ECON 1B03: INTRODUCTORY MICROECONOMICS McMaster University Spring 2016 Instructor: Aleksandra Gajic TA: TBA KTH 333 gajica@mcmaster.ca Lectures: C01: Mon, Wed 9:00am 12:00pm BSB B135 Office hours: Wednesdays 12:00 1:00pm, or by appointment Course Materials: Principles of Microeconomics, 6 th Canadian ed., Mankiw, Kneebone and McKenzie required. Aplia Website: See payment and registration information on pages 7 8 of outline optional, but recommended. Course Website: Avenue http://avenue.mcmaster.ca/ Course Objectives: Explain the basic concepts of demand and supply, consumers and producers, market structure and policy implications. Demonstrate how firms make production and pricing decisions. Explain the effect of policy changes on market outcomes. Demonstrate how consumers and firms interact to reach equilibrium in different markets for goods and services. Evaluation: Test 1 25% Test 2 25% Aplia (optional): Math and Graphing Assessment 2% Assignments 8% Final Exam 40% or 50% 1
Tests: There will be two (2) term tests, each 75 minutes long. The tests will consist of 40 multiple choice questions. Only the Casio FX 991 series calculator can be used during tests and the exam. Material to be covered on each test is outlined on pg. 5. Test Dates: Test 1 Monday, May 16 9:00 10:15am Test 2 Wednesday, June 1 9:00 10:15am MSAF The McMaster Student Absence Reporting Form, MSAF is available at McMaster. It may be used once per term to report an absence for pieces of work worth 24% or less of your total grade. You cannot use the usual MSAF to report an absence from a test in this course because our tests are each worth 25%. IF YOU MISS A TEST: Take your documentation to your faculty s Associate Dean s office. They will decide if you should be excused from the test, and if so, they will either notify me or allow you to use a special MSAF. If you are excused, the weight of the missed test will be transferred to the final exam. ***Make up tests will not be given under any circumstances. Final Exam: The final exam will be June 15 from 9 11am, during class time. The exam will be 2 hours in length and will consist of 65 multiple choice questions. IF YOU MISS THE FINAL EXAM: The MSAF cannot be used for a missed examination for any McMaster course. Take your documentation to your faculty s Associate Dean s office. They will decide if you should be excused from the exam. If you are, you will write a deferred exam in December 2016. The deferred exam is administered by the registrar s office. Students who do not write the exam in June will receive an F until a deferred exam has been written. 2
Students Who Require Academic Accommodations: It is your responsibility to ensure that you have met all of the requirements to write with Student Accessibilities Services (SAS). Your letter of accommodation must be signed by me (in my office only) as early in the term as possible. If you are writing your tests with SAS, book both term tests at the beginning of the semester, if possible. It is preferred that you write on the same day, as the rest of the class, if possible. If this is not possible, please speak with me. Math Review and Aplia Assignments (Optional): The remaining portion of your grade involves the use of the Aplia website, which requires a separate registration process. The registration and payment process is outlined at the end of this course outline. Students who do not wish to purchase Aplia can opt out of the online math review and assignments by simply not participating in them. There is no formal opt out form. The weight of the math review test and assignments will be transferred to the final exam, making the final exam worth 50%. Please note you have free trial access to Aplia until the end of the day on May 22. I will calculate two final grades for you: one will include Aplia and the other will exclude Aplia; you will be assigned the higher of the two as your final grade. Aplia Assignments (optional): Doing well in economics requires some competence in mathematics. As a result, your first assignment is a Math and Graphing Assessment via the Aplia website. You must take the test on or before May 6 th at 11:00pm. NO EXTENSIONS WILL BE GIVEN. There are 14 homework assignments associated with the lectures/readings throughout the semester. The problem sets have a firm due date. Once the due date has passed, the grade will be recorded and it will not be possible to change your answers or complete the assignment at this point. In other words, Aplia assignments must be completed by the due date. Do the assignments early to avoid any emergencies preventing your completion before the due date. You have 4 free passes for missed assignments. You may use your free passes if you are ill, forget a due date, or have computer problems. You do not need a doctor s note or need to contact anyone to use a free pass. Since there are a total of 14 assignments, this means that I will grade only your top 10 assignments out of 14. MSAF forms will not be accepted for the Aplia homework. Due dates for all Aplia assignments are given on the website. A practice problem set about using Aplia is available (with a due date of May 6 th but this assignment is not graded, so feel free to take a look at it even after the due date). This assignment explains how Grade it Now feature in the assignments works. 3
Avenue: Avenue is short for Avenue to Learn. It is our learning management system. Everything you need to know will be posted on Avenue. You will find the course outline, grades, information on tests and the exam, PowerPoint lecture notes, and regular course updates and important announcements. Please check the News section of Avenue regularly. Where to get help: To get help with the course material, you have two options: The instructor: I have office hours Wednesdays from 12:00 1:00pm in KTH 333. The TA will have office hours (TBA). If you are having trouble with technical or administrative matters relating to Aplia, please email nelson.brain@nelson.com. E mail communication policy: Effective September 1, 2010, it is the policy of the Faculty of Social Sciences that all e mail communication sent from students to instructors (including TAs), and from students to staff, must originate from the student s own McMaster University e mail account. This policy protects confidentiality and confirms the identity of the student. It is the student s responsibility to ensure that communication is sent to the university from a McMaster account. Please do not send the instructor or the TA emails from Avenue. We cannot respond to email sent from Avenue from our McMaster email accounts. We will only address emails sent to our McMaster accounts from a McMaster account. Please ensure you include the following information in your emails: subject heading, your name, student number and course. Email Forwarding in MUGSI: http://www.mcmaster.ca/uts/support/email/emailforward.html *Forwarding will take effect 24 hours after students complete the process at the above link Academic Integrity: You are responsible for complying with and understanding the University s policy regarding academic integrity. The policy covers a wide variety of topics including cheating on tests and plagiarism and is available at: http://www.mcmaster.ca/policy/students AcademicStudies/AcademicIntegrity.pdf There is a zero tolerance policy with respect to cheating. Any student found cheating will be given a grade of zero on the test or exam. In every case, you will be reported to the Office of Academic Integrity and to your faculty. 4
Lecture Schedule: Week: Date: Chapter: 1 May 2 Course Outline, Ch. 1 and 2 May 4 Ch. 3 and 4 2 May 9 Ch. 5 May 11 CH. 7 and 10 and Test 1 Review 3 May 16 Test 1 (Ch. 1 5), 9:00 10:15am May 18 Ch. 6/8 4 May 23 Victoria Day NO CLASSES May 25 Ch. 13 and 14 5 May 30 Ch. 14 and 15 and Test 2 Review June 1 Test 2 (Ch. 7, 10, 6/8, 13), 9:00 10:15am 6 June 6 Ch. 16 and 17 June 8 Ch. 18 and 11 7 June 13 Ch. 21 and Exam Review June 15 Final Exam (Ch. 14 18, 11, 21), 9:00 11:00am Depending on the circumstances, this lecture schedule may change. Any modifications to material coverage or presentation will be announced in class and /or on Avenue. Lecture Content: Ch. 1: Ten Principles of Economics Ch. 2: Thinking Like and Economist Ch. 3: Interdependence and the Gains from Trade Ch. 4: Supply and Demand Ch. 5: Elasticity Ch. 7: Consumer and Producer Surplus Ch. 10: Externalities Ch. 6: Government Policies Ch. 8: Application of Government Policies Ch. 13: Costs of Production Ch. 14: Perfect Competition CH. 15: Monopoly Ch. 16: Monopolistic Competition Ch. 17: Oligopoly Ch. 18: Factors of Production Ch. 11: Public Goods Ch. 21: Consumer Theory ** The course will not be podcast for two reasons. Staffing is limited in the summer. Additionally, not all rooms are equipped with the technology necessary to podcast. 5
Important Dates and Deadlines: Friday, May 6 Last day for enrollment and changes in registration Monday, May 16 Wednesday, June 1 Wednesday, June 1 Wednesday, June 15 Test #1 (Ch. 1 5), 9:00 10:15am Test #2 (Ch. 7, 10, 6/8, 13 ), 9:00 10:15am Last day for cancelling courses without failure by default Final Exam (Ch. 14 18, 11, 21), 9:00 11:00am Aplia Assignment Due Dates Date Chapter Friday May 6 Math and Graphing Assessment and Ch. 2 Friday May 13 Ch. 3 and Ch. 4 Friday May 20 Ch. 7 and Ch.10 Friday May 27 Ch. 6 and Ch. 8 Tuesday May 31 Ch. 13 Friday June 3 Ch. 14 and Ch. 15 Friday June 10 Ch. 16 and Ch. 17 Tuesday June 14 Ch. 18 and Ch. 21 6
How to access your Aplia course Course: Micro 1B03 Spring 2016 Instructor: Aleksandra Gajic Start Date: 05/02/2016 Course Key: ASBG RZ3X KJG6 Registration 1. Connect to http://login.nelsonbrain.com/course/asbg RZ3X KJG6 2. Follow the prompts to register for your Aplia course. Payment After registering for your course, you will need to pay for access using one of the options below: Online: You can pay online using a credit, debit card, or PayPal. Bookstore: You may purchase access to Aplia via the online bookstore. Free Trial: You can access Aplia until 11:59 PM on 05/22/2016 during your free trial. After the free trial ends you will be required to pay for access. Please note: At the end of the free trial period, your course access will be suspended until your payment has been made. All your scores and course activity will be saved and will be available to you after you pay for access. System Check To check whether your computer meets the requirements for using Aplia, go to http://www.aplia.com/support/config.jsp. 7
Please Note: 1. To be properly registered in the course you MUST use your MacID here. This is the first part of your McMaster email address the part before @. Example: sandj@mcmaster.ca, ID is sandj 2. It is recommended to click Accept. By clicking Accept you are only allowing your instructor to include your MacID as your identifier. We CANNOT access any of the personal information associated with your account. If you do not click Accept your Aplia homework grades will not be recorded properly. 8