TRINITY VALLEY COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Principles of Microeconomics

 ECON 2302

 

Professor:        Linda Gann

Office:             Technology Building Office 328 Athens Campus; Administration Building

                         Office 121 Terrell Campus

Telephone:      903-675-6378 in Athens (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays)

                         972-563-4909 in Terrell (Tuesdays and Thursdays)

Fax:                  903-675-6263 in Athens; 972-563-1667 in Terrell

E-Mail:            lgann@tvcc.edu

 

Textbook and Required Materials

Economics 8th edition; Arnold, Roger Thomson Southwestern Publishing Company, 2008 ISBN-10: 0324538014 (New Edition)

 

*Textbooks may be purchased at the TVCC Bookstore. The Bookstore will ship books upon request by contacting James Quattlebaum at 903-675-6203.

 

Course Learning Outcomes

 The student will acquire an understanding of the following course learning outcomes:

· Price elasticity of demand, cross price elasticity, income elasticity, and price elasticity of supply

· Consumer choice, utility theory, consumer equilibrium and demand, and behavioral economics

· Production and costs, maximizing profits, and marginal analysis

· Characteristics of perfect competition market structure,  pricing, perfect competition in the short, and perfect competition in the long run

· Characteristics of monopoly market structure, monopoly pricing and output decisions, comparison of perfect competition and monopoly, the case against perfect competition, and price discrimination

· Characteristics of monopolistic competition market structure, characteristics of oligopoly structure, price and output under the three oligopoly theories, and game theory

· Government and product markets, antitrust laws, and government regulation

· Factor markets, labor markets, and labor market information

· Types of labor unions, objectives, practices, and effects on the economy of labor unions

· The distribution of income, measuring income equity, income inequality, and poverty

· Interest, rent, and profits

· Market failures, externalities, internalizing externalities, negative externalities, and public goods

· Public choice theory, the political market, voters and rational ignorance, and special interest groups

· International trade theory, trade restrictions, and the world trade organization

· International finance, balance of payments, foreign exchange market, flexible exchange rate, fixed exchange rate, and current international monetary system    

 

 

Course Access on Blackboard Learning System – Log in Instructions

Please note that even in you are familiar with Internet course work, the log in information has changed. The log in and password will now be the same with one minor difference. The log in will be: your last name then your first initial and then the last four numbers of your social security number; all lower case with no spaces.  For example:  doej1234. You will follow the same procedure to create your password except that you need to use a capital letter to begin your last name (Doej1234).

 

After you log in for the first time, you will need to create an 8-digit password that conforms to the strong password security requirements. If your password does not meet these requirements, you will receive an error message. Error messages include:

 

·        Please enter a password with at least 8 characters.

·        Your password does not meet the strong password requirement. It must include 3 of the following types of characters:  Uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and/ or symbols. For example:  Pa55w*rd.

 

You will have to continue to try until you submit an acceptable password. 

 

Should you have any problems with your log in, please contact Karen McGrew at 903-675-6324. If you should have trouble contacting Ms. McGrew (She will be pretty busy with all our distance ed students), please feel free to call me (90-.675-6378 in Athens or 972-563-4909 in Terrell). I am not the expert but I will find one for you.

 

Orientation

Your orientation to this course will take place on line and will be a simple questionnaire to reinforce what you have read in this syllabus. You will be asked to answer the questions, submit an attachment, send an email, etc. This is done acquaint the students with the format of the course. This questionnaire is not a graded assignment.

 

Submitting Work and/or Contacting Your Instructor

All work and all communication regarding this course must take place within the Blackboard system.  All records including what each student submits along the time and date submitted, are all recorded electronically. Email communication with attachments, course wide announcements, etc. will all travel through the Blackboard system.

 

Instructional Methods

This course is offered as an integrated program of independent study. The textbook Economics (Arnold) is your primary source for successful completion of this course.  The chapters include analysis questions, self-tests, chapter summaries, key terms and concepts, questions and problems, graphs illustrations, exhibits, and Internet activities. These activities are not required for purposes of recorded grades; they are simply designed to help you help yourself. The tests will come from the textbook, Economics (Arnold), therefore your dedication and to reading and comprehending the required chapters is the key to success.

   

Tests

This course will include four tests. The tests will be based on the material in the textbook, Economics (Rogers). Each test will consist of 50 multiple choice questions.  TVCC students will take their test at the testing center or LRC on the Athens, Palestine, or Terrell Campus. Testing hours at the TVCC testing centers and the LRCs are posted on the TVCC homepage. Students will have the opportunity to take a test after the deadline but will incur a 10 point penalty. Each test will be available for two weeks after the deadline (with the exception of Test 4) but at the end of the two week period the test grade will be a zero. Each test is worth 100 points and equivalent to 20% of the grade in the class.

 

 

 

Test will include the following chapters:

Test 1 - Chapters 17-19

Test 2 - Chapters 20-23

Test 3 - Chapters 24-27

Test 4 - Chapters 28-32

 

 

Assignments

 

Discussion Questions

Ten discussion questions will be posted to the Blackboard Discussion Board on designated dates. Students will be required to post their answer to the DQ and as well as an additional response to other student posts for each discussion question. The Discussion Questions are worth 10 points each for a total of 100 points. You will be given a copy of the DQ grading form which will explain what is expected of a high quality discussion posting. Discussion Questions will not be accepted late. This accumulative score will represent the remaining 20% of the final course grade.

 

Bonus Points Assignments

Students may submit the answers to the chapter questions provided on the course homepage and will receive 3 bonus points per test. The answers to the questions can be located in the Economics by Roger Arnold. Students must submit the woras an attachment on the Blackboard e-mail on/before taking the original test date to receive the 3 extra points on the test. This work will not be accepted late.

 

Schedule of Deadline Dates to be Determined for the following: 

Discussion Questions 1-2      

Test 1                                   

Discussion Questions 3-5                              

Test 2                                   

Discussion Questions 6-8      

TVCC Drop Deadline           

Test 3                                   

Discussion Questions 9-10    

Test 4                                   

Class Deadline                                  

 

Assignments and test should be submitted and taken before the due dates if at all possible. Tests may be taken at the TVCC testing center or TVCC Learning Resources Centers. Testing center and LRC hours are posted on the TVCC homepage. Students have two weeks past the test due date to take a late test for a 10 point late deduction (with the exception of Test 4 and we simply do not  have two weeks left in the semester at this point). After two weeks, students will be given a zero on the test. TVCC students that have not taken Test 1 and Test 2 by close of Test 2 will be dropped from the class.

 

Class Grade

The course grade will be determined by the following grades on the following assignments:

        (1) 4 tests-------------------100 points each (80% of grade)

        (2) 10 Discussion Questions--100 points (20% of grade)