Microeconomics

SYLLABUS

EC102 Microeconomics Syllabus Lyons.docx

TEXTBOOK

PRINCIPLES of MICROECONOMICS

Edition 3e ; by openstax.org

The textbook is available as a free download from 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.

OFFICE HOURS

Monday 6-7pm Sellinger Hall 419

ZOOM

https://loyola.zoom.us/my/thomaslyons password in on moodle

CLASS ROOM TECHNOLOGY

Students may not use computers, tablets, phones, earphones during class.

THANKSGIVING WEEK

There is NO CLASS during THANKSGIVING WEEK

LECTURES, READINGS, RESOURCES

Introduction

HOW TO PREPARE

READ the class syllabus

READ "Advice from a Formerly Lonely College Student", New York Times

CLASS LECTURE

Economics 0 - Opening Lecture

about Economics

HOW TO PREPARE

READ Principles of Microeconomics, Chapter 1, “Welcome to Economics?”

READ: Henry Hazlitt, Economics in One Lesson, Chapters 1 and 2 [PDF of the book]

Hazlitt uses a metaphor originally from Bastiat to explain that economics requires us to look at all the consequences of actions when evaluating situations.

CLASS LECTURE

Microeconomics 1 - What is Econoimics?

Production Possibilities

HOW TO PREPARE

READ Principles of Microeconomics, Chapter 2, “Choice in a World of Scarcity"

CLASS LECTURE

Microeconomics 2a1 - Production Possibilities Frontier

Utility

HOW TO PREPARE

READ Principles of Microeconomics, Chapter 6, “Consumer Choices"

CLASS LECTURE

Microeconomics 8/9 Utility, Preferences, Consumer Choice, Demand

Marginal Analysis

HOW TO PREPARE

CLASS LECTURE

Microeconomics 2a2 - Marginal Analysis

ASSIGNMENT

Cost Benefit Analysis

DUE in class on September xx, 2026 - Printed on Paper

Write a paper where you discuss and analyze the costs and benefits of the choice that you made to attend college at Loyola University Maryland.

Make sure that you think like an economist

What is the scarce resource involved?

What is your "end"?

What are the other "means" that you considered?

What are most important benefits of your decision?

What is the opportunity cost of your decision?

[The paper should be 2-3 pages, double spaced, 12 pitch type, 1" margins]

The Ford Pinto

CLASS LECTURE - DISCUSSION

The Ford Pinto was a small car in the 1970's that was thought unsafe after twenty-nine deaths occurred in rear end collisions.

Microeconomics 1A - The Ford Pinto

CLASS DISCUSSION .

Should the government require Ford to spend $13 on each car to make the Pinto safer?

Can all risks being eliminated from economic life? Who can best weigh the costs and benefits of risks?

Ford Pinto Epilogue

Division of Labor and Specialization

HOW TO PREPARE

READ "The Division of Labor" from the Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith, 1776

CLASS LECTURE

Microeconomics 2b1 - Division of Labor, Specialization, Comparative Advantage, Trade

Economic Man

Microeconomics 2d1 - Economic Man

Test 1

Thinking Like an Economist

Markets

HOW TO PREPARE

WATCH: "I, Pencil" The Invisible Hand

A short video 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.