UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA
Department of Economics
ECON 281 – A1
Intermediate Microeconomic Theory I Fall 2015
Instructor:
Andrew Eckert Office: Tory 9-29 Phone: 492-3959
Email: [email protected]
Class Schedule:
Lectures: Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9:00 – 9:50, in T 1 91.
Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday from 10:00 -11:30 or by appointment (see me after class or contact me by telephone or email). Additional office hours may be scheduled before exams.
Tutor Room: There is a tutor (a PhD student) available to ECON 281 students in all sections.
The tutor’s office hours will be announced. Students are welcome to ask the tutor questions about the lecture material or the practice problems.
Prerequisites:
ECON 101 or equivalent. This prerequisite will be checked, and students who do not meet the prerequisite will be removed from the course.
First year calculus (eg MATH 113) is NOT a prerequisite for this course. HOWEVER, we will be making extensive use of high school-level math. If you are uncomfortable with this material, I strongly recommend doing some review at the start of term, and attending the review session (see below).
Review Sessions:
Two review sessions, one covering mathematics needed for the course and the other reviewing ECON 101 material, are being offered by Scott Beesley, who is teaching two other sections of ECON 281 this fall. These sessions are being held in Tory 1 – 91, on September 9 (math review) and 10 (101 review), from 6:00 – 8:00 PM. If you are not comfortable with math, or if your memory of 101 is fuzzy, I STRONGLY recommend that you attend these sessions!
Purpose of the Course:
This course discusses the theory of consumer behavior; theory of production and cost; price and output determination under competition, monopoly and other market structures.
Evaluation:
The final grade for the course will be determined according to the following formula:
Midterm 1 (October 7) 25%
Midterm 2 (November 6) 25%
Final Exam (December 18, tentative) 50%
The final exam will be cumulative, covering material from the entire term. More weight will be placed on material presented after Midterm 2. NOTE: The final exam date listed is tentative - you need to check the date and time for the correct section of the final exam later).
Grades are not given for attendance or in-class participation.
The formula given above will be used to compute a grade out of one hundred for the course. In translating these numeric grades to letter grades, letter grades will be assigned in an attempt to achieve a grade point average between 2.6 and 3.2. Note however that, depending on
circumstances, the grade point average of the class may lie outside of this interval. Final grades are based both on absolute and relative performance.
University policy on missed exams can be found in Section 23.3 of the Calendar. Note that approval for missing the midterm exam is at my discretion. Students who offer a medical justification must submit the Request for Deferral of Examinations and/or Term Work form, available online from the Faculty of Arts Undergraduate Student Services forms cabinet.
Students who wish to request a deferred final exam must apply to the Student Services Office of their home Faculty (not to me). Please consult the Calendar for further details.
Students who miss a midterm exam for an approved reason will have the weight of the mid-term placed on the final exam. The deferred final examination for those students who are granted one will be held on Friday January 8, 2016, at 3:00 PM.
eClass
I will be using eClass to post course documents. These will include the course outline, practice questions with answers, past exam questions and powerpoint slides used in class. Powerpoint slides are posted after each lecture.
It is strongly recommended that students work through all practice questions as preparation for the exams, and that students seriously attempt all questions on their own before reading the
answers provided. These questions are designed to help you learn the course material in more depth than in the lectures.
Books and Materials:
The required textbook for this course is:
Besanko, D., and R. Braeutigam. Microeconomics, John Wiley, 2010 (5th ed).
I will be basing my lectures on the most recent version of the text. If you wish to use a previous edition of the text, please consult with me first regarding compatibility.
Course Outline and Readings:
In the following, all chapter references are for Pindyck and Rubinfeld. Please note that all dates listed (except exam dates) are approximate. The exact sections covered in each chapter may be changed as the term proceeds. Any changes will be announced in class.
1. Introduction; Analyzing Economic Problems (Ch. 1) September 2-4 2. Demand and Supply Analysis (Ch. 2) September 9-11 3. Consumer Preferences and the Concept of Utility (Ch. 3) September 14-18
4. Consumer Choice (Ch. 4) September 21-25
5. The Theory of Demand (Ch. 5) September 28 – October 2
6. Inputs and Production Functions (Ch 6.) October 5 -12 NOTE: MIDTERM 1 (COVERING CHAPTERS 1 TO 5) IS ON OCTOBER 7!!!
7. Costs and Cost Minimization (Ch. 7) October 14-19
8. Cost Curves (Ch. 8) October 21 - 26
9. Perfectly Competitive Markets (Ch. 9) October 28 – November 4 MIDTERM 2 (Covering Chapters 6 to 9) IS ON NOVEMBER 6!!!
10. Competitive Markets: Applications (Ch. 10) November 16 – 20
11. Monopoly and Monopsony (Ch. 11) November 23 – 27
12. Capturing Surplus (Ch. 12) November 30 – December 7
Other Notes:
Audio or video recording of lectures, labs, seminars or any other teaching environment by students is allowed only with the prior written consent of the instructor or as a part of an
approved accommodation plan. Recorded material is to be used solely for personal study, and is not to be used or distributed for any other purpose without prior written consent from the content author(s).
Policy about course outlines can be found in Section 23.4 (2) of the University Calendar.
The University of Alberta is committed to the highest standards of academic integrity and honesty. Students are expected to be familiar with these standards regarding academic honesty and to uphold the policies of the University in this respect. Students are particularly urged to familiarize themselves with the provisions of the Code of Student Behavior (online at
www.governance.ualberta.ca) and avoid any behaviour which could potentially result in
suspicions of cheating, plagiarism, misrepresentation of facts and/or participation in an offence.
Academic dishonesty is a serious offence and can result in suspension or expulsion from the University.
Student Accessibility Services: If you have a condition that may require some classroom or exam modifications, please contact SAS (www.ssds.ualberta.ca) to obtain a determination as to what accommodations should be made.
Student Success Centre: The Student Success Centre (www.studentsuccess.ualberta.ca) offers a variety of learning resources, including a variety of workshops in learning effective study and exam strategies. Sessions are available in person and online, for a fee.
