Department of Economics
Winter, 2009
I. BASIC INFORMATION
Course: EC 290 --Economic, Business and Social Issues
6:05 M Rike, 047
Instructor: Dr. John P. Blair
Office: 260-B Rike Hall
Phone: 775-3484/775-3070
Office Hours: 5:00, M and by appointment
Textbook: Issues in Economics Today, 45h ed. By
Robert C. Guell.
What this course is
about:
Everyone wants to know what the future will be. The study of economics provides a tool kit that will help you analyze the future.
This course is about the economic futures—the future of our economy and, by implication, your future. All of the issues we address will require you to consider whether the current economic system can provide adequate solutions or whether some changes, large or small, will be required. You will consider whether these changes should occur and whether they will occur. To the extent we discuss economic futures, we are also discussing your future and so you should consider the implications of future events on your lives.
How your grade will
be determined:
Test 1—20%
Test 2—20%
Paper –20%
Comprehensive Final—30%
Participation and attendance—10%
The tests will be multiple-choice. Both the material in class and the material in the book that is not covered in class is fair game, although I will not ask obscure factual questions such as dates or statistics that are not covered in class.
The paper is intended to meet the writing intensive component of your college requirement. If you have already satisfied this requirement, you don’t need to do this part of the grade and your final grade will be determined without prejudice accordingly:
test 1, 25%, test 2, 25%, comprehensive final, 35%, P&A,15%.
The paper will be graded based on:
Introductory paragraph
Originality
Internal organization
Connections and linkages
Adherence to topic and introduction
English fundamentals
You will be given an opportunity to rewrite the paper. However, in an effort to encourage you to make your best effort the first time, the rewrite will only increase your score marginally.
Paper topics:
Do microeconomic markets optimize social welfare?
Evaluate Supply and Demand as predictive tools?
Participation and Attendance:
This
may be the most subjective part of your grade.
In order to get an above average score must have few absences and your
participation should be substantive.
Asking questions like “what?” or “can you explain chapter 12?” don’t
count towards participation. Good
questions like "How does that fit with page
22 which says? "...."How can both and be true?"
"How does what you said apply to the real world?" are examples of the types of questions that
will enliven the class and constitute real participation. I will ask you each
at least once to explain a concept or I may ask the class if anyone wishes to
explain an idea. Accordingly, everyone
will have a chance to make some substantial contributions. But you don’t need to wait for me to ask!
A
syllabus is a plan, not a contract.
ASSIGNMENTS:
Introduction and
Decision Making
Week 1: January 5, 2009 Read Chapters 1, 22
Introduction
The economic problem
Self-interest
Positive vs. Normative
eMC >< eMB
Ignore sunk costs
Why is it so difficult to give anything away?
Decision making examples
Supply and Demand-I
Week 2: January, 12, 2009 Read Chapters 2, 25, 26, 27
The role and variety of prices
No one knows how to make a pencil
The laws of supply and demand
Equilibrium
The importance of holding all other things equal
Supply and demand examples
Adam Smith
Week 3: January 19th NO class, University closed, MLK day
Supply and Demand- II
Week 4: January,26 2009 Read Chapter 3
Exam 1,
Optimization (under certain circumstances)
Suppressing the market
The tendency of regulation to spread
Price elasticity of demand
Price discrimination
Market Failures
Week 5: February 2, 2009 Read Chapters 17, 18, 30, 20, 28,24, 21, 35, 31
What is a market failure?
Public goods, free riding, externalities, monopolies, information, moral hazard
Equity
Macroeconomic failures
Government failures
The Macro Economy
Week 6: February 9, 2009 Read Chapter 6
GDP
Damn statistic
Two sides of GDP and the circular flow
Unemployment
Types of unemployment- frictional, cyclical, structural
Inflation
Expectation formulation—adaptive, extrapolative, rational
The money illusion
Business cycle
Karl Marx
National Income Determinants-I
Week 7: February 16, 2009 Read Chapters 8, 11, 12
GDP = C + I + G + X –M
Two sides to GDP
J. M. Keynes and liberalism
Fiscal policy
Monetary policy
Consumption
Exam 2
National Income Determinants-II
Week 8: February 23, 2009 Read Chapters 7, 37
Paper due, Feb. 23rd
Investment
When are investments profitable?
Government spending
Should we balance the budget?
The burden of the debt
John Kenneth Galbraith & The Social Imbalance Theory
The Global Economy
Week 9: March, 2 Read Chapters 13, 14, 15, 41
International trade
The compensation principle
Does trade cost jobs?
The value of the dollar, imports and exports
The determinants of the value of the dollar
Economic Futures
Week 10: March, 9 Read Chapter 43
Economic growth and development
The future
of
The causes of growth
Joseph Schumpeter
Final Exam:
March 16th, 7:00 PM