BU-224 Micro Economics

Welcome to

Marlo Chavarria

A little bit about me…

Ph# 813-220-2066

Email: MChavarria@kaplan.eduAOL: marlochavarria

Syllabus

Doc Sharing Section

Reading Material

Course Outline

School of Business Policies

Grading Rubric – Discussion Board

Unit 1 – First Principles

Unit 2 – Economic Models: Tradeoffs and

Trade

Unit 3 – Supply and Demand &

Consumer and Producer Surplus

Unit 4 – The Market Strikes Back &

Elasticity

Unit 5 – The Rational Consumer

Course Outline

Unit 6 – Behind the Supply Curve: Inputs

and Costs

Unit 7 –  Perfect Competition and the

Supply Curve & Monopoly

Unit 8 – Oligopoly & Monopolistic

Competition and Product Differentiation

Unit 9 – Externalities

Unit 10 – Reflection

Course Outline (cont.)

Syllabus

Reading Material

Course Outline

School of Business Policies

Grading Rubric – Discussion Board

Online Communications Guidelines

Assignments

University Policies

Plagiarism/Tutoring

Students are to post a minimum of three posts per discussion thread. One initial response and two substantial replies to their classmates.

Posting on a minimum of three different days. The first post must be made by Saturday

Discussion Board Requirements

Late Policy

1-7 calendar days late ~ 20% deduction

8-14 calendar days late ~ 30% deduction

Work will not be accepted 2 weeks after

Extenuating circumstances – death in immediate family and hospitalization

Scarcity

Scarcity

Limited resources

Choices must be made

Opportunity CostThe value of the next best alternative

Marginal analysis

Scarcity

Opportunity Cost

Retrieved from http://strom.clemenson.edu

Retrieved from www.stus.com

Example of cost of educationAnnual salary - $50,000 (Implicit)Tuition - $25,000 (Explicit)2 years of graduate school - $100,000 in salary and $50,000 in tuition

Total opportunity cost - $150,000 (Implicit & Explicit)

Future marginal income of working life should be higher

Opportunity Cost

Trade offs

Cost vs. Benefits

Marginal Cost Analysis

Efficiency in resource allocation

Analysis of benefits and costs of the marginal unit of good or input

Maximization of utility subject to a budget contraint

Consumers seek to maximize their utility given a budget constraint (limitation) – Demand Side

Business maximize profits by minimizing costs (limitation) – Supply Side

Governments maximize social welfare and try to moderate taxing citizens

Economic Agents

Economic Agents

Consumers

Government

Producers

There are gains from trade

• In his famous book "The Wealth of Nations" Adam Smith stated: “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect out dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages.”

•What do you think Adam Smith meant in this statement? Try to use concepts seen in this unit such as specialization, mutual gains from trade, market coordination, etc in your interpretation.

Discussion

1 - Professional Report:You will choose one of the countries discussed in the websitesyou were provided and you will discuss the etiquette, customs,and protocol for that country. This should be 1-2 pages long. 2 - Memo:The memo will include:

• at least 5 etiquette tips unique to the selected country• discuss how knowing about global business etiquette practices would be beneficial for topics in Macroeconomics.

The memo should be at least 1-2 pages in length andprovide explanation of those tips.

Assignment(Your assignment consists of 2 parts)

Your Research Paper should: • Be between 2 and 3 pages (600 to 900 words) in

length – double spaced.

• Use correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling and follow the APA format.

• Have an introduction, a development, and a conclusion. In the development you should present your arguments or assessment of the issue you selected while staying objective. In the conclusion, however, you can take position and state your opinion. This being an Economics course, your arguments should pertain to the economy.

Submit Research Topic(Research Information can be found under the Unit 8

Link)

• Your arguments should be supported as much as possible by articles or studies that have been made on the subject. If you mention statistics or any data or numbers, your source should be clearly stated, otherwise your argument won’t be valid. Most sources should be less than 3 years old.

• Include a list of references (URLs, articles, books, etc.) in a separate Bibliography / Webliography.

• * The Grading Rubric that will be used to evaluate your paper can be found in the Syllabus in the Course Home.

Submit Research Topic(Research Information can be found under the Unit 8

Link)

Student ResourcesUS Department of Commerce: The Bureau of Economic Analysishttp://bea.gov/index.htm  The Economist Magazinewww.economist.com The New York Timeswww.nytimes.com Wallstreet Journal Onlinehttp://online.wsj.com/home-page US News and World Reporthttp://www.usnews.com/  

Student Resources (cont’d…) US Bureau of Labor Statisticswww.bls.gov

Financial Timeshttp://www.ft.com/home/us The Federal Reserve Websitehttp://www.federalreserve.gov/ In addition, you may use the library offered by the school which offers a wealth of information from reliable sources. Another source of information is Youtube (www.youtube.com )which has a library of videos. Simply type in the topic we are covering in the search box to locate videos relating to material we are covering.

Thank you for attending. I look forward to this upcoming semester

with you!