Principles of Microeconomics 101

Summer 2007

Section 2: MTWRF 11am-12pm

Instructor: Lihong McPhail (Lulu)

E-mail:

Phone: 294-5860

Office: 275 Heady Hall

Office Hours: TR 1-2or by appointment through email

Class Webpage:

or

TAs: There are 2TAs assigned to this particular section of Econ 101. Feel free to contact TAs to obtain as much help as you need for yourexam preparations and course materials.

Min Wang:

Office Hour: MTWRF 9-10am (Note: He will start to hold office hours after June 15th.)

Email: Phone: 294-6292 Office: Heady 180A

Ruiqing Miao:

Office Hour: MTWRF 12:10-1:10pm

Email: Phone: 294-8107 Office: Curtiss B12

Required Textbook:

Robert Hall and Marc Lieberman, Microeconomics: Principles and Applications, 3rd Edition, South-WesternCollege Publishing. Just buy the physical textbook as we are not using Aplia.

Course Purpose:

Economics is a broad social science that studies how people make decisions under constraints of scarcity. Microeconomics focuses specifically on the decisions of individuals, households, and firms. The core theory learned in this course can be applied to public policy, health care, education, financial markets, international trade, environmental issues, personal relationships, and many other areas.

Importantly, economic theory is valuable for its scientific rigor in thinking about social issues and public policy. In particular, the theories force us to make explicit our assumptions and objectives. This allows us to more objectively critique and debate competing viewpoints. It also allows us to better understand the actions of other individuals and how their environments and objectives influence their decisions. Learning about economics has life-long benefits because it helps us become more critical thinkers.

Important dates:

Every Friday you will have an exam in the usual classroom. You will have eight exams. Every exam focuses on the materials during that week, but is comprehensive.

Grading policy

• All administrative questions about grades are handled by Min Wang, the Head TA: . Contact me about grades only if the Head TA is not able to resolve the problem to your satisfaction.

•Theeight exams will combine for about 80% of your grade, and in-class pop quizzes will combine for 20% of your grade.

•I will drop one lowest score of the exam, and put equal weights on the seven exam scores.

• There will be opportunities to earn extra credit (details later on the class website). At the end of the semester, I will initially assign final grades without considering extra credit. Then I will check whether a student has attained enough extra credit to improve the grade. If the initial grade is borderline, then doing a small amount of extra credit – if done well – might be enough to improve the grade. For each opportunity, you must earn at least half of the available points in order to receive any points at all. Extra credit never improves the final grade by more than one full letter grade; more typical is one-half letter grade (e.g., C+ to B-).

• I expect students to be considerate of others. Those who consistently violate the rules of classroom etiquette described below will be penalized(i.e., “class participation < 0”).

Exams

There will be no make-up exams. If you miss an exam for any reason, then I will simply shift the weight to the other exams. If you miss more than one exam, then the second missed exam will receive an F. (Serious personal problems which require exceptions to normal class rules will be handled on a case-by-case basis with the Student Dean’s Office).

  • Exams will be administered in the usual classroom.
  • Bring No. 2 pencil.
  • For exams always provide the following 9 digits of your student ID:

000000 XXXXXXXXX 00

  • Let me know beforehand about any special needs for a disability.

Disability Statement:

If you have a disability and require accommodations, please contact the instructor early in the semester so that the learning needs may be appropriately met. You will need to provide documentation of your disability to the Disability Resources (DR) office, located on the main floor of the StudentServicesBuilding, Room 1076, (515) 294-6624.