Microeconomics
SYLLABUS
TEXTBOOK
PRINCIPLES of MICROECONOMICS
Edition 3e ; by openstax.org
[... you must use your loyola.edu email for the free download]
A print copy of the textbook is available for sale at the bookstore, amazon.com, etc.
*** Additional reading will be assigned during the semester
ZOOM
CLASS ROOM TECHNOLOGY
Students may not use computers, tablets, phones, earphones during class.
The A to Z of Economics Explained
from the Economist Magazine
LECTURES, READINGS and RESOURCES
INTRODUCTION
HOW TO PREPARE
CLASS LECTURE
What is Economics?
HOW TO PREPARE
READ Principles of Microeconomics, Chapter 1, “Welcome to Economics?”
Hazlitt uses a metaphor originally from Bastiat to explain that economics requires us to look at all the consequences of actions when evaluating situations. PDF of the whole book.
CLASS LECTURE
The Ford Pinto was a very small car in the 1970's that was thought unsafe after twenty-nine deaths occurred in rear end collisions.
CLASS DISCUSSION
Should the government require Ford to spend $13 on each car to make the Pinto safer? Yes/No?
Can all risks being eliminated from economic life? Who can best weigh the costs and benefits of risks? The answers are not always obvious.
Production Possibilities Frontier, Opportunity Cost, Marginal Analysis, Economic Growth
HOW TO PREPARE
READ Principles of Microeconomics, Chapter 2, “Choice in a World of Scarcity"
CLASS LECTURE
ASSIGNMENT
Cost-Benefit Analysis AssignmentCOST BENEFIT ANALYSIS ASSIGNMENT
Due Date
Section 3 : Monday September 25, 2023 in class
Section 4 : Monday September 25, 2023 in class
Section 14 : Thursday September 28, 2023 in class
Division of Labor, Comparative Advantage, Exchange
CLASS LECTURE
Utility, Preferences, Consumer Choice, Demand
HOW TO PREPARE
READ Principles of Microeconomics, Chapter 6, “Consumer Choices"
CLASS LECTURE
Test 1 : Thinking Like an Economist
Section 014 Tuesday September 26, 2023
Section 03 Wednesday September 27, 2023
Section 03 Wednesday September 27, 2023
Demand, Supply and Equilibrium
HOW TO PREPARE
Read Principles of Microeconomics, Chapter 3, “Demand and Supply"
Watch "The Demand Curve" at the Marginal Revolution University
Watch "The Supply Curve" at the Marginal Revolution University
CLASS LECTURES
ASSIGNMENTS
The homework assignments #1, #2, #3 below are to be completed and turned in. The due dates will be announced in class.
#8 is an optional assignment if you want more practice.
Solution #1
Solution #2
Solution #3
Solution #8
Elasticity
HOW TO PREPARE
READ Principles of Microeconomics, Chapter 5, “Elasticity"
CLASS LECTURE
ASSIGNMENTS
The assignment below is to be completed and turned in. The due date will be announced in class.
Elasticity Solution
Economic Systems and Resource Coordination
HOW TO PREPARE
A short film based on a 1958 essay by Leonard Reed that uses a pencil to illustrate the complexity of the network, which no one overseas, necessary to produce it.
CLASS LECTURE
Market Intervention
HOW TO PREPARE
In the 1930s, economists debated how a socialist country like Russia/USSR could make economic calculations without free markets, prices and private ownership of the means of production. The "Use of Knowledge in Society" explains the critical role that prices play in an economic system to make economic calculations possible.
READ: Increased Tuition Subsidies Increase The Price Of College Tuition, by Tim Worstall, Forbes, 2015
The cost of college has gone up significantly in recent years. Why? Part of the reason is because subsidies drive prices up.
CLASS LECTURE
ASSIGNMENTS
The homework assignments #4, #5 and #6 below are to be completed and turned in. The due dates will be announced in class.
Assignment #7 is an optional assignment if you want more practice.
Solution #4
Solution #5
Solution #6
Solution #7
Test 2
Supply, Demand, Equilibrium, Elasticity, Market Intervention
Firms and Organizing Production
HOW TO PREPARE
READ TBD
CLASS LECTURE
ASSIGNMENTS
The Economic Profit homework below is to be completed and turned in. The due date will be announced in class.
Economic Profit Assignment #1Economic Profit Assignment
Solution to Economic Profit Assignment
Output and Costs
HOW TO PREPARE
READ Principles of Microeconomics, Chapter 7, “Production, Costs and Industry Structure"
CLASS LECTURE
Perfect Competition
HOW TO PREPARE
READ Principles of Microeconomics, Chapter 8, “Perfect Competition"
CLASS LECTURE
Monoply
HOW TO PREPARE
READ Principles of Microeconomics, Chapter 8, “Monopoly"
CLASS LECTURE
Imperfect Competition
HOW TO PREPARE
READ Principles of Microeconomics, Chapter 10, “Monopolistic Competition and Oligopoly"
CLASS LECTURE
Oligopoly
HOW TO PREPARE
READ Principles of Microeconomics, Chapter 10 , “Monopolistic Competition and Oligopoly"
CLASS LECTURE
Market Structure and the Competitive Process
HOW TO PREPARE
READ Principles of Microeconomics, Chapter 11, “Monopoly and Antitrust Policy"
This business strategy paper uses microeconomics market structure theory to explain how the market process generates low prices, differentiation and high value for consumers.
WATCH "Chasing Work: A Florist's Business Survived Breast Cancer, but AB5 Might Kill It ", Independent Women's Forum
CLASS LECTURES
Test 3
Firms, Market Structure, Competition
Public Goods
HOW TO PREPARE
READ Principles of Microeconomics, Chapter 13 , “Positive Externalities and Public Goods"
CLASS LECTURES
Externalities
HOW TO PREPARE
READ Principles of Microeconomics, Chapter 12 , “Environmental Protection and Negative Externalities"
CLASS LECTURE
Markets for Factors of Production
HOW TO PREPARE
READ Principles of Microeconomics, Chapter 14 , “Labor Markets and Income"
CLASS LECTURE
Information and Uncertainty
HOW TO PREPARE
READ Principles of Microeconomics, Chapter 16 , “Information, Risk and Insurance"
CLASS LECTURE
Summary of Microeconomics
CLASS LECTURE
Final Exam
https://www.loyola.edu/department/records/student-exam
Section 14 - December 14th, 2023 at 9AM in Knott Hall Room B01
Section 03 - December 16th, 2023 at 1pm in Sellinger Room 104
Section 04 - December 20th, 2023 at 1pm in Sellinger Room 001