Economics 532: Business Economics, Section 1

Spring 1998

Monday/Wednesday, 12:45-2:00 PM

Carver 18

Required Texts:

Edwin Mansfield. Managerial Economics: Theory, Applications and Cases, 3rd Edition. New York: W.W. Norton, 1996.

Edwin Mansfield. Study Guide for Managerial Economics, 3rd Edition. New York: W.W. Norton, 1996. Lots of solved problems which will help you work through the problems in the text.

Supplemental readings available at the Reserve Desk:

Dominick Salvatore. Schaum's Outline Series: Theories and Problems of Managerial Economics. New York: McGraw Hill Book Company, 1989. Good review and lots of solved problems for practice.

Joseph Stiglitz. Principles of Microeconomics, 2nd edition. New York: Norton. 1997. A basic introductory economics text that can be used for review.

Topics (*Required)

A. Mathematical Tools: Algebra, Graphical Analysis, Calculus, and Statistics

*Mansfield: Chapter 2 (read on your own)

Salvatore: Chapter 2

Stiglitz: Appendix to Chapter. 2

B. Introduction: Markets, Profits, Scarcity and Managerial Decision making

*Mansfield: Chapter 1

Salvatore: Chapter 1

Stiglitz: Chapters 1-2

C. Interest Rate Determination, Present Value, Future Value, and Capital Budgeting

*Mansfield: Chapter 15 and Appendix A: pp. A1-A7

Salvatore: Chapter 13

Stiglitz: Chapters 6,10

D. Decisions with Risk and Uncertainty

*Mansfield: Chapter 14

Salvatore: Chapter 3

Stiglitz: Chapters 6,10

E. Theory of Consumer Behavior

*Mansfield: Chapter 4

Stiglitz: Chapter 8

F. Markets, Equilibria, Interpreting Demand Equations and Elasticities

*Mansfield: Chapters 3,5

Salvatore: Chapters 4,5

Stiglitz, Chapters 4,5

G. Estimating and Forecasting Demand

*Mansfield: Chapters 6,7, Appendix B: pp. A8-A12.

Salvatore: Chapters 4, 6

H. Production and Cost

*Mansfield: Chapters 7,8,9

Salvatore: Chapters 7,8

Stiglitz: Chapters 11,12

I. Perfect Competition, Monopoly and Monopolistic Competition

*Mansfield: Chapters 11, 16: pp. 581-601

Salvatore: Chapter 10

Stiglitz: Chapters 14,16

J. Pricing Theory

*Mansfield: Chapter 13

Salvatore: Chapter 11

Stiglitz Chapter 14

K. Oligopoly and Strategic Behavior

*Mansfield: Chapter 12

Salvatore: Chapter 10

Stiglitz: Chapter 15

Exams: There will be two midterms and one final. Tentative dates for the midterms are Wednesday, March 4, 1997 and Wednesday , April 22, 1997. If you are ill or cannot attend an exam for a school-related function, you must inform me before the exam. Makeups must be taken before the next meeting of the class unless there is a medical excuse. Failure to meet these stipulations will result in a zero for the exam.

Problem Sets: Homework will be assigned periodically and will be due the second class after assignment. Homework may be turned in early at my office, but no late homework will be accepted. Homework will be graded as either "good try" = 8 points, "weak try" = 5 points, or "no try"=0. You can miss one problem set at no penalty.

Workbook: Students will be expected to work through the workbook on their own. The chapters correspond to those in the text. At least 20 percent of the questions on the exam will be closely related to questions found in the workbook.

Web Page: Assignments and other class information can be found at the Econ 532 Web Page at www.econ.iastate.edu/classes/econ532/. At times, you will be asked to download data sets form the web page to use for homework assignments. Other information about the Economics Department can be found at the ISU Economics Home Page at www.econ.iastate.edu

Grades: Grades will be assigned based on the following weighting:

Homework 20%

Midterms 50%

Final 30%