EC420-Microeconomic Theory-Fall 2012

Instructor: Bill Weber. Website: http://cstl-hcb.semo.edu/bweber

Type the web address in directly to the address bar to access the website. Go through the portal to access your grade.

Office Hours: Tues or Thurs, 9-9:25 am, 2-3:15 pm, or by appointment.

Textbook: Robert S. Pindyck and Daniel L. Rubinfeld. 2009. Microeconomics. 7th Edition. Pearson/Prentice Hall.

Student Learning Objectives

1. Students will be able to use indifference curve analysis to explain the behavior of consumers in regard to making decisions on

a: the choice between two desirable goods,

b: the choice between a desirable good and an undesirable good,

c: the choice between present consumption and future consumption,

d: the choice between risk and return, and

e: the choice between leisure time and spending on goods and services.

2. Students will be able to identify how prices are determined in product markets under the following market structures: perfect competition, monopolistic competition, oligopoly, and monopoly.

3. Students will be able to identify the optimal play in two person games that are cooperative and non-cooperative in nature.

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4. Students will be able to identify the assumptions in which the market system and price mechanism generate a Pareto efficient outcome.

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5. Students will be able to identify the conditions under which a market system in not Pareto efficient. These conditions include public goods, externalities, asymmetric information, and monopoly.

Grading Scale: 90-100 A, 80-89 B, 70-79 C, 60-69, D.

Classroom etiquette: Coming late to class, leaving early, or walking in and out of class imposes a cost on other students. Please arrive on time, dont leave early, and take care of your business before you come to class so that you dont impose costs on others. Cell-phones, pagers, watch alarms, etc. should be turned off before class. Emergencies happen, but not on a regular basis. If you think that you are a person who needs to leave class or arrive late on a regular basis you should drop this class and find a professor who does not mind students imposing costs on others.

Last day to drop a class: Friday, November 16, 2012

Student responsibilities: You are responsible for the material that is covered in class and any assigned readings. The text will be the main, but not the only source of information on the microeconomic theories we will study. Read it.! There is also a study guide that provides practice problems and review. Knowledge of the economy will give you a competitive advantage in your search for a job, in understanding political debates, and in your personal quest for utility. The more you understand, the better off you will be. Make the most of your life!

Additional book assignment-Read the following book: If you want me to order it for you from Amazon, bring a check/cash on Thursday. Otherwise you are on your own. One copy of this book is available in Kent Library.

Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein. 2009. Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness. $10.88 at Amazon.com

After reading the book Nudge, you will write a short paper about the book reviews that have been written on Nudge. The title of your paper will be “A Review of the Book Reviews of Nudge.”

On a test later in the semester there will be a set of questions to answer from this book.