BEC 101
FALL 2007
BASIC ECONOMICS – Online
Syllabus
Instructor: Leticia Starkov
Office Hours: Monday and Wednesday 12:00 to 2:00 p.m.
Tuesday and Thursday 10:45 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Other times by appointment.
Office Location: ICT 213
Office Phone: 847 214 7465
Fax: 847 214 7361
E-mail:
Description
This course offers an overview of basic economics. It includes an examination of the overall performance of the U.S. economy and its individual units. Topics studied include how markets work, cost and production, perfect and imperfect competition, national product and income, inflation, unemployment and the business cycle, fiscal and monetary policies, and the global economy. This course is not recommended for business or economic majors.
Goals
· Facilitate students’ learning of the basic economic terms and tools.
· Provide opportunities for students to apply the basic economic terms and tools to analyze real world economic events and economic policies.
· Encourage students to think of the outcome of this course for the long run, as a way to improve their ability to read, and understand, economic news, to make more efficient economic decisions, and to increase their problem solving skills.
Course Objectives
After successful completion of the course, the students will:
ü Use the basic market model of supply and demand to predict the impact of some events on the equilibrium price and quantity.
ü Explain firms’ decision making process, using the production and cost theories.
ü Examine the behavior of specific firms in different market structures
ü Describe the following macroeconomic concepts: GDP, unemployment, business cycle, and inflation.
ü Use the model of aggregate supply and aggregate demand to predict the impact of some events on the equilibrium price level and the equilibrium level of real output.
ü Describe the impact of different economic policies in the economy.
ü Review the characteristics of the global economy.
Required textbook
Bade, Robin, and Parkin, Michael. Essential Foundations of Economics, 3rd edition. Pearson-Addison Wesley, 2007.
Course structure
The course is divided into four units. Each unit has three or more lessons. There are a total of 16 lessons that will be released weekly. Each lesson corresponds to one week of the 16-week semester and must be completed in the correspondent calendar week. Each lesson has learning objectives, assigned reading, class notes, a quiz, and an assignment to solve or a discussion topic to participate in.
Course Outline
I. Introduction
1. The economic way of thinking
2. The U.S. economy and the rest of the world
3. The economic problem
4. Individual markets: demand and supply
II. Prices, profits, and industry performance
5. Production and cost
6. Perfect competition
7. Monopoly
8. Monopolistic competition and oligopoly
III. Monitoring the macroeconomy
9. GDP and the standard of living
10. Jobs and unemployment
11. The CPI and the cost of living
IV. Understanding the macroeconomy
12. Potential GDP and economic growth
13. Money and the monetary system
14. AS-AD, cycles, and inflation
15. Fiscal policy and monetary policy
16. International trade
Learning Resources
To successfully complete the class you must use the required textbook and access two main websites: D2L and MyEconLab. The class work requires frequent use of these two websites.
Workload
Students should plan to spend 6-10 hours a week working on the course. However, the time commitment will vary depending on the students input, needs, and personal study habits.
Students are required to log in to the course a minimum of 3 times a week. Though, as discussions develop, students may elect to log on more frequently.
Course Grades
Grading Points / Grading ScaleQuizzes / 16% / 89.5 and up / A
Assignments / 20% / 79.5 -89.49 / B
Mandatory discussions / 18% / 69.5 - 79.49 / C
Exams / 46% / 59.5 - 69.49 / D
Total / 100 / 59.49 and below / F
The grading policies above are final. I will not consider changing your final grade just because you are “close” to the cutoff for the next letter grade. Each of the grading instruments is explained in detail in the Course Set-up. Complete grades, the ones that take into account all the class work you have done, will appear in the D2L website.
Final Note
I really would like for you to enjoy the course and even more important, for you to learn useful ideas and analytical tools that may help you in future courses or in your everyday decisions. I have a big responsibility in this task. I will do my part organizing the material, choosing exercises, monitoring discussions, and providing class notes. However, your participation is the most important ingredient to successfully finish the class. I strongly suggest you to follow these tips in order to achieve the better results:
ü Read the book and class notes at least two times.
ü Practice answering questions and solving problems and quizzes in the textbook and in myeconlab.
ü Progress according to the calendar.
ü Do not leave it to the last minute. Economics is best learned in small regular doses rather than trying to learn everything the night before taking the test.
ü Ask questions and get answers. According to my experience teaching Economics, that is one of the most important rules of the game. Do not keep doubts. Make sure that you truly understand the topics. You will be very welcome if you ask questions using e-mail or phone. We can also meet in a time that is convenient for both. Avoid getting lost in the course, asking questions when they appear or when the idea is not clear enough.
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