Intermediate Microeconomics
Spring 2002 GMU Syllabus
Economics 306, Section 1, meets 10:30-11:20am, MWF, during Spring 2002, in room Enterprise 175.
Instructor: Robin D. Hanson, Asst. Professor, Economics (rhanson@gmu.edu, http://robinhanson.com)
Office Hours: 1:30-3:00 MW (after class). Also, I'm usually in at 10b Carow Hall. Call ahead (703-993-2326) if you want to be sure.
Catalog Entry:
306 Intermediate Microeconomics (3:3:0). Prerequisites: ECON 103 and 104, and MATH 108 or 113. Basic factors of price and distribution theory, including analysis of demand, costs of production and supply relationships, and price and output determination under various market structures.
Reccomended Texts: (None are required.)
Edgar K. Browning, Mark A. Zupan, Microeconomic Theory and Applications, Seventh Edition ISBN 0-471-38916-1, 2002 (There should be a related optional study guide for this text.) Sample price $62.
David D. Friedman, Hidden Order, The Economics of Everyday Life Harper Collins ISBN: 0-887-30885-6, 1997. Sample price $15.
Major Dates: Midterm exam in class Mar.20,22. Paper due May 6. Final is Wednesday May 8, 10:30 a.m. - 1:15 a.m.
Grade Weights: Your final grade will be a weighted average of Class Discussion (5%), Homework (15%), Paper (20%), and two exams (30% each).
Exams: For Midterm exam week, Monday is review, and the exam is spread across the Wednesday and Friday class periods. The Final exam covers the entire course. All exams are in class and closed book, but you can use one standard size (8.5"x11") piece of paper with notes. Exam problems will be similar to homework problems.
Homework Policy: Homework is due in class on Friday the week it is assigned. Homework will be returned on Monday and explained then; homework turned in late then recieves 3/4 credit. Later homework gets no credit. You can discuss homework with others in general terms, but each person should do their own specific work. Before you turn it in, I will also only discuss the homework with you in general terms. (The schedule below links to the homework for each week.)
"Fanciful Economics" Paper: Make whatever assumptions you want about the basic features of some alternative world, but then use the economics concepts from this class to write about the economics of that world. You might describe the economics of Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny, how economics would differ on a space colony, or in a fantasy world like that of Harry Potter or Bilbo Baggins. You might describe how our world would be changed by a Star Trek "transporter," a cheap universal "duplicator", interstellar commerce, by intelligent robots, or by the world economy doubling in size every year. (Why did I pick these topics? Because it is hard to look them up; you'll need to think, I hope.) The following topics have been overdone and are now banned: What if we had no money or a new money system, and what if people could just fly.
Schedule
| # | Week | Micro Ch. | H.O. Ch. | Topics | Note |
| 1 | Jan 21 | 1 | 1 | Introduction | |
| 2 | Jan 28 | 2 | 2,4,5 | Supply & Demand | HW1 |
| 3 | Feb 4 | 2 | 6,7 | Regulation of Supply & Demand | HW2 |
| 4 | Feb 11 | | 14,15,20 | Welfare | HW3 |
| 5 | Feb 18 | 4 | 17 | Welfare in Supply & Demand | HW4 |
| 6 | Feb 25 | 20 | 18 | Externalities & Public Goods | HW5 |
| 7 | Mar 4 | | | Applications | |
| 8 | Mar 11 | | | Spring Break | |
| 9 | Mar 18 | | | Review, Midterm Exam | |
| 10 | Mar 25 | 16 | 12,13 | Time & Uncertainty | HW6 |
| 11 | Apr 1 | 7,8,9 | 1,9 | Production | HW7 |
| 12 | Apr 8 | 11,12 | 10 | Monopoly | HW8 |
| 13 | Apr 15 | 14 | 11 | Game Theory and Signaling | HW9 |
| 14 | Apr 22 | 3,5,6 | 3 | Indifference Curves | HW10 |
| 15 | Apr 29 | | 21 | Applications | |
| 16 | May 6 | | | Review, Final Exam (on all weeks) | |
