SYLLABUS FOR ECONOMICS 201-4
Bruce T. Allen
1E Marshall Hall
355-7739
Spring 2002
Office Hours: MW 10:30-1130, 1:00-3:00
eMail: allenb@pilot.msu.edu
This course is designed to acquaint you with how markets do--and sometimes don’t--deal with the
problems of scarce resources and their uses. You are expected to become familiar with the principal
economic institutions of the United States, their characteristics, and some of today’s major economic
issues. Most important, you will learn how economics analyzes cause-and-effect relationships between
economic changes and their consequences. If all goes well, you’ll get a view of the world that enables
you to ”think like an economist” and successfully apply economic logic to problems that range from
personal to world-wide.
TEXT: Charles L. Ballard, Real Economics for Real People (Pearson Custom Publishing, 2002)
There is no study guide for this text. However, I have prepared a coursepack that is available for
purchase at Student Book Store. It incorporates (somewhat abridged) quizzes and exams from the
version of this course I taught in the spring of 1998. It also contains that term’s notes (as Power Point™
slides) for the first half of the course. These are revised in the light of changes I wish to make in this
term’s version. The Ballard text itself contains several excellent self-test questions.
On the Web, you’ll find the WEEKLY MANIFEST. This is an electronic newsletter to keep you updated on
the course. Get it with a Web browser such as Netscape; its URL is
http://www.msu.edu/course/ec/201/allen/wkmanf.<issue no.>.htm. You can find the course “home page”-a list of course materials at http://www.msu.edu/course/ec/201/allen/index.htm.
If all goes as planned, it will also have links to the lecture notes (verbal material on the slides), although
not to tables and graphs. You draw those in class yourself—that’s how we learn this stuff!
I recommend student subscriptions to the Wall Street Journal. We not only have material to learn, we
have to apply it to current business and economic developments as well. One purpose of the
WEEKLY MANIFEST is to cue you in on current events and applications as reported in the Journal.
The paper is worth trying, and it’s cheap if you order it through the course.
Attendance is REQUIRED. It will be taken by checking quiz attendance (see below) and, on non-quiz
days, a signup sheet. For every unexcused absence in excess of six, you lose one-half of one percent of
the total course points. These requirements are designed to induce you to keep up. Economics is a
challenging subject which builds upon itself: get behind, and you’re dead. Really.
EXAMS: There will be eight quizzes (each about 4% of your grade), three midterms (18% each), mostly
on Thursdays. Quizzes will occupy the last 15 minutes or so of the class and will be preceded by lecture,
discussion, or review. You must take all tests. However, in figuring the final grade I throw out your two
lowest quiz scores (including zeros for a maximum of two quizzes missed, but remember that there is an
additional nonattendance penalty). The final exam (22%) is on May 7. All will be multiple choice.
Midterms and the final will be cumulative but will emphasize the most recent material. Still, you can’t
afford to forget what you’ve learned. The subject matter itself is cumulative; and most topics build upon
what you should have learned before. Grading is based entirely on exams and quizzes. Here is the
expected scale:
Minimum 4.0: 85%; 3.5: 78%; 3.0:70%; 2.5: 65%; 2.0: 60%; 1.5: 55%; 1.0: 50%
These cutoffs are expressed in terms of total course points, and the weighting will be done on a
computer spreadsheet. Weights will not necessarily correspond to the number of questions contained in
a quiz or midterm.
Reading assignments are on the other side.
ECONOMICS 201-2: SCHEDULE OF TOPICS AND READINGS
DATES
TOPIC
BALLARD CHAPTERS
1/08
Introduction
No Thursday quiz
1/10, 15
Scarcity, choice, and the economic system
Quiz 1/17
2
1/17, 22
Understanding demand and supply
Quiz 1/24
3, 4
1/24, 29
Demand elasticities
MIDTERM EXAM 1/31
6
2/05
2/07,12
The business firm
Production
Quiz 2/14
1
pp. 165-73, 185-90
2/14, 19
Costs of production
Quiz 2/21
2/21, 26
Competitive markets
MIDTERM EXAM 2/28
Plan your spring breaks accordingly
3/12, 14
Monopoly
Quiz 3/19 (Tues.)
3/19, 21
Between monopoly and competition
Quiz 3/26 (Tues.)
11
3/26, 28
Economic regulation
MIDTERM EXAM 4/2 (Tues.)
12
4/04, 09
Economics of labor
Quiz, 4/11 (Thurs.)
13
4/11, 16
Capital, investment, interest
Quiz, 4/18 (Thurs.)
14
4/18, 23
The international economy
No quiz last week of term
5, 2
4/25
Review
5/02 (Thursday, 3:00 p.m)
FINAL EXAMINATION
Remainder of ch. 8
9
10