The American Economy 

Economics 101 at NMU

Course Syllabus

Last Updated 10 January 2000 by Dr. Tawni Hunt Ferrarini

Recommended Learning Time:	Traditional students are encouraged to spend a minimum of four hours per week working on this course. In addition to attending four, 50-minute lectures a week, students should regularly schedule times to complete reading assignments, chapter exercises, and chatting with peers and/or instructor.
Required Textbooks:	(1) Heyne, Paul.  The Economic Way of Thinking (Upper Saddle River, NJ:  Prentice Hall 2000) and (2)  Miller, Roger LeRoy , Daniel K. Benjamin and Douglass C. North.  The Economics of Public Issues,  The Eleventh Edition. (AWL)
Prerequisites:	EC101 is open to those students who do not have credit or are not currently taking any other economics course.  EC101 applies toward filling economic major and minor requirements.  Students are strongly encouraged to commit to the 15-week course schedule provided. If a student chooses to drop the course for any reason, the instructor politely requests that he or she completes a questionnaire on exiting. This will help the instructor assess the strengths and weaknesses of this course.

Week	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday
10-13 Jan 00 Heyne  CH 1,2,22	PRETEST The Economic Way of Thinking Defined Discussions of Why Economics is Important to Study and Acknowledgements of its Limitations Before next learning session: READ CH1,2	Need for Economic Abstraction and the Economic Consumers and Producers in the Economic World	The Simple Circular Flow Diagram: Places Where Consumers and Business People Act and Interact  Consumer:  Goals, Constraints, and Quantity Demanded	Consumers and Opportunity Costs
17-20 Jan 00 Heyne  CH 2-4	Demand:  Which Factors Other than Price Affect Market Demand? LIBRARY EXERCISE FOR THURSDAY! Locate it by clicking on <http://www-instruct.nmu.edu/econ/TFerrari/PerPI/Assn2/ReadFirst.htm>	The Economic Producer:  Goals, Constraints, and Quantity Supplied  Producers and Opportunity Costs	Video with questionnaire	Class will not meet.  Students are given this class period to prepare study sheet for test one and to complete library exercise.
24-27 Jan 00 Heyne  CH 5	Supply:  Which Factors Other than Price Affect Market Supply?	Supply and Demand:  Equilibrium Prices and Quantity	Test Review	Test 1 (10% of your semester grade)  Announcement: Economics Student Association visits economists working in Chicago.  Professor accompanies members. Office hours are cancelled.
31 Jan - 03 Feb 00 Heyne  CH 6,7	Competition	Efficiency, Exchange, and Comparative Advantage	Property Rights	Test One is returned. Transactions Costs, Information, Middlemen, and Speculators
07-10 Feb 00 Heyne  CH 11	Profits:  What are they?  Who are the entrepreneurs who help generate them?	The role of the entrepreneur	Interest and the Price Taker	Perfectly Competitive Market  Government Influences
14-17 Feb 00 Heyne  8	The Pure Monopolist	A Price Maker	Price Searching	Price Searching
21-24 Feb 00 Heyne  CH10,14	Government Policy	Competition and Markets	Test 2 Review	Test 2 (20% of your semester grade.)
28 Feb - 02 Mar	Midsemester Recess	Midsemester Recess	Midsemester Recess	Midsemester Recess
06-09 Mar 00 Heyne  CH15	Video with questionnaire Professor presents at TechEd2000 Conference	Library session.  Class will meet in library. Professor presents at TechEd2000 Conference	A discussion about what economists do. Professor presents at TechEd2000 Conference	Test Two is returned.  Macroeconomics Macro vs Micro GDP and National Income
13-16 Mar 00 Heyne  CH 16	Inflation, Deflation, and Their Economic Impact	The U.S. Banking System: Ah Place where Economic Investment Spenders and Savers Meet	The Economic Roles of Money How Banks Create Money In the Fractional Reserve System	Interest Rates and the Bond Market
20-23 Mar 00 Heyne  CH16-17, 21	The Money Multiplier and Required Reserves	The Federal Reserve System and Monetary Policy	Monetary Policy and Interest Rates	Analyzing Current Monetary Policy
27-30 Mar 00 Heyne  CH19	Fiscal Policy:  Government Spending and Taxation	Employment and Unemployment	Review	Test 3 (30% of your semester grade.)
03-06 Apr 00	The U.S. Business Cycle:  Fact or Fiction?	Test 3 Returned	Thanksgiving Break	Thanksgiving Break
10-13 Apr 00	Applications	Applications	Applications	Applications
17-20 Apr 00	Applications  Post Test	Applications Evaluations	Applications	SUBMIT DEC PRICE  DATA AND FINAL PRICE DATA EXERCISE
24-27 Apr 00	MULTI-SECTION FINAL EXAMINATION  (40 % of your course grade) 24 Apr 00 12.00-1.50 pm Place:  To be announced	Final Week	Final Week	Final Week

Other important dates include:

29 Apr 00, Saturday, Commencement

02 May 00, Tuesday, Grades are due by noon. If you want your grades mailed to you, submit a self-addressed, stamped envelope before you take your final. Emails will not be sent due to privacy and security issues.