Course Information
Introduction to Economics I (ECON 1001)
Course Code
ECON 1001
Course Title
Introduction to Economics I
Course Discipline
Economics
Units of Credit
Three (3)
Pre-requisite
None
Semester of Offering
Semester 1, 2012/13
Course Coordinator
Dr. Marlene Attzs (marlene.attzs@sta.uwi.edu)
Course Lecturers and email
contact information
Dr. Marlene Attzs (marlene.attzs@sta.uwi.edu)
Dr. Daren Conrad (daren.conrad@sta.uwi.edu)
Dr. Althea La Foucade, (althea.lafoucade@sta.uwi.edu)
Mr. Diedron Lewis (diedron.lewis@sta.uwi.edu)
Ms. Malini Maharaj (malini.maharaj@sta.uwi.edu)
Dr. Anne Marie Mohammed (Anne-Marie.Mohammed@sta.uwi.edu)
Dr. Ewan Scott (ewan.scott@sta.uwi.edu)
Course Description ECON 1001 - Introduction to Economics I
Introduction to Economics I, is one of the core courses offered by the Department of
Economics. It is a foundation course for the understanding of economics and the
Department is committed to supporting students in their quest to understand and indeed to
excel.
The course components include the foundation theories of basic microeconomics
including an introduction into the study of economics and analyses of economic agents’
behaviours, particularly that of the individual and the firm. The course begins with a
description of the subject area, and continues to introduce the basic concepts and theories
that are used as the foundation of microeconomic theory and analysis. This includes
discussions and applications of the theory of the consumer; theory of producer; market
operations; and market structures.
Please feel free to consult with your respective lecturers and tutors during the
semester as any course problems/issues arise. Students are also strongly encouraged to
visit the lecturers during stipulated office hours to discuss various issues and concerns.1
Alternatively, the secretariat in the Economics Department Office (Room 203) will
be pleased to arrange a special appointment if necessary.
1
Each lecturer will indicate her/his respective office hours.
ECON 1001, Semester 1 2012/13
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Goals
This course aims to prepare:
1. Students with some tools and methods of economic analysis that will serve as the
basis for a more advanced course of study in microeconomic theory.
2. The non-specialists economics student with a good introduction to the
fundamental principles of microeconomics.
3. Both specialist and non-specialist economics students to use the concepts to which
they are introduced to facilitate analysis of the functioning of the micro-economy,
inclusive of those in the Caribbean.
Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this course students will be able to demonstrate an exposure to (or
awareness of) the basic elements of microeconomics including the concepts of demand
and supply and the functioning of markets, including the assumptions that underlie such
concepts. Specifically, at the end of the course students must be able to:
 Define and distinguish basic concepts and economic terminologies;
 Describe, explain and apply graphically, mathematically and in words, the
underlying microeconomic theories applicable to hypothetical and real case studies;
and
 Analyse and solve problems using the concepts and diagrams introduced.
Course Delivery
Course Outline
Lectures
Please download a copy of the course outline by logging onto the my
elearning site at : http://myelearning.sta.uwi.edu/login/index.php
Students will have two (2) contact hours for lectures weekly. Please
select only one (1) from the following lecture options :






Mondays, 10-12noon, LRC A, B &C
Mondays, 10-12noon, FSS 100 (East and West)
Mondays (EU), 5-7 pm, Daaga Auditorium
Wednesdays (EU), 5-7pm, FSS 101 (East and West)
Thursdays (EU), 5-7pm, FSS MLT
Fridays, 10-12 noon, FSS 107
N.B. STUDENTS ARE ONLY REQUIRED TO ATTEND ONE 2HOUR LECTURE PER WEEK
ECON 1001, Semester 1 2012/13
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Tutorials
Students will have one (1) contact hour for tutorials weekly. Tutorials
will normally begin two weeks after lectures. Please check the notices
posted at the Department of Economics or at Room 200 for further
information. Tutorial sheets are designed to help students internalize
and apply concepts taught during the lectures. It is expected that
students will complement material covered in the lecture sessions with
use of the texts and recommended references. Students will be provided
with tutorial questions which they are required to prepare before the
weekly tutorial session. Every effort should be made to complete each
tutorial sheet and please ensure that you prepare the tutorial questions
to maximize your benefits from the tutorials!
N.B. Students are reminded that completion of the tutorial sheets will
put you in good stead to be successful in the final exam.
Please visit the my e-learning site at:
http://myelearning.sta.uwi.edu/login/index.php to select and register
for tutorial and lecture sessions for ECON 1001. You are also
required to download the tutorial sheets for the course from this site.
Policies to Note
Students are reminded of UWI Examination regulations no. 19 and 78 which states:
UWI Examination Regulation No. 19 “Any candidate who has been absent from the
University for a prolonged period during the teaching of a particular course for any
reason other than illness or whose attendance at prescribed lectures, classes, ... tutorials,
... has been unsatisfactory or who has failed to submit essays or other exercises set by
his/her teachers, may be debarred by the relevant Academic Board, on the
recommendation of the relevant Faculty Board, from taking any University examinations.
The procedures to be used shall be prescribed in Faculty Regulations.”
In this connection, the Faculty of Social Sciences requires students to attend AND
participate in at least 75% of tutorials.
78.
(i) Cheating shall constitute a major offence under these regulations.
(ii) Cheating is any attempt to benefit one’s self or another by deceit or fraud.
(iii) Plagiarism is a form of cheating.
(iv) Plagiarism is the unauthorised and/or unacknowledged use of another
person’s intellectual efforts and creations howsoever recorded, including whether
formally published or in manuscript or in typescript or other printed or
ECON 1001, Semester 1 2012/13
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electronically presented form and includes taking passages, ideas or structures
from another work or author without proper and unequivocal attribution of such
source(s), using the conventions for attributions or citing used in this University.
Student Participation in planned Departmental activities for
2011/12
1. Attendance at the Post National Budget Forum 2012. Please contact the
Department of Economics for the date and time of this event.
2. Attendance at the Department of Economics’ Conference on the Economy
(COTE2012) 11th -12nd October 2012 Learning Resource Centre, (LRC) UWI
St Augustine.
Schedule of assessments
Assessment Item
Practice Quiz I*
Online Assignment I
(Quiz)*
Practice Quiz II*
Weighting
0%
10%
Opening date of assignment
September 10th 2012
October 15th, 2012
Closing date for Assignment
October 12th 2012
October 16th 2012
0%
October 22nd, 2012
November 23rd, 2012
Online Assignment II*
20%
November 26th, 2012
November 27th, 2012
Final Exam
70%
To be announced
*Assignment will be open at 12.05am (five minutes past midnight) on the opening date of
the assignment and will close at 11.55pm on the closing date of the assignment.
Students must be completely registered (with financial clearance) in order to have
access to the online assignments. Students who have not completed registration should
seek to do so before the online assignments open. It is not policy to accommodate
students who have not been fully financially cleared because of non-payment of fees.
Non-clearance because on non-payment implies that the student are not fully registered to
access the course components and resources and therefore risk not being allowed to
complete coursework assignments that are administered in such ways.
Students experiencing technical difficulties or other extenuating circumstances
preventing the completion of the assignments are asked to inform Dr. Marlene Attzs and
Ms. Malini Maharaj at the very earliest but no later than two (2) days after the
assignment. All communications must be formalized via email.
ECON 1001, Semester 1 2012/13
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Main Textbook
ECONOMICS by Lipsey & Chrystal. Twelfth (12th) Edition. Oxford University Press.
Course Units and Description
Unit
Number
Unit Name & Content
Unit 1
Introduction to course and course overview.
Teaching Week
(beginning the week of
10th September, 2012)
Week 1
Introduction and basic concepts
10th – 14th September
2012
Introduction: The Economic Problem, Good Economics and
Economic Systems
Scarcity, Choice and Opportunity Cost; Lewis dictum; Brief
introduction to Caribbean economic issues. Types of Economic
Systems – Traditional, Command, Market and Mixed.
Reference: Chapters 1 & 2
Preferences and Utility
Unit 2
Week 2
Total and Marginal Utility – pillars for rational decisions; the 17th – 21st
“Law” of Diminishing Marginal Utility; Consumer Equilibrium 2012
based on the Utility Theory Approach; from Marginal Utility to
the Demand Curve
September
Reference: Chapter 5
Indifference Curve Analysis
Weeks 3 and 4
Indifference Curves: What are they? Properties of an Indifference
Curve; Slope of the Indifference Curve (Marginal Rate of
Substitution); Principle of Diminishing Marginal Rate of
Substitution; The Budget Line: What is it? Slope of the Budget
Line; Factors Resulting in a Pivot and Shift of the Budget Line;
Consumer Equilibrium; Derivation of the Demand Curve; Income
and Substitution Effects of a Price Change
24th - 28th September;
and 1st – 5th October
2012
Unit 3
Reference: Chapter 5
Unit 4
Consumer Demand
Week 5
Quantity Demanded; Determinants of Quantity Demanded; 8th – 12th October 2012
Demand and Prices; The Demand Schedule and the Demand
Curve. Movements along the Demand Curve vs Shifts of the
ECON 1001, Semester 1 2012/13
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Demand Curve. Market demand.
Reference : Chapter 3
Unit 5
Supply and Equilibrium Price Determination
Week 6
15th – 19th October 2012
Quantity Supplied; Determinants of Quantity Supplied; Supply and
Price; The Supply Schedule and the Supply Curve. Movements
along the Supply Curve vs. Shifts of the Supply Curve, market
supply ; Determination of Price by Demand and Supply; Laws of
Demand and Supply; Restraining the Market Mechanism: Price
Ceilings and Price Floors
Unit 6
Reference : Chapter 3
When Market Conditions Change
Week 7
22nd – 26th October 2012
Elasticity Analysis
Elasticity: The Measure of Responsiveness; Price Elasticity of
Demand - the Measurement of Price Elasticity, Determinants of
Price Elasticity; Price Elasticity of Demand and the Shapes of the
Demand Curves.
Other Demand Elasticities: Income Elasticity of Demand; Cross
Elasticity of Demand; Elasticity of Supply; Determinants of
Supply Elasticity.
Reference: Chapter 4
Making Key Business Decisions
Unit 7
Weeks 8 and 9
29th October - 2nd
The Framework
November; and
Time Horizons for Decision Making - The Short Run and The 5th - 9th November 2012
Long Run; The Production Function - Input Choices, The Choice
and Optimal Input Combinations; Isoquants and Isocosts;
Substitutability, Output and Cost; Total, Average and Marginal
Products; Marginal and Average Product Curves; The "Law" of
Diminishing Returns; Optimal Quantity of an Input and
Diminishing Returns; Cost curves; Fixed costs and Variable
Costs; Economies of Scale; Long-Run versus Short-Run Costs.
Production; costs and profits; profit-maximizing output.
References: Chapter 6
ECON 1001, Semester 1 2012/13
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Unit 8
Competitive Markets
Weeks 10 and 11
Market Structure and Behaviour; The Significance of Market November and 12th -16th
Structure; Perfect Competition Defined; Demand and Revenue for November; and 19th –
a Firm in Perfect Competition; Short –Run Equilibrium Rules for 23rd November 2012.
All Profit Maximizing Firms; Short-Run Profitability of the
Perfectly Competitive Firm; Short-Run Losses; Shutdown and
Break-even Analysis; Short-Run Supply Curve of the Competitive
Firm and the Competitive Industry
Long-Run Equilibrium: The Effect of Entry and Exit; Conditions
for Long-Run Equilibrium; The Long-Run Industry Supply Curve;
Zero Economic Profit; Perfect Competition and Efficiency
Reference: Chapters 7
Monopoly
Monopoly Defined; Causes of Monopoly: Barriers to Entry and
Cost Advantages; Cost and Revenue in the Short-Run; Short and
Long-Run Monopoly Equilibrium and the Determination of Profit
Maximising Output; Natural Monopoly; Comparison of Monopoly
and Perfect Competition; Can Monopolies be Good? Price
Discrimination under Monopoly
Reference: Chapters 8 & 9
Course overview session
Revision/clarification Session
Week 12
26th November – 30th
November 2012
Department of Economics
September 2012
ECON 1001, Semester 1 2012/13
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