Econ 301

Section 1 & 2, Deiter

Fall 2009

COURSE ADMINISTRATION

A. General Course Information

Credits: 4

Prereqs: Microeconomics principles, Calculus

Location: MWF 9 (Lect), 2069 2115 Pearson

W 2-4 (Sect. #1 lab), 210 Bessey

R 2-4 (Sect. #2 lab), 2020 Agron

B. Staff

1. Instructor

Ron Deiter

174 Heady Hall

294-5436

E-mail: rdeiter@iastate.edu

Office hours: MWF 10, TR 1

2. Department Chair 3. Teaching Assistants/Graders:

Dr. GianCarlo Moschini Ruiqing Miao

266 Heady Hall

C. Class Home Page

1. Location: http://www.econ.iastate.edu/classes/econ301/Deiter/

2. Contents:

The class home page will contain numerous items that should be of interest and assistance to you. A complete listing of items on this home page can be found by going to the above web address (NOTE: the contents of this web page will be routinely updated throughout the semester). Examples of information to be found here include 1) course syllabus, 2) TA names and contact information, 3) weekly course announcements, 4) lecture slides by unit, 5) exam and assignment scores, 6) topic outline.

D. Help Resources

1. Econ Help Room and TA’s

The Economics Department provides an Economics Help Room in 178 Heady Hall. This room will be staffed by special Help Room TAs from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Fridays throughout the semester. (Additional hours may be scheduled and announced if staffing permits.) Unless otherwise announced, the TAs for this class will also hold their ‘normal’ office hours in the Help Room. Schedules for normal office hour times for each TA for our class can be found on our class home page. Questions related to the understanding of ‘course subject matter’ can be taken to the Econ Help Room.

2. Online Assistance

Supplemental web-based resources are available for students in this class that comes with the required textbook (see preface comments regarding MyEconLab). Examples of resources available here include 1) practice quizzes/exams, 2) chapter summaries, 3) graphical applications, etc. Instructions on accessing these resources are explained in the textbook.

3. Administrative questions/concerns

All administrative questions (e.g. exam scores, taking exams, grades, assignments, etc.) should be directed to your instructor. However, make sure to check our course syllabus and class home page first to see if your administrative question is answered there.

E. Course Overview

If you like money and want to learn more about the role money plays in our lives, then you should find this course’s material interesting. While economics is not just about money, it is a social science that does focus on dollar-value aspects of decisions that either ‘are’ or ‘should be’ made by people. There are two main ‘branches’ of economics – microeconomics and macroeconomics. Microeconomics is the focus of this course and deals with economic decisions (e.g. buy, consume, sell, produce) of individual (i.e. ‘micro’) decision makers such as consumers and business firm managers. The core topics learned in this class can be applied to many different areas including our personal lives and markets (e.g. food, labor, education, sports) as well as public policies intended to impact those markets. Many or most of these topics were likely introduced to you in an Econ ‘principle’s class. We will delve into these topics in more detail and to a greater extent in this class. Macroeconomics (e.g. Econ 102, 302), which is NOT the emphasis of this class, studies the aggregate or national (and even international) economic consequences (e.g. unemployment, inflation, economic growth, etc.) of social decisions (both private and public).

In most countries around the world, these days, individual firms and households make decisions on how scarce resources (e.g., natural resources, labor, and capital) are used. Their actions are coordinated and influenced by economic factors associated with markets. Understanding how markets work will help you make sense of contemporary economic policy issues/viewpoints which is an important prerequisite for being a responsible and well-informed citizen in a democracy. Thus, one of our course goals for learning about microeconomics is to make you a better citizen. Another goal is to produce life-long benefits for you personally by helping you learn how to manage your own resources (e.g. money, time) and how to become a better thinker and problem solver.

For your information, the Economics Dept at ISU offers two undergraduate majors, 1) Ag Business and 2) Economics, that are significantly based on economic concepts that you will be taught in this class. Students and graduates of our programs enhance their problem-solving and critical-thinking skills by studying economics. These skills allow individuals to not only make better personal decisions in their lives but also evaluate more accurately the likely consequences of decisions made by others. For more information about some of the likely rewarding careers available to those who major in Ag Business or Economics, feel free to visit with someone in the Econ Undergraduate Programs office (174 Heady), the Ag Career Services office (141 Curtiss) or the LAS Career Services office (102 Catt Hall).

F. Course Goals and Objectives

1. To increase students= economic knowledge of how consumers as well as business firms make (or should make) economic choices or decisions regarding consumption and production respectively.

2. To enhance students= understanding of the economic Alogic@ or theory behind such fundamental Aprinciples@ of economic concepts as demand and supply.

3. To prepare students for more advanced courses in economics or agricultural economics where students are expected to have a firm grasp of intermediate microeconomic concepts and theories.

4. To improve students= problem-solving, critical-thinking, and analytical skills by using words, graphs, and math to apply economic tools to various problems and issues.

5. Specific ‘learning outcomes’ by unit will be identified separately.

G. Textbook

1. Required Book

Title: Microeconomics – Theory and Applications with Calculus

Authors: Jeff Perloff

Edition: 2008

Publisher: Pearson

2. Recommended

Wall Street Journal (subscription details to be presented in class).

3. Readings and Lectures

Students are expected to read assigned pages from this book. The lectures are intended to supplement the textbook by 1) highlighting important topics, 2) clarifying material, 3) demonstrating real-world applications of course material, and 4) presenting some topics perhaps not covered in the book. Assigned textbook readings will be posted on our course web page. All material covered in assigned pages from the text and/or lectures is ‘fair game’ for exams.

A Power Point outline of lecture notes by unit will be posted to our web page. They will be posted usually in advance of when the material will be presented in class. You should review these before class and keep in mind the slides are only outlines, NOT complete lecture notes. You should print your own copy of the slides, perhaps three to a page, bring them to class, and use the extra space to add notes during lecture.

H. Exams

1. There will be three regular hourly exams given during the semester plus a comprehensive final exam. Exam scores will be posted on our class home page. Examples of previous exams will be available for viewing on our class home page. Graduating seniors will be excused from the final exam if they have a grade of B or better going into the final.

Tentative exam dates are as follows:

#1, F, Sept. 25

#2, F, Oct. 23

#3, F, Nov. 20

Final, F, Dec. 18 (7:30 a.m.)

2. Format:

Each exam will consist of questions (problem, analytical, short answer, graphical, etc.) drawn from both lecture and text material. You will be expected to be able to 1) define important terms, concepts, and principles 2) interpret and adjust graphs and 3) solve problems. Each midterm will cover new material presented prior to that exam. The final exam will be COMPREHENSIVE over all material presented in the class. Exam scores and grades along with exam keys will be posted on our class home page after the exams have been graded. Any apparent exam grading mistakes will result in all exams being regraded and scores being recalculated.

3. Missed exam policies:

It is expected that you will take each exam at its regularly scheduled time.

Each student will allowed to take a makeup exam IF they provide written documentation by an appropriate 3^rd party of a LEGITIMATE excuse limited to:

a. illness,

b. death of a “significant other” (e.g. parent, sibling, etc.)

c. time conflict with another University-sponsored event

d. time conflict with another activity that had been scheduled prior to the start of the semester.

Other makeup midterm exam notes:

a. Notify your instructor of your desire to take a makeup exam no later than 24 hours after the time of the missed exam.

b. Provide your instructor with the required documentation of a legitimate excuse for having missed the regular exam.

c. The time and place of any make up exam will be mutually agreed to by the instructor and student.

d. A makeup exam will NOT be given for all other excuses (e.g. too busy, overslept, forgot, etc.), but you still should notify your instructor immediately if you have an unexcused reason for missing an exam.

4. Special accommodations

If you have a documented disability that requires special academic accommodations, you will need to go to the Disability Resource (DR) Office for coordination of your academic accommodations and obtain a Student Academic Accommodation Request (SAAR) form verifying your disability and specifying the accommodations you will need. The DR is located in the Student Services Building, Room 1076. Their phone number is 515-294-7220.

I. Non-Exam Assignments

1. Quizzes and in-class exercises will generally be given during lab. The ‘in class’ exercises will usually be open book, completed within a group (of other students). Each student will be allowed to drop their two lowest in-class scores and two lowest quiz scores at the end of the semester. Any in-class assignments missed due to a) other university activities (academic or athletic) or b) illness will be dropped without penalty if the instructor is provided with a written excuse from an appropriate third party. No make-up quizzes or in-class exercises will be given. Every week in lab there will be assignments to be completed during the lab session. The quizzes will usually be closed book, over ‘previous’ in class lab material, and will be completed on an individual basis.

2. Homework assignments will be given but not be required to be turned in to the instructor. However, students will be expected to be prepared to discuss answers to assigned problems in class. Assigned problems will often resemble exam questions so students should regard them as excellent preparation for exams. Answers to the homework assignments will be given to you either by your instructor or by supplemental on-line resources (see text preface).

3. Assigned readings are expected to be read prior to the assigned date.

J. Other Grading Factors

1. Class contributions to classroom discussion are encouraged and include answering questions, asking questions, offering summaries, and providing additional real-world examples of course topic applicability (e.g. sharing relevant articles from newspapers, magazines, the internet, or any other source).

2. *A seating chart may be used in order to get to know students better and for purposes of taking attendance. Attendance will be taken regularly. Want to be successful in this class? If yes, the best thing you can do is come to class. Research results report a positive correlation between attendance and course grades. When you come to class, be respectful of others (turn cell phone OFF, no excessive talking, etc.). Students with perfect or near-perfect attendance records for the semester will have their course grade raised 1/3 of a letter grade if they are close to but just below a given letter grade otherwise.

K. Grading

Each student=s course grade will be based on the following items and weights:

Item % Weight

Hourly exam #1% 20

Hourly exam #2% 20

Hourly exam #3% 20

Final exam % 25

Avg. quiz & in-class exercises % 10

Class contributions 5

Attendance % 0*

At the end of the semester, letter grades will be assigned on the basis of each student=s weighted average score as a percent of the top student=s weighted score (A = 90% of top, A- = 87% of top, B+ = 83% of top, B = 80% of top, etc.), subject to possible adjustments explained above for ‘attendance’.