Syllabus ECO102 SPRING 2013

Instructor: Dr. Volker Grzimek Office: Draper 121B Email: grzimekv@berea.edu Telephone: x 3057 and (919)259-1258 (do not text me, just call!) Office hours: Monday to Thursday from 3-5pm are guaranteed times (except for convos that I might attend). Also you can often catch me around 11-noon and 1 to 2 on MTWR and after 6pm Class Time and Room: ECO102-A: MTWR noon to 1pm in Draper 100. ECO102-B: MTWR 2-2:50pm in Draper 114. Only if you have to miss your sections class for a good reason you may (and should) attend the other sections class. Review session: There will be a weekly review session. Attendance is voluntary but encouraged. The time for the review session is Wednesdays at 6:30 pm, starting in week 2 most likely in Draper 114 or a nearby classroom. rd Textbook: Hubbard and OBrian: Microeconomics, 3 edition. Course Objectives: This course is an introductory micro economics course and for many of you the first economics course ever. Therefore one major objective is to introduce you to the way economists think. You will understand how markets work and how firms and households/consumers make decisions. The knowledge gained in this class will allow you to make smarter business and personal decisions, understand many sustainability concepts, and will help you to evaluate public policy. About me: I think my teaching style is best described as relaxed, friendly and collegial. That means that I dont need to be called Professor Grzimek or Dr. whatever, just Volker is fine. I dont want your respect for me being older, more educated or in some kind of power position, but I would love to earn your respect for being someone who you want to learn from! Also I am on Facebook. You are all invited to befriend me. Besides potential fun aspects there are several advantages of being my friend: First it makes it easier for me to learn your names. Also, once you or I leave Berea and you need a letter of recommendation or reference, this is the easiest way to get in touch with me. I am from Germany. If you consider studying abroad or if you have any questions about Germany or Europe, I am more than willing to help you (even if it is just to help you plan the beer garden tour through Germany for next summer). If you have a hard time understanding me at first dont worry, you will get used to tit! About you: You signed up for this class, be it out of pure interest in economics, to fulfill a general or major specific requirement or prerequisite or whatever your reason is. Therefore I expect you to be interested in the subject matter and work hard all semester long. Never be afraid of numbers if I sense you are scared of the little math required here, I will drill you until you are not scared anymore. You will never bitch about the amount of reading and homework (if you understand the material it is not much if you dont understand the material you need to spend the time on it). Any non-academic issues will not serve as a lame excuse for not doing your work. You always have enough time from the day you receive your homework assignment until it is due so plan accordingly I want you to succeed and I will spend a lot of energy and time on it if and only if you show me that you want to succeed as well. That means that you make the first step when you sense trouble see me in my office or talk to me after class or email me and we go from there, but never, ever hide! Grading and Requirements: Homework assignments 15% Pop quizzes 15% st 1 midterm 20% nd 2 midterm 20% Final exam 30% Homework assignments and pop quizzes are graded on the 10-point scale, for all exams I will announce the scale when I am done grading. At the end of the semester, all points and scales get adjusted to the 15/15/20/20/30 ratio and added up.

Participation, Attendance and Pop-quizzes: There is no explicit participation grade, but I reserve the right to raise a students grade if that student was participating well above average in class and is close to the cut-off for the next higher grade! I will call you up randomly at times to answer questions, so better be prepared. Pop quizzes occur randomly and simply control whether you did the assigned reading and/or whether you got the main points of the previous class! The worst pop-quiz grade of the semester will be dropped. Sickness, athletics or any other activity are not valid excuses for missing a quiz. Readings for upcoming classes will be announced at the end of class and/or by email. If I forget to announce the readings for the following class, ask me at the end of class or follow the semester plan below! Beyond the missed opportunity to participate, learn and potentially or take a pop-quiz, missing classes will not be punished. You are old enough to make your own decisions and I hope my teaching will be interesting and rewarding enough for you to attend class without any further attendance policy in place. I am human too and therefore make mistakes if you find a mathematical or logical mistake on the board or in any solution that I provide, let me know immediately and the first student to let me know will receive a bonus point. Homework Assignments You will get approximately one homework assignment per week. The assignments, as well as the answers, will be emailed to. I collect printed HW assignments in class and will not accept late submissions. If you cannot make it to class, you may either drop it under my office door before the beginning of class at the due date or email it to me by class time if you are out of town! I dont accept homework assignments later than that date. Homework assignments will be graded for both completeness and correctness, so give your best each time and even if you have no clue, dont turn in a blank answer or none at all. The worst homework grade will be dropped. If you miss more than one, your HW will suffer. There is no valid excuse to miss any assignment! You may ask a classmate for help with home work assignments, but you may not copy each others solution or submit id entical solutions! Solutions from past semester may NOT be used and doing so is considered cheating and a violation of the honor code! Handwritten submissions are fine (as long as I can read your hand writing), but typed home work solutions will receive a bonus point! Midterms There will be two midterms, each counting 20%. If you miss a midterm I will decide whether you get to take a make-up (has to happen before I return the exam to the class and my decision depends on my availability to administer it in the meantime and other circumstances) or whether the final exam will count for 50%. The midterms focus on the material covered since the previous midterm, but, since most chapters build up on each other, earlier material is also of importance. The dates of the th th midterms are Thursday, February 14 and Thursday, April 4 . Final Exam: nd The final exam is comprehensive. For the noon section it is Thursday, May 2 at 1 pm, for the 2pm section it is Monday, April th 29 at 3 pm. For the noon section, there will be the chance to take the exam early, but not to take it later than the official date and time! Semester Plan: There is no day-by day plan as the speed is determined by your participation, random current events and a number of other factors outside of our control. Below is the list of topics/chapters that we will cover. I aim at covering all chapters except for chapters 7 and 8 and if we run out of time, the ones in italics (16, 17 and 18) are the first to be cut.
Chapter 1 Introduction into what is micro economics about 2 Trade-offs, comparative advantage and the market system 3 Demand, Supply and Market Equilibrium 4 Efficiency and the government involvement 5 Externalities, public goods 6 Elasticities 9 The households: behavior and consumer choice, utility 10 The firms: Production and costs 11 Perfectly competitive markets 12 Monopolistic competition 13 Oligopoly and game theory 14 Monopoly 15 Pricing strategies 16 Input markets: the labor and capital market 17 Information economics 18 Public choice, taxes and the distribution of income

Final Note: Lets have fun and learn a lot. I intend to provide a very relaxed and unintimidating learning atmosphere. If you play along, we should be able to mutually benefit greatly from this class. If ever there is something that you think I could do to improve your ability to learn, bring it to my attention. If you do so right away, you will benefit from it. If you wait until the semester is over (evaluations), not you, but only future classes will benefit from your suggestions.