COURSE OUTLINE
Honors 220: Economic Theory and Policy
AB202: MW 11:00-11:50
Professor Mark Pingle
pingle@unr.edu; 784-6634
Office Hours (AB 318D) Monday and Wednesday 3:45-4:15; 5:00-5:30 and by appointment
Spring 2004
Course Description: This is a “core” social science course for the University of Nevada, introducing the student to
economic theory and its application to individual, business, and governmental decision-making. Upon successfully
completing this course, the student will posses a basic understanding of microeconomic and macroeconomic
concepts. More precisely, the student will
(1) possess an elementary knowledge of US macroeconomic history;
(2) possess an introductory understanding of how a market economy works;
(3) understand how government may be able to influence an economy through policy changes and why
government may not be able to effectively influence the economy;
(4) understand various theories of consumer decision-making, producer decision-making, market performance;
(5) be able to place current economic theories and policies in historical context;
(6) be exposed to current economic issues through reading periodicals;
(7) become familiar with some theoretical and empirical tools used to perform economic analysis;
(8) be given tasks that will enhance oral communication, written communication, and technical skills.
Required Course Materials:
(1) US Macroeconomic Statistics: A Set of Figures and Data Tables to Supplement a
Macroeconomics Course, Mark A. Pingle, 8th Edition, 2003.
(2) Sowel, Thomas. 2000. Basic Economics: A Citizen’s Guide to the Economy. New York: Basic Books.
(3) Buchholz, Todd G. 1995. From Here to Economy. New York: Penguin
(4) Barro, Robert J. 1998. Getting it Right. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Supplemental Reading: The student is expected to keep up on current events. Scanning newspapers like the Wall
Street Journal, New York Times, and San Francisco Chronicle for interesting articles is one approach. Magazine
and journal reading are other useful possibilities. Surfing internet new sites is also acceptable.
Grading:
20% Midterm 1: Monday, February 23
20% Midterm 2: Monday, April 5
30% Final: Monday, May 10, 9:45-11:45
30% Assignments and Participation
Holidays:
President’s Day: Monday, Feb 16
Spring Break: March 15-19
Assignments
1. Writing assignments: As a social science core course, this course will have an emphasis on writing. There is
one writing assignment that the instructor has planned. There will be occasional “one minute essays,” where
students will write extemporaneously for one minute on a topic that comes up in class. A written outline of
your oral presentation will be required. There will also be occasional one page papers assigned on topics
covered in class.
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2. Oral Presentations: At least one oral presentation to the class will be required of each student, probably two.
The presentation will be no more than 5 minutes and will involve presenting a critical summary of an assigned
reading.
3. Analytical Problem Sets: As the course proceeds, you will be assigned sets of problems that focus on either a
particular technical skill or on a particular theoretical tool central to economics.
4. Vocabulary List: Over the course of the semester, you will be exposed to many economic terms. You will be
expected to construct a list of these terms as the semester proceeds and learn the terms.
5. Team Movie: You will be required to work with a team of classmates and make a short movie (5 minutes or
less) that creatively presents an economic concept. A video camera and editing software will be made
available to you, though you can also use your own if you have it.
Course Syllabus
Week 1. 1/21, 1/23
Week 2. 1/26, 1/28, 1/30
Week 3. 2/2, 2/4, 2/6
Week 4. 2/9, 2/11, 2/13
Week 5. 2/18, 2/20
First Midterm
Week 6. 2/23, 2/25, 2/27
Week 7. 3/1, 3/3, 3/5
Week 8. 3/8, 3/10, 3/12
Week 9. 3/22, 3/24, 3/26
Week 10. 3/29, 3/31, 4/2
Second Midterm
Week 11. 4/7, 4/9
Week 12. 4/12, 4/14, 4/16
Week 13. 4/19, 4/21, 4/23
Week 14. 4/26, 4/28, 4/30
Final
Foundations of economics
S1, Buc Intro, Buc Conclusion, Buc Appendix, S22, S25
Markets: Role of prices
S2, S3, Buc3, S23
Market Applications
S4, Buc4, Bar4 to page 164.
Elasticity
Pingle in class
The Labor Market: Unemployment, productivity issues, and government
intervention
S9, S10, S11, S24
Monday, February 23
Industrial Organization: Firm size, and government regulation
S5, S6, S7, S8, Buc4
Risk: Stocks, Bonds, insurance, and speculation
S12, S13, S14, Buc7, Buc8,
Money and Banking
S16
Economic Growth, Unemployment, Inflation: Some introductory macro
reading
S15, Buc1 Buc2
A Macroeconomic Model
Pingle in class
Monday April 5
Economic Growth
Bar1
Monetary policy and fiscal policy
S17, S18, Buc2, Bar2, Bar3
International Transactions: Trade deficits, capital flows, exchange rates
S19, S20, S21, Buc5, Buc6,
History of Economic Thought
Buc9 , Bar p164-175
Monday, May 10, 9:45-11:45
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Course Theoretical and Empirical Tools
1. Formulating choice problems for consumers and producers as mathematical optimization problems, and
doing comparative static analysis to examine how changes in the decision making environment affect
choice.
2. Modeling a market using a system of three equations, one for supply, one for demand, and one to define
the equilibrium.
3. Finding consumer and producer surplus amounts by finding areas under supply and demand curves
4. Deriving elasticities
5. Using supply and demand diagrams to construct a macroeconomic model that consists of a labor market
and a product market.
6. Basic data manipulation and presentation techniques
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