Both the simulations and the current events coverage are material that I do as time permits. They are not always scheduled in advance.

I am required to file progress reports on some students, and may file one on any student whose performance concerns me. I may note on these that your lack of attendance may be negatively affecting your performance.

If you fail or unofficially withdraw from the class, I am required to note the last date you attended.

Undergraduate business classes have a fee included in your overall bill for the semester payable to SUU.

I am required to file a 5th week progress report on some students, whether their performance is positive or negative.

I am allowed to file one on any student. I usually reserve these for students whose poor performance concerns me.

Please note that a negative report is not a punishment. SUU recognizes that some students perform poorly. SUU asks professors to report struggling students so that they can reach out with additional support.