AP Microeconomics Course Syllabus AP Microeconomics
Course Syllabus
Fall 2015
Instructor: Mrs. Carthy
Email: CarthyA@fultonschools.org
Website: https://sites.google.com/site/mrscarthysapeconclass
Quizlet: mrscarthy Class: AP Microeconomics
Remind code: For text class reminders Enter # 81010 and text @ad8ab; to receive email reminders send an email to ad8ab@mail.remind.com Course Description
This course is an introduction to microeconomics. Microeconomics is a study of the economic way of
thinking. Students will examine consumers and producers choices in regards to scarcity and the need to
satisfy needs and wants.
This analysis is used to understand the smaller segments of the economy—specifically, consumers and
producers as they interact in output markets and resource markets. Analysis of marginal benefit versus
marginal cost as well as the concept of marginal utility will be applied throughout the course.
Course Objectives:
 To give students an understanding of microeconomic concepts and theories.
 To enable students to use these concepts to analyze current economic problems and issues.
 To give students practical experience in communicating their understanding of various economic
issues through both written and oral means.
 Teach students how to generate, interpret, label, and analyze graphs, charts, and data to describe
and explain economic concepts.
 To develop in students the “economic way of thinking”—the economist’s systematic use of
analytical decision-making skills to discuss and solve problems.
 AP Microeconomics will prepare students to take the corresponding Advanced Placement Exam
in May.
Textbook and Supplemental Materials:
McConnell and Brue Economics: Principles, Problems, and Policies. 16th edition. Boston: McGraw-Hill,
2005.
Advanced Placement Economics: Microeconomic Student Activities, 3rd Edition by John Morton
Student Evaluation:
Unit Tests: Each test will cover approximately 2-4 chapters. One half of the grade will be based on
multiple-choice questions, with the other half of the grade based on free-response questions. Tests will
often be given over 2 days of class. The first day will be the free response portion of the test, with the
second day consisting of multiple choice questions. (45% of total grade)
Quizzes: Each unit will have at least one quiz. Quizzes will be given to gauge students’ understanding of
the required reading and assignments. These quizzes can be announced or unannounced. (15% of total
grade)
Homework/Classwork: Students should expect reading and/or a homework assignment most nights. It is
the expectation of the teacher that all homework will be completed before the start of class and will be the
1 AP Microeconomics Course Syllabus student’s own work. Classwork should be completed as assigned during class. Because homework and
classwork answers are discussed at length in class, no credit will be given for late classwork or
homework. (10% of total grade)
Projects: Students should expect to participate in a minimum of two projects this Fall. The intention of
these projects is to develop a deeper understanding of topics related to Microeconomics. This could also
include participation in the Georgia Stock Market Game. (15% of total grade)
Final Exam: A final exam will be given, which encompasses the material from the entire course. (15% of
total grade)
Fulton County Grading Scale:
A: 100 – 90
B: 89 – 80
C: 79 – 70
F: 69 and below
Student Expectations:
Students must come to class on time and prepared for the day. They must have a pencil or pen, textbook,
binder, and notebook paper. Students will take notes and receive handouts most everyday. It is necessary
that students stay organized and keep all class handouts. This will help on the unit test, the final exam and
the AP Exam in May. You will not be allowed to go to your locker if you do not have the necessary
materials.
All school policies will be followed. The tardy policy will be strictly enforced; always get to class on
time. No food or drink (besides water) will be allowed in the classroom. Water must be in a closed
container. Use of electronic devices is prohibited except for educational purposes when instructed by
teacher. Otherwise, all devices will be confiscated if they are out during class. Failure to follow school or
class rules will result in a warning, a public detention, a parental phone call, or administrative referral
depending on the severity of the offense.
Recovery Policy:
1. Recovery is for students who, despite a conscientious effort and communication with their teachers,
have failed to demonstrate satisfactory understanding of course standards. It is not for the student who has
been failing for many weeks and then wishes to recover during the final days of the course. Opportunities
for students to recover from a 74 or below cumulative average will be provided when all work required
to-date has been completed and the student has demonstrated a legitimate effort to meet all course
requirements. Students who have not attempted to complete all course requirements are not eligible for
recovery.
2. Students may initiate recovery on major assessments starting with the second major assessment of the
semester as long as they have made a legitimate effort to meet all course requirements including
attendance. Unexcused absences may prevent this opportunity.
3. So that students stay focused on the content at hand and don’t become overwhelmed and fall too far
behind, they must initiate recovery on a major assessment within five school days of being informed of
the grade on that assessment. Recovery work must be completed within ten school days prior to the end of
the semester. The nature and type of recovery assignment is given at the discretion of the teacher.
2 AP Microeconomics Course Syllabus *Grading guidelines for recovery assignments will vary by department. It is the responsibility of the student to fully
understand the grading guidelines/highest possible score for completed recovery work.*
Make-up Work:
Following an absence, it is the student’s responsibility to contact the teacher to arrange for make-up work.
The contact must be made within one school day of returning to school. Students are given the same
number of days to complete make-up work as the absence. The teacher will establish a reasonable
schedule for completing tests, quizzes, etc. that cannot be done independently by the student.
(Note: All test and quiz makeup sessions will take place after school. Failure to attend a scheduled makeup sessions
could result in a reduction of your grade. Please plan accordingly.)
Assignments made prior to the absence, including tests/quizzes scheduled for the day of return, are due
upon the student’s return. Students who are present for any portion of the school day are expected to turn
in all assignments due on that day in order to receive full credit. This includes missing class for a field
trip. If a student checks in or out on a test day, but misses the test, they must make arrangements THAT
DAY to make up the test.
Failure to complete make-up work within the designated time frame may result in a grade reduction or
loss of credit for the assignment. Assignments missed due to pre-arranged absences are due upon the
student’s return unless the teacher has approved other arrangements in advance.
Honor Code:
Cheating has been defined as giving or receiving information relating to a gradable experience including
the use of sources other than those specifically approved by the teacher. Plagiarism and the related act of
allowing another student to use one’s work are not to be considered inconsequential pranks. Such acts
involve serious moral implications; they constitute lying and stealing. They are unjust to teachers who
spend valuable time evaluating the paper. They are ultimately harmful to the student committing the act,
who is deliberately undermining his/her integrity, destroying his/her reputation, and breaking the trust that
must exist between a student and teacher. An honor code violation may result in a zero on the assignment,
no opportunity to make up the work, and disciplinary action. For the complete honor code policy, visit the
Student Handbook on www.northviewhigh.com.
Teacher Availability:
The easiest way to contact me is through email: CarthyA@fultonschools.org.
I am available for extra help at lunch by appointments. Please do not hesitate to ask for help. I
am more than willing and would welcome the opportunity to help you succeed.
Note: Syllabus and class expectations can change at the teacher’s discretion.
UNIT 1: AN INTRODUCTION TO MICROECONOMICS (2 WEEKS)
McConnell and Brue chapters 1, 2, 4, and 6
Readings: Chapter 1, The Nature and Method of Economics pp 3-21
Topics:
• The economic perspective: scarcity and choice, rational behavior, marginalism, benefits and costs.
• Why study economics: Economics for citizenship, professional and personal applications
• Economic methodology: theoretical economics, policy economics
3 AP Microeconomics Course Syllabus • Macroeconomics and microeconomics: macroeconomics, microeconomics, positive and normative
economics
• Pitfalls to sound reasoning: biases, loaded terminology, definitions, fallacy of composition, causation
fallacies
Readings: Appendix to chapter 1: graphs and their meaning. Chapter 2, The Economizing Problem, pp.
22 – 38
Topics:
• The foundation of economics: unlimited wants, scarce resources
• Economics: employment and efficiency, full employment, using available resources, full production,
using resources efficiently, production possibilities table, production possibilities curve, law of increasing
opportunity cost, efficiency revisited
• Unemployment, Growth and the Future: unemployment and productive efficiency, a growing economy,
a qualification- international trade, examples and applications
• Consider this: A matter of degrees, Is college worth the cost?
• Economic systems: the market system, the command system
• The circular flow model
Readings: Chapter 4, the Market System, pp. 60-72
Topics:
• Characteristics of the market system: private property, freedom of enterprise and choice, self-interest,
competition, markets and prices, reliance on technology and capital goods, specialization, use of money,
active but limited government
• The market system at work: what will be produced, how will goods and services be produced, who will
get the goods and services, how will the system accommodate change?
• Competition and the “Invisible hand”
Readings: Chapter 5, The U.S. Economy: private and public sectors, pp 73-90
Topics:
• Households as income receivers: functional distribution of income, the personal distribution of income
• The business population
• Legal forms of businesses: advantages and disadvantages, the principal-agent problem
• The public sector: government’s role
• Providing the legal structure, maintaining competition, redistributing income, reallocating resources,
promoting stability, government’s role: a qualification
• The Circular Flow revisited
Readings: Chapter 6, The United States in the Global Economy, pp 96-99
• Specialization based on comparative advantage allows countries to achieve higher standards of living
through trade
Unit 1 Activities: Student Workbook Activities 1-8
UNIT 2: THE NATURE AND FUNCTION OF PRODUCT MARKETS (3 WEEKS)
McConnell and Brue chapter 3 pp. 39 - 58, chapter 21 pp. 372-391, then chapter 20 pp. 356-371, and
chapter 31 only pages 586-593.
Readings: Chapter 3 Individual Markets: Demand and Supply, pp. 39-58
Topics:
4 AP Microeconomics Course Syllabus • Markets
• Demand: law of demand, the demand curve, market demand, change in demand, changes in quantity
demanded
• Supply: law of supply, the supply curve, determinants of supply, changes in supply, changes in quantity
supplied
• Supply and demand: market equilibrium: surpluses, shortages, equilibrium price and quantity, rationing
function of prices, changes in supply, demand, and equilibrium, A reminder, “Other things equal”
• Price ceilings and shortages, price floors and surpluses
Readings: Chapter 21: Consumer Behavior and Utility Maximization
Topics:
• A closer look at the law of demand, income and demand: income and substitution effects, law of
diminishing marginal utility
• Theory of consumer behavior: consumer choice and budget constraint, utility maximizing rule,
numerical example, algebraic restatement
• Utility maximization and the demand curve: deriving the demand schedule and curve, income and
substitution effects revisited
• Diamond-water paradox, value of time and other examples
Readings: Chapter 20 Elasticity of demand and supply, pp. 356 – 370.
Topics:
• Price elasticity of demand: The price elasticity coefficient and formula, interpretations of elasticity of
demand, refinement of the midpoint formula, graphic analysis, the total revenue test, price elasticity and
the total revenue curve, determinants of elasticity of demand, applications of price elasticity of demand
• Price elasticity of supply: the market period, price elasticity of supply: the short run, price elasticity of
supply: the long run, applications of price elasticity of supply. Cross elasticity and income elasticity of
demand
Readings: Chapter 31: use only a portion – pp. 586-593
Topics:
• Apportioning the tax burden: benefits received versus ability to pay, progressive, proportional, and
regressive taxes
• Tax incidence and efficiency loss: elasticity and tax incidence, efficiency loss of a tax, probable
incidence of US taxes, the US tax structure
Unit 2 Activities: Student Workbook Activities 9-23
UNIT 3: THE THEORY OF THE FIRM (5 WEEKS)
McConnell and Brue chapters, 22, 23, 24, and 25
Readings: Chapter 22, The costs of production, pp 392 – 411, Chapter 23, Pure Competition, pp 413-437
Topics:
• Economic costs: explicit and implicit costs, normal profit as a cost, economic profit (or pure profit),
short run and long run
• Short-run production relationships: law of diminishing returns
• Short-run production costs: fixed, variable, and total costs, per-unit, or average, costs, marginal cost,
shifts of cost curves
• Long-run production costs: firm sizes and costs, the long-run cost curve, economies and diseconomies
of scale, minimum efficient scale and industry structure
5 AP Microeconomics Course Syllabus • Four market models
• Pure competition: characteristics and occurrence, relevance of pure competition
• Demand as seen by a purely competitive seller: perfectly elastic demand, average, total, and marginal
revenue, graphic portrayal
• Profit maximization in the short run: total-revenue/total –cost approach, profit maximization case,
marginal revenue – marginal cost approach
• Marginal cost and short-run supply: generalized depiction; diminishing returns, production costs, and
product supply; changes in supply; firm and industry – equilibrium price
• Profit maximization in the long run: assumptions; goal of our analysis; long-run equilibrium; long-run
supply for a constant cost industry; long-run supply for an increasing cost industry; long run supply for a
decreasing cost industry
• Pure competition and efficiency: Productive efficiency: P=Minimum ATC; allocative efficiency: P=MC
• Pure competition and consumer surplus
Readings: Chapter 24, Pure Monopoly, pp. 438-459
Topics:
• An introduction to pure monopoly: examples of monopoly; dual objectives of the study of monopoly
• Barriers to entry: economies of scale, legal barriers to entry, patents and licenses, ownership or control
of essential resources, pricing and other strategic barriers to entry
• Monopoly demand: marginal revenue is less than price; the monopolist is a price maker; the monopolist
sets prices in the elastic region of demand
• Output and Price Determination: Cost data; MR=MC rule; no monopoly supply curve; misconceptions
concerning monopoly pricing; possibility of losses by a monopolist
• Economic effects of monopoly: price, output, and efficiency; income transfer; cost complications;
assessment and policy options
• Price discrimination: conditions; examples of price discrimination; price discrimination outcomes
• Regulated monopoly: socially optimal price-P=MC; fair return price – P=ATC; dilemma of regulation
Readings: Chapter 25, Monopolistic Competition and Oligopoly, pp. 460-483
Topics:
• Monopolistic competition: relatively large number of sellers; differentiated products; easy entry and
exit; advertising; monopolistically competitive industries
• Price and output in monopolistic competition: the firm’s demand curve; the short run- profit or loss; the
long run; only a normal profit
• Monopolistic competition and efficiency: neither productive nor allocative efficiency; excess capacity
• Product variety: benefits of product variety; further complexity
• Oligopoly: a few large producers; homogeneous or differentiated products; control over price, but
mutual interdependence; entry barriers; mergers; measures of industry concentration
• Oligopoly behavior: a game theory overview: mutual interdependence revisited; collusive tendencies;
incentive to cheat
• Consider this: creative strategic behavior
• Three oligopoly models: kinked-demand curve theory-noncollusive oligopoly; cartels and other
collusion; price leadership model
• Oligopoly and advertising: positive effects of advertising; potential negative effects of advertising
• Oligopoly and efficiency: productive and allocative efficiency; qualifications
Unit 3 Activities: Student Workbook Activities 24-32
UNIT 4: FACTOR MARKETS (3 WEEKS)
McConnell and Brue: Chapters 27, 28, and 29.
6 AP Microeconomics Course Syllabus Readings: Chapter 27, Demand for Resources, pp. 504-520
Topics:
• Significance of resource pricing
• Marginal productivity theory of resource demand: resource demand as a derived demand; marginal
revenue product; rule for employing resources; MRP=MRC; MRP as a resource demand schedule;
resource demand under imperfect product market competition; market demand for a resource
• Determinants of resource demand: changes in product demand; changes in productivity; changes in the
prices of other resources; occupational employment trends
• Elasticity of resource demand
• Optimal combination of resources: the least-cost rule; the profit maximizing rule; numerical illustration
• Marginal productivity theory of income distribution
Readings: Chapter 28, Wage determination, pp. 521-541
Topics:
• Labor, wages, and earnings
• General level of wages: role of productivity; real wages and productivity; secular growth of real wages
• A purely competitive labor market: market demand for labor; market supply of labor; labor market
equilibrium
• Monopsony model: upward-sloping labor supply to firm; MRC higher than the wage rate; equilibrium
wage and employment; examples of monopsony power
• Three union models: demand-enhancement model; exclusive or craft union model; inclusive or
industrial union model; wage increases and unemployment
• Bilateral monopoly model: indeterminate outcome of bilateral monopoly; desirability of bilateral
monopoly
• The minimum-wage controversy: case against the minimum wage; case for the minimum wage;
evidence and conclusions
• Wage differentials: marginal revenue productivity; non-competing groups; compensating differences;
market imperfections
• Pay for performance: the principal-agent problem revisited; addenda; negative side effects of pay for
performance
Readings: Chapter 29, Rent, interest, and profit, pp. 542-557
Topics:
• Economic rent: perfectly inelastic supply; changes in demand; land rent: a surplus payment; application:
a single tax on land; productivity differences and rent differences; alternative uses of land
• Interest: loanable funds theory of interest; extending the model; range of interest rates; pure rate of
interest; role of the interest rate
• Economic profit: role of the entrepreneur; sources of economic profit; functions
of profit
• Last word: determining the price of credit
• Income shares
Unit 4 Activities: Student Workbook Activities 43-51
UNIT 5: THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT (2 WEEKS)
McConnell and Brue: Chapters 30 and 34
Readings: Chapter 30, Government and market failure
7 AP Microeconomics Course Syllabus Topics:
• Public goods: demand for public goods; supply of public goods; optimal quantity of a public good; costbenefit analysis
• Externalities: spillover costs; spillover benefits; individual bargaining: Coase Theorem; liability rules
and lawsuits; government intervention; a market-based approach to spillover costs; society’s optimal
amount of externality reduction; recycling; global warming
• Information failures: inadequate information involving sellers; inadequate information involving buyers;
qualification
Readings: Chapter 34, Income inequality and poverty, pp 631-649
Topics:
• Facts about income inequality: distribution of personal income by category; distribution of personal
income by quintiles (fifths); the Lorenz Curve and Gini Ratio; income mobility: the time dimension;
effect of government redistribution
• Causes of income inequality: ability; education and training; discrimination; preferences and risks;
unequal distribution of wealth; market power; luck, connections, and misfortune
• Trends in income inequality: causes of growing inequality
• Equality versus efficiency: The case for equality: maximizing total utility; the case for inequality:
incentives and efficiency; the equality-efficiency tradeoff
• The economics of poverty: definition of poverty; incidence of poverty; poverty trends; the “invisible”
poor
• The income-maintenance system: social insurance programs; public assistance programs
• Welfare: goals and conflicts: common features; conflicts among goals
• Welfare reform: temporary assistance to needy families; assessment of TANF
• Last word: US family wealth and its distribution
Unit 5 Activities: Student Workbook Activities 52-60
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