The University of Michigan
Spring 2007
Economics 101: Principles of Microeconomics
Section 101
Instructor:
Office:
E-Mail:
Course Website:
Classroom:
Class Time:
Office Hours:
Text Book:
Brian Kovak
Lorch 113
bkovak@umich.edu
http://ctools.umich.edu
2437 Mason Hall
9 am – 11 am Monday, Wednesday, Friday
9 am – 11 am Tuesday or by Appointment:
Economics by John B. Taylor (4th or 5th edition)
What is this course about?
This course is a formal introduction to microeconomics, the broad subfield of economics that
studies how rational agents (individuals and firms) make decisions about scarce resources. We
will study how people choose what to purchase, how firms choose what to produce, and how the
two interact in different kinds of market structures. These discussions will include how taxes
and subsidies affect economic efficiency, why we import some types of goods and export others,
why the government imposes environmental regulations, why movie theatres offer senior citizen
discounts, and why bars charge a cover for entry.
Course setup and policies
We will meet for two-hour classes, three days a week, which means that we will cover a lot of
material extremely quickly. This class will cover essentially the same topics as the normal 16
week 101 class, so it is important to stay on top of the material from the very beginning. In
general, I expect to lecture for the first half of each class and work on practical problem solving
skills during the second half. Keep in mind that this whole experience is meant to be interactive,
so feel free to ask questions, and let me know if there is something you would like to hear
explained in a different way.
Please turn off your cell phone while in the class room (talk to me if you have a special situation
requiring constant communication). Bring a simple, non-graphing, calculator to all quizzes and
exams.
Although I will not take formal attendance, I expect that you will attend and will be engaged in
the course material while in class. The information presented in lecture will help you to succeed
in the quizzes and exams, and I will do my best to make often dry material interesting and
relevant.
Homework Problems
I will place practice problems and solutions on the ctools course website. Please do these
problems and check your answers against the solutions before each class, so you can ask
informed questions during the problem solving portion of the class period. This will help tailor
the discussion to your needs, and will make studying for quizzes and tests much easier.
Quizzes
We will have quizzes on four Wednesdays during the term, as shown on the schedule below.
These quizzes will be held at the beginning of class and will last roughly 30-45 minutes,
depending on the length of the quiz. The lowest quiz score for each student will be dropped, so
if you have to miss a quiz due to illness or for other reasons, you can drop that quiz score. Thus,
no makeup quizzes will be offered.
Grading
Your grade will be based on your three highest quiz grades, the midterm, and the final, with the
following weights:
Quizzes: 30% (10% for each of the highest three quiz grades)
Midterm: 30%
Final: 40%
The final will focus on material from the second half of the course, but since the material builds
upon earlier topics, a good understanding of the material from the midterm will be necessary to
solve the problems on the final. Note the dates and times for the midterm and final on the
schedule below. If you cannot make the final exam on Friday, June 22nd from 10:30am –
12:30pm, you should register for another section of 101 immediately, as I cannot offer a
makeup for the final. If you have any other concerns with the course schedule, please let me
know ASAP.
Contacting Me
Other than talking to me before or after class or stopping by office hours, the best way to get in
touch with me is to send me an email. In general, I will check email at least once each weekday
and once each weekend during the term (there will be a few exceptions to this that I’ll let you
know about in advance). If there is an emergency, my home phone number is 734-994-0425.
(Please only use this in truly serious situations).
Tentative Class Schedule
Note that the topics schedule is tentative, but the quiz and exam dates will not change.
Date
May 2
May 4
May 7
May 9
May 11
May 14
May 16
May 18
May 21
May 23
May 25
May 28
May 30
June 1
June 4
June 6
Homework
1
2
3
4
5
6
8
9
7
June 8
June 11
June 13
10
June 15
June 18
June 22
Taylor Text
Readings
Topics
Course intro, intro to economics, math review
Ch 1, 2, 3
Scarcity and choice, the supply and demand model
Applications of supply and demand
Quiz 1
Ch 4
Elasticity
Ch 5
Consumer behavior
Efficiency and Surplus
Quiz 2
Ch 6
Production I: Profit maximization
Ch 7, 8
Production II: Cost analysis
(Cost analysis continued)
Review for midterm
Midterm Exam 7:00 – 8:30pm (Lorch 140)
Midterm recap
*Memorial Day – No class
Ch 9, 10
Production III: Long run concepts
Market Structures I: Monopoly and Price Discrimination
Ch 11, 12
Market Structures II: Monopolistic competition
Market Structures III: Oligopoly
Quiz 3
Ch 15
Externalities, Public Goods
Ch 13
Asymmetric Information and Labor Demand
Labor Supply and Labor Market Equilibrium
Quiz 4
Ch 17
International Trade I: Ricardian model
Ch 18
International Trade II: Trade barriers
Guest Lecturer: Brooke Helppie
Review for final
Final Exam 10:30am – 12:30pm (2437 Mason Hall)