The University of Alberta Department of Economics
ECON 101-B2. Introduction to Microeconomics
Instructor: Valentina Kozlova
email: [email protected]
(Please have “Econ 101” in the subject line) office: Tory 9-25,phone: 492-3873
Class Schedule: TR 9:30 - 10:50 Lecture Room: TL B 1
Office Hours: Monday 11:00 - 12:00, Wednesday 12:00 - 1:00 pm, or by appoint- ment
Class website: eclass.srv.ualberta.ca/portal/- Sample exams, grades and lec- ture notes will be posted here.
Course Description and Objectives:
This course is an introduction into supply and demand analysis; the theory of production, costs and price determination; firm behavior in different market structures.
Objectives of this course are:
- to introduce students to the mechanics of supply and demand;
- to introduce students to the workings of competitive and non-competitive markets and the policies invoked to control non-competitive markets;
- to develop students’ understanding of the economic theory and terminology used to describe the behavior of individual firms and consumers.
Mastery of basic microeconomic concepts is necessary before moving on to upper level economics and business courses.
Required Course Materials:
Textbook: Mankiw, Kneebone, and McKenzie: “Principles of Microeconomics”, 7th Canadian edition, 2017 (other editions are acceptable)
ePoll: Free online in-class response system. More information below.
Other Optional Resources:
MindTap: This is a great resource for practice problems tailored to our textbook, as well as study guides, ebook, interactive videos and more. Information on how to get access can be found at the end of this document.
Grade Policy:
ePoll 15% 4 lowest sessions will be dropped
Midterm 1 25% Multiple choice. Covers one third of the material
Midterm 2 25% Multiple choice. Covers the second third of the material Final 35% Multiple choice. Final exam is cumulative
Grades will be collected and aggregated in percentage form and assigned letter grades at the conclusion of the course. There is no pre-set distribution of grades for this course. Both absolute performance and relative performance to the rest of the class will be considered in assigning letter grades. Improvement and class participation will be taken into account for rare borderline cases. Below is an example of a previous semester’s grade distribution. This semester’s distribution may or may not look similar.
95 - 100 A+ 81 - 87 B+ 67 - 69 C+ 56 - 57 D+
91 - 94 A 75 - 80 B 61 - 66 C 51 - 55 D
88 - 90 A- 70 - 74 B- 58 - 60 C- 0 - 50 F
Course Outline∗:
Chapter 1. Ten Principles of Economics . . . Jan 9 Chapter 2. Thinking Like an Economist . . . Jan 11 Chapter 3. Interdependence and Gains from Trade . . . Jan 11 Chapter 4. The Market Forces of Supply and Demand . . . Jan 18 Chapter 5. Elasticity and Its Applications . . . Jan 23 Chapter 6. Supplpy, Demand, and Government Policies . . . Jan 30 Midterm 1 . . . Feb 3, 5-7 Chapter 7. Consumers, Producers, and the Efficiency of Markets . . . Feb 8 Chapter 8. Application: The Costs of Taxation . . . Feb 13 Chapter 9. Application: International Trade . . . Feb 15 Chapter 10. Externalities . . . Feb 27 Chapter 11. Public Goods and Common Resources. . . .Mar 1 Midterm 2 . . . Mar 7-10 Chapter 13. The Costs of Production . . . Mar 13 Chapter 14. Firms in Competitive Markets . . . Mar 15 Chapter 15. Monopoly . . . Mar 22 Chapter 16. Monopolistic Competition . . . Mar 27 Chapter 17. Oligopoly . . . .Apr 3 Chapter 18. The Markets for the Factors of Production . . . Apr 10 Final Exam . . . Apr 21, 23-26
∗Note that the outline is tentative and subject to change. All changes will be announced in class.
ePoll:
You can access ePoll from any device that can connect to the internet, using the following link: epoll.srv.ualberta.ca. Use your U of A credentials to log in. Every class you will be provided a poll code that you will need to enter the poll. “Starting soon” message will display until the polling starts.
There will be regular ePoll activities in the classroom. It is your responsibility to have a functioning device for every class. There are no make-ups for missed activity. 4 lowest ePoll grades will be dropped. These should cover all possible forgotten device issues and missed classes due to illness.
Thursday, January 11, is when you get your first grades for the ePoll activity.
Grading for the ePoll session works as follows. You get 3 points for answering a question, however you get 5 points if you answer correctly. Points accumulate over the session. We will usually have about 3-15 questions each class. Your grade will be calculated as a percentage of your accumulated points out of the total points possible for that day. Overall ePoll grade in the semester will be a simple average of all the sessions.
Exams:
The two midterm exams and the final exam will be written at the Learning Assessment Centre (LAC) which is located at 3-106 Education North (map). It is the student’s responsi- bility to book their exam time using the LAC website (lac.ualberta.ca/students#book).
If you fail to book an exam time and there is no space in the LAC, you will receive zero marks for that exam. Booking will open on TBA.
Exam schedule:
Midterm 1 (1 hour): February 3, 5, 6, 7 Midterm 2 (1 hour): March 7, 8, 9, 10 Final (2 hours): April 21, 23, 24, 25, 26
The use of programmable (graphing) calculators and/or electronic communication devices is not permitted during exams. You may however use a regular calculator.
Missed exams: If a student misses a midterm exam they must email me immediately to notify me and to apply to write the deferred midterm exam. The deferred midterm exam will be cumulative and will be held in the LAC on TBA. If you miss a midterm and do not contact me you will receive a mark of zero on that exam. You will not be able to have the percentage weight of your missed exam added to the percentage weight allotted to the final exam.
A student who has missed a final exam because of incapacitating illness, severe domestic affliction or other compelling reasons (including religious conviction) may apply for a deferred exam. The application is to be submitted to the undergraduate office of the applicants own faculty. The instructor does not have the authority to approve such applications. The deferred final will be held on TBA.
Tutor Center (Tory 8-28):
The tutor centre will tentatively begin operation the third week of classes, and will close the last day of classes. Hours of operation, once set, will be posted on the course website.
The tutors are third and fourth-year honours economics students.
You are encouraged to visit the tutor centre with content questions. You are also en- couraged to visit the tutor centre if you would simply like to talk with an economics student about the department and its course and program offerings. Program and course informa- tion as well as a schedule of economics undergraduate advisors can be picked up in the tutor centre.
If you have any questions about, or encounter any problems with the tutor centre, please let me know immediately. The Economics Department is committed to a tutor centre that offers the assistance that students need. We need your help to ensure that this happens.
Please fill out an evaluation form when you visit the tutor centre. Tell us what you liked and tell us what we can do better.
Other Policies:
Policy about course outlines can be found in the Evaluation Procedures and Grading System section of the University Calendar.
Academic integrity: 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 Behaviour (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.
Recording: Audio or video recording, digital or otherwise, of lectures, labs, seminars or any other teaching environment by students is allowed only with the prior written consent of the instructor or as part of an approved accommodation plan. Student or instructor content, digital or otherwise, created and/or used within the context of the course 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).
This class will be recorded and the recordings will be made available to student on eClass.
These recordings are also to be used solely for personal study, and are not to be shared.
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.