Eco 307W-1941 Intermediate Microeconomics
Fall 2013
Professor Tae-Hee Jo
Class
Hour/Room
TR 3:05–4:20, CLAS B319
Office Hour
TR 4:30–5:30 PM, or by appointment (email)
Contact
Information
Office: CLAS B230
Economics & Finance Department
SUNY Buffalo State
ANGEL
I shall be using the ANGEL class page for reading materials, lecture notes, announcements, assignments, etc. Make a habit of checking the class page regularly.
Email
Use your Buffalo State student email account for sending and receiving emails.
Prerequisite
Eco 202 Principles of Microeconomics; CWP 102; MAT 114 or equivalent
Course
Objective
The main objective of the course is to understand key concepts, ideas, and methods
in microeconomics. Such an objective can be achieved by means of reading materials, discussing issues, and writing essays. This course deals primarily with capitalist
market mechanisms (exchange, price, etc), the analysis of the business enterprise
(production, costs, and pricing) and of households (consumption), and market governance and market control. We will not stick to conventional-neoclassical microeconomic accounts. Alternative-heterodox accounts of those issues are also introduced
and examined. The bottom line is that students will learn how real world economic
activities take place. Throughout the semester students are frequently asked to
think about following fundamental questions: 1) Is the demand-supply framework
relevant? 2) Are individual consumers rational and sovereign? 3) Is making greater
profits good for the public? 4) Does the state always serve public interests?
Student
Learning
Outcomes
Students will demonstrate the ability to:
1. evaluate the law of demand and supply and the theory of consumption and
production/costs
Phone: (716) 878-6933
E-mail: joth@buffalostate.edu
2. compare/contrast contending microeconomic approaches
3. assess the role of the business enterprise and the government.
4. apply microeconomic theories to the real world problems.
Required
Textbook
Neva Goodwin, Julie Nelson, Frank Ackerman, and Thomas Weisskopf (2009), Microeconomics in Context, 2nd edition, M.E. Sharpe. ISBN: 978-0-7656-2301-0 (paperback).
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Grading
Policy
Students are evaluated according to the following requirements.
Essays
Essay guidelines will be provided separately.
•
•
•
•
Class Attendance/Participation: 10% + α.
Writing assignments: 30%. 2 Essays.
Mid-term exam: 30%. Oct. 17. Thursday. In class.
Final exam: 30%. Dec. 10. Thueday. 3:40-5:30 PM. In class.
Essay I Due by September 26, Thursday.
Write a review essay on Henry, J. F. 2009. “The Illusion of the Epoch: Neoclassical Economics as a Case Study,” Studi e Note di Economia, vo. 14, no. 1,
pp. 27-44. [available for download here: http://www.mps.it/NR/rdonlyres/
273E7DAC-1017-4BFF-BDF8-83FB5B288B17/35542/2744Henry.pdf].
Essay II Due by November 21, Thursday.
Write a review essay on Veblen, T. B. 1909. “The Limitations of Marginal
Utility.” Journal of Political Economy, vol. 17, no. 9, pp. 620-636. [search
library database to download the article]
Grading
System
Important
Notes
Grade
A
AB+
B
BC+
Percent Score
93-100
90-92
87-89
83-86
80-82
77-79
Grade
C
CD+
D
E
Percent Score
73-76
70-72
67-69
60-66
0-59
• Read assigned readings ahead of lectures. Lecture notes are the summary of the
readings. Do not rely solely on lecture notes when preparing exams.
• Students are expected to attend all the regular classes throughout the semester.
Attendance at 90% of lectures is compulsory. Attendance at 50% or below
leads to an automatic failure of this course regardless of exam scores.
Attendance is taken every week. All requests for excused absences must be
in writing with supporting documentation. The request should include: date
of absence, reason for absence, date of submission, and signature. An email
notification is not acceptable. Decision to excuse absences will rest with the
instructor.
• A late homework assignment is accepted with reduced grades. But no later than
two days after the deadline. Submit your essay assignments through ANGEL
(“Turn-it-In”). A hard copy or email submission is not accepted.
• Students who miss the exam due to illness or to a University-sanctioned event
must call me at my office (878-6933) or email me prior to the exam—
otherwise, the exam score will be a zero.
• No make up exam is offered unless a valid excuse is provided in advance. If
a make-up exam is offered, it is more difficult than a scheduled exam since extra
time is given to a student.
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• Grades are not curved. Students are responsible for managing their own
grades. Do not come in at the end of the semester with some reason as to why
you should receive a better grade than that which you have earned. Grades are
not negotiable.
• “An incomplete Grade (I) is a temporary grade issued for medical emergencies
or life crises.” (See the Buffalo State Policy on Grading here: http://www.
buffalostate.edu/academicaffairs/x567.xml) The I-grade may be given to
a student who has attended all the regular classes and who has completed all the
course requirements but the final exam.
Academic
Dishonesty
Policy
Students who engage in plagiarism, cheating on examinations, multiple submission of
the same work, unauthorized collaboration (using the work of another individual),
falsification and/or any other violation of academic integrity will receive an “E”
grade in the course. Read carefully the official policy on academic misconduct at
http://www.buffalostate.edu/academicaffairs/x607.xml
Students with
Disabilities
“Any student who requires accommodations to complete the requirements and expectations of this course because of a disability is invited to make his or her needs
known to the instructor and to the director of the Disabilities Services Office, 120
South Wing, 878-4500.”
Procedures
Regarding
Disruptive
Individuals
“Disruptive behavior by students in my class will not be tolerated. Whenever I deem
a student to be acting in a disruptive or threatening manner, I will exercise my right
to ask that individual to leave the classroom. If refused, I will exercise my right to
notify University Police. The responding officer will determine whether an arrest
should be made or whether a referral to medical or counseling staff is appropriate. If
a student is perceived as a danger to himself, herself, or others, the dean of students
may propose an interim suspension until a hearing is held. Any student removed
from class will have the right to a hearing. (Source: Bulletin, November 30, 2000)
Course Schedule and Readings
Notes: ANGEL – materials on Angels; Search library database – go to Buffalo
State Library website and find the material (you should be on the college network);
web address – follow the link and get the material
Week 1
Aug. 27, 29: Introduction to Economics and Microeconomics
• Ch. 1: Economic Activity in Context
• Lee, Frederic S. 2008.“Heterodox Economics.” The New Palgrave Dictionary of
Economics. Second Edition. Steven N. Durlauf and Lawrence E. Blume (eds).
Palgrave Macmillan. [Angel]
Week 2
Sep. 3, 5: Actor, Agency, and Organization
• Ch. 2: Economic Actors and Organizations
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• Henry, J. F. 2007. “Bad” Decisions, Poverty, and Economic Theory: The Individualist and Social Perspectives in Light of “The American Myth.” Forum for
Social Economics, vol. 36, pp. 17-27. [Search library database]
Week 3
Sep. 10, 12: Markets I
• Ch. 3: Market Institution
• Jo, Tae-Hee, Lynne Chester, and Mary King. 2012. “Beyond Market-Fundamentalist
Economics: An agenda for heterodox economics to change the dominant narrative,” On the Horizon, 20(3): 155-163. [Search library database]
Week 4
Sep. 17, 19: Markets II
• Ch. 19: Market Systems and Normative Claims
• Samuels, W. J. 1988. An Essay on the Nature and Significance of the Normative
Nature of Economics. Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, vol. 10, no. 3, pp.
347-354 [Search library database]
• Jo, T.-H. 2012. “Welfare Economics,” in Elgar Companion to Post Keynesian
Economics, edited by John E. King, 2nd edition, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar,
pp. 593-598 [Angel]
Week 5
Sep. 24, 26: Resources
• Ch. 6: Capital Stock and Resource Maintenance
• De Gregori, T. R. 1987. “Resources are Not; They Become: An Institutional Theory.” Journal of Economic Issues 21(3): 1241–1263. [Search Library database]
Week 6
Oct. 1, 3: Production and Costs
• Ch. 7: Production Costs
• Ch. 8: Production Decisions
• Lee, F. S. & Jo, T.-H. 2011. Social Surplus Approach and Heterodox Economics.
Journal of Economic Issues, vol. 45, no. 4, pp. 857–875. [Search Library
database]
Week 7
Oct. 8, 10: Pricing, Investment, and Financing
• Lee, F.S. 2003. “Pricing and Prices,” in Elgar Companion to Post Keynesian
Economics, edited by John E. King. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp. 285-289.
[Angel]
• Jo, T.-H. 2013. Financing Investment under Fundamental Uncertainty and Instability. Unpublished working paper. [Angel]
Note: A problem set for the mid-term exam will be distributed.
Week 8
Oct. 15, 17
Review (15) and Mid-term Exam (17).
Week 9
Oct. 22, 24: Distribution
• Ch. 9: Distribution: Exchange and Transfer
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• Schumacher, Reinhard. 2013. Deconstructing the Theory of Comparative Advantage. World Economic Review, no. 2, pp. 83-105 [Available for download:
http://wer.worldeconomicsassociation.org/article/download/59/41]
Week 10
Oct. 29, 31: Households
• Ch. 15: The Core Sphere: Households and Communities
• Todorova, Zdravka. 2009. “Households in a Pecuniary Culture: Looking through
the Prism of the Veblenian Dichotomy”, Ch. 4 of Money and Households in a
Capitalist Economy, Edward Elgar (pp. 87 116). [http://heterodoxnews.com/
micro/Readings_files/money%26households-CC.pdf]
Week 11
Nov. 5, 7: Consumption
• Ch. 10: Consumption and the Consumer Society
• Trigg, Andrew. 2001. “Veblen, Bourdieu, and Conspicuous Consumption.”
Journal of Economic Issues, vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 99-115. [Search Library database]
Week 12
Nov. 12, 14: The Business Enterprise
• Ch. 16: The Business Sphere: For-Profit Firms
• Henry, J.F. and Jo, T.-H. 2013. Take the Money and Run: The Business Enterprise in the Age of Money Manager Capitalism. MPRA Working Paper 48782.
[http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/48782/]
Week 13
Nov. 19, 21: The Government
• Ch. 17: The Public Sphere: Governments and Nonprofits
• Jo, T.-H. 2013. Saving Private Business Enterprises: A Heterodox Microeconomic Approach to Market Governance and Market Regulation. The American
Journal of Economics and Sociology, vol. 73, no. 2, pp. 447-467 [Search library
database]
Week 14
Nov. 26: Economic System
• Ch. 18: The Variety of Economic Systems
• Wray, L. R. 2009. “The rise and fall of money manager capitalism: a Minskyan
approach”, Cambridge Journal of Economics, vo. 33, pp. 807-828 [Search library
database]
Note: The problem set for the final exam will be handed out.
Week 15
Dec. 3, 5
Review.
Week 16
Dec. 10
Final Exam. 3:40–5:30 PM. In class.
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