Management 504: Microeconomics for Managers
Fall 2013
Len Malczynski
Course content and email: via UNM Learn
Monday (ASM 1016) or Tuesday (DSH 325) 7:00 – 9:30 PM
This is a course in microeconomics, which is the study of individual decision making in a world in which wants
exceed the available resources. The study of this material will involve reading, classroom discussions and lectures,
problem sets and exams.
The grade for this course will be based upon: four equally weighted exams, and a series learning assessments.
If you are a qualified person with disabilities who might need appropriate academic adjustments, please
communicate with me as soon as possible so that we may make appropriate arrangements to meet your needs in a timely
manner. Frequently, we will need to coordinate academic adjustments with other offices on campus.
Textbook: Libby Rittenberg and Timothy Tregarthen, Principles of Microeconomics
http://students.flatworldknowledge.com/course/1331161 (Copies are in Parrish Library)
If you are having difficulties with the material you might want to buy an outline of basic microeconomics
(Understanding Microeconomics: Heilbroner and Thurow) or look at the Flatworld site for their study guides and products
or the internet. You may also want to brush up on basic Algebra.
Here is an excerpt from the Preface to Understanding Microeconomics (Heilbroner, 1968). This may give those of you
new to economics some idea of what is before you.
“To begin with, economics speaks a special language, and as with all new tongues it is easy to make careless
(but grievous) mistakes because a strange vocabulary has not been mastered. Many new students, for the first
time coming upon an italicized term such as quantity demanded, are sure that the author really meant demand
instead, and so they use the short word for the cumbersome phrase and wonder why their quizzes come back
with red X’s. … Words in economics, as in all specialized inquiries, have very precisely defined meanings, and
small deviations from those words can bring large discrepancies in the sense of what one says.1
Second, microeconomics comes replete with myriad diagrams. … Diagrams are worth a thousand words of text,
all right – but only when they are right. Hence look carefully at where curves touch and cross and draw yours
the same way.
… the last and most important admonition. …, a student entering microeconomics must be prepared for a subject
that is tinged with a considerable degree of abstraction.”
Textbook numerical problems are optional. While they utilize mathematics, their primary goal is to clarify whether the
student understands the underlying economic relationships. I will post answers one week after we cover the material.
The learning assessments will be based upon the readings. There will be two per chapter with 5-10 questions each. They
are due before and after class (no exceptions, extensions, etc.). For example, the pre-learning assessment will be
completed before 7:00 PM on the day we cover it, the post-assessment will be completed within 1 week. They will count
up to 5% of your grade. You will earn 0 points for not completing them and 1 point each for submitting them. They will be
delivered via Learn. The score on the assessment is irrelevant, taking them is what counts.
Exams will have equal weight. They will be via Learn and possibly a take-home. They will count for 95% of your grade.
A note on communication: Once class begins, please use Learn for all email, discussions, etc. Do not use any other email
address after you have access to Learn for this course (August 19, 2013).
1 The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug. Mark Twain
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Chapter
1
2
3
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
14
18
19
Topic – Tentative
Economics: The study of choice
Confronting scarcity: Choices in production
Demand and Supply
Elasticity: A measure of response
Markets, maximizers and efficiency
The analysis of consumer choice
Production and cost
Competitive markets for goods and services
Monopoly
The world of imperfect competition
Imperfectly competitive markets for factors of production
The economics of the environment
Inequality, poverty and discrimination
Tentative Class Schedule
Week of
8/19/2013
8/26/2013
9/2/2013
9/9/2013
9/16/2013
9/23/2011
9/30/2013
10/7/2013
10/14/2011
10/21/2013
10/28/2013
11/4/2013
11/11/2013
11/18/2013
11/25/2013
12/2/2013
12/9/2013
Chapters to read
1,2, Math appendix
3
NO CLASS
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
14
Readings
17
18
19
Final Exam Week
Testing
Note
Holiday
Exam 1
Fall Break
Exam 2
Exam 3
Understanding growth
Thanksgiving
Exam 4
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