Ferrarini, T. The American Economy

Posted Thu, 2010-02-11 17:58 by backend

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.