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
1Jan 21 1 1 Introduction
2Jan 28 2 2,4,5Supply & Demand HW1
3Feb 4 2 6,7 Regulation of Supply & Demand HW2
4Feb 11 14,15,20 Welfare HW3
5Feb 18 4 17 Welfare in Supply & Demand HW4
6Feb 25 20 18 Externalities & Public Goods HW5
7Mar 4 Applications
8Mar 11 Spring Break
9Mar 18 Review, Midterm Exam
10Mar 25 16 12,13 Time & Uncertainty HW6
11Apr 1 7,8,91,9 Production HW7
12Apr 8 11,1210 Monopoly HW8
13Apr 15 14 11 Game Theory and Signaling HW9
14Apr 22 3,5,63 Indifference Curves HW10
15Apr 29 21 Applications
16May 6 Review, Final Exam (on all weeks)