ECON 190
Background
The John Cook School of Business has begun a systematic effort to develop learning objectives for all courses in its
undergraduate curriculum, and to design rubrics to measure achievement of these learning objectives. This effort is a
response to new accreditation standards at AACSB. As requested by Professor Scott Safranski of the John Cook
School of Business Office of Assessment, The Department of Economics has developed a set of learning objectives
and outcomes, and has initiated an assessment policy for ECNB-190. The following document describes the learning
objectives and outcomes, as well as the associated assessment policy and its implementation.
Contents:
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Learning Objectives and Outcomes
Assessment of Learning Outcomes
Example Department Assessment Report
Sample Assessment Questions
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After completing ECNB 190, students should be able to:
1. Think critically, and apply economic reasoning in making personal and business decisions, and in analyzing
public policy issues.
2. Recognize, identify, and discuss microeconomic issues and concepts that arise in personal, business, and
public policy contexts.
3. Recognize, identify, and discuss macroeconomic issues and concepts that are relevant to personal,
business, and public policy decisions.
In order to aid in the measurement of the learning objectives above, the following list of learning outcomes has been
compiled. Students are expected to be proficient in a subset of these topics by the end of the semester. In particular,
we strongly suggest that Microeconomics topics A and B and Macroeconomics topic A should be covered in order to
prepare continuing students for intermediate level microeconomics and macroeconomics courses, and ensure broad
exposure to economic issues for those students who will not take additional courses in the discipline. Sample
assessment questions have been provided for the topics listed in Microeconomics A, B and Macroeconomics A. The
remaining topics (e.g. listed in Microeconomics topic C, Macroeconomics topics B, C, D) are to be determined by the
instructor as he/she sees fit.
It is important to note that engagement of students in the classroom is of first-order importance. Moreover, such
engagement may require substantive deviation from the learning outcomes listed below. In such cases, instructors
should feel free to depart from the suggested course content in the interest of engaging students in meaningful
discussion and interaction.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
I. Microeconomics
A. Microeconomic Decision Making
1. Define economics.
2. Explain the underlying problem of resource allocation in an environment of unlimited wants and scarce
resources.
Relevant terminology and concepts to be included: opportunity cost, production possibilities frontier, decision-making
on the margin, marginal benefits & marginal costs and the relationship to total benefits & total costs
B. Interactions in Individual Markets
1. Explain how the market system operates including the concepts of demand, supply, market equilibrium.
2. Define, calculate and explain elasticities of supply and demand.
3. Apply tools of supply and demand to analyze the effects of changes in market conditions, and government
policies such as price controls and taxes.
Relevant terminology and concepts to be included: non-price determinants of demand and supply, change in
demand, supply vs. change in quantity demanded, quantity supplied, surplus, shortage, equilibrium, inelastic vs.
elastic demand/supply, price floor, price ceiling
C. Miscellaneous Micro Topics
1. Discuss welfare economics and the efficiency of the market system and when the market system fails to
achieve efficiency.
2. Discussion of externalities and public goods.
3. Discussion of firm's costs of production.
4. Discussion of market structure and regulation.
II. Macroeconomics
A. The Data and Measurement of Macroeconomic Variables
1. Define and discuss measurement of GDP and its components; consumption, investment, government
spending, and net exports.
2. Define and discuss measurement of inflation (e.g. Consumer Price Index). Distinguish between real and
nominal variables.
3. Define and discuss measurement of unemployment and employment.
B. Long Run Economic Growth and Short-Run Business Cycle Fluctuations
1. Define long-run economic growth and explain its determinants.
2. Describe the different phases of the business cycle, the causes of short-run fluctuations as linked to
components of GDP.
Relevant terminology and concepts to be included: productivity, physical capital, human capital, technology,
recession, expansion, output gap
C. Fiscal and Monetary Policy
1. Define the agencies that determine monetary and fiscal policy and the tools/limitations to address long-run
and/or short-run goals of the economy.
2. Interpret the goals of fiscal/monetary policies.
3. Identify the policymaker's tradeoff between inflation and unemployment
Relevant terminology and concepts to be included: Federal Reserve System, open market operations, targeting of the
Fed Funds rate, automatic stabilizer, discretionary spending, monetary policy and aggregate demand, fiscal policy
and aggregate demand, Phillips curve
D. Miscellaneous Macro Topics
1. Discussion of saving, investment and the financial system.
2. Discussion of classical dichotomy.
3. More discussion of fiscal policy, e.g., crowding out, multiplier effect.
4. More discussion of money and monetary policy, e.g., definition of money, discount rate, reserve
requirement, role of the banking system.
ASSESSMENT OF OUTCOMES
Assessment Guidelines: Each semester, instructors of each section of ECNB-190 that is not specific to a particular
program (e.g.: SLU 2000 or Honors), will assess learning outcomes of students based on a subset of the categories
listed above. Specifically, instructors are asked to assess student learning outcomes associated with topics
Microeconomics A, B and Macroeconomics A in the outline above. These topic areas have been further broken down
into 13 categories (see attachment for a list of the topics). A collection of multiple choice questions has been
assembled (see attachment) for these categories which instructors may use for assessment. For each topic area,
several example questions have been provided, from which instructors may choose. At least one question should be
assigned from each topic area. Instructors are also free to adapt these questions, or may construct their own
questions.
Assessment is optional in small sections or other special sections of ECNB-190, in which multiple choice exams are
not administered. If a comprehensive final exam is given that covers all of the topic areas, instructors may choose to
assess only their final exam. If a non-cumulative final exam is given, instructors should assess multiple exams, so
that each of the topic areas is assessed at some point during the semester.
In large sections, instructors need not assess their entire class, and may choose to assess a random sample of at
least 30 exams.
Assessment Report: At the end of each semester, instructors should submit an assessment form (provided by the
Department) to the Department Secretary for each section of ECNB-190 that will be assessed. The form has two
sections. In the first section, instructors are asked to report the percent of correct responses on each assessment
question posed in a particular topic area. In the second section, instructors are asked to comment on the results
reported. Comments in this section should specifically address what, if any, adjustments the instructor plans to make
in response to the data reported in section one. An example assessment form is attached.
The assessment forms should not contain any information that would identify the instructor (e.g. instructor name,
section number). The collected forms, along with an accompanying cover sheet, will constitute the department's
ECNB-190 Assessment Report. A copy of the Assessment Report will be submitted each semester to the Office of
Assessment of the John Cook School of Business.
Questions and suggestions regarding assessment should be directed to the Department's Assessment Report
Coordinator.
Assessment Report Coordinator: Each academic year (fall, spring, and summer sessions), a full-time faculty
instructor of Principles of Economics will serve as Assessment Report Coordinator. The Report Coordinator duties
are:
1. During the first week of each semester, the Coordinator will inform ECNB-190 instructors of the assessment
process, and will distribute assessment forms. Shortly into the semester the Coordinator will also remind
instructors of their responsibility to carry out the assessment.
2. During the last week of the semester, the Coordinator will remind all ECNB-190 instructors to submit their
assessment forms to the Department Secretary, and will provide the Secretary with an Assessment Report
cover sheet listing the names of the ECNB-190 instructors for that semester. The Department Secretary
will then check off the names of instructors as they give her/him their assessment report. The deadline for
submitting forms will be the deadline for submitting semester grades.
3. Once the deadline for submitting forms has passed, the Coordinator will ask the Department Secretary to
forward the forms, along with a completed cover sheet to the Coordinator, who will then forward it to the
Office of assessment for the John Cook School of Business.
4. The Coordinator will address questions/concerns/suggestions from instructors regarding assessment in
ECNB-190.