Syllabus

 

Economics 103

Individual and Social Choice

Dr. David Loomis                                                                                                            TR 2-3:15 p.m.

Spring 1999                                                                                                                              STV 228

Office:           STV 422D

Office Hours: TR 1-2 p.m. & M 4:30-5:30 p.m. and by appointment

Phone:           438-7979

E-mail: dloomis@ilstu.edu

Course Prerequisites: FOI 100

REQUIRED RESOURCES:

    Required Texts:

    Custom Book from Prentice-Hall titled Individual and Social Choice which includes chapters from:

      Heilbroner/Milberg, (HM) The Making of an Economic Society, Chapters 1 & 12

      O’Sullivan/Sheffrin (OS) Microeconomics: Principles and Tools, Chapters 1-4, 6, 11, 14, 15, 17, 19.

      Blau/Ferber/Winkler (BFW), The Economics of Women, Men, and Work, Chapters 5-9.

Additional readings will be assigned during the course of the semester.

    Papers referenced in the syllabus will be on reserve in the library.

    A class web site will be maintained for the course. This web site can be found at http://www.econ.ilstu.edu/Econ_Web_Pages/David_Loomis/103web/103home.htm. You may find it more convenient to go to the Department of Economics Home Page at http://www.econ.ilstu.edu/, follow the link for Course Web Pages and find ECO 103 under my name. At the class web site, you will find the following:

      • A current copy of this syllabus,
      • Class Announcements under "What's New",
      • Lecture Notes,
      • Problem Sets, and
      • Links to Useful web sites

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

    The purpose of this course is to help students develop an appreciation for the complexity and interdisciplinary nature of social issues. While the approach emphasizes the analytical methods of economics, we also consider the types of questions other disciplines might seek to answer with respect to specific issues. The primary focus of the course is the choices that must be made by individuals and society and the tradeoffs that are incurred – among individuals and between the individual and society – in making choices.

    Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

    • Explain the role technology and technological advance play in determining the production possibilities for an economy, and the benefits and costs of technological advance,
    • Use basic economic principles and concepts to better understand issues that confront individuals and societies and, separately and in conjunction with other disciplinary perspectives, formulate policies to address specific issues,
    • Describe the economic dimension of important social issues such as women and work, and income distribution and poverty, and explain the types of policies that can, and are used to address specific problems, such as discrimination in labor markets, and
    • Explain the importance of critically evaluating alternative positions on issues by evaluating them in the context of a well-defined set of guidelines and principles.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

    There will be 2 midterms and a final. No make-up exams will be given unless arrangements have been made prior to the exam and approved by the instructor. The final will be comprehensive in the sense that material from earlier in the class is needed to understand later material. The final will focus on material from the last 1/3 of the class.

    Quizzes/Problem Sets will be given throughout the semester. Regular attendance is expected and class participation counts towards the final grade. A writing assignment will be due about midway through the semester and you will have an opportunity to rewrite the paper based on my comments to improve your grade.

     

    The final grade will be based on the following point scheme:

      EXAM #1 100 points

      EXAM # 2 100 points

      Quizzes/Problem Sets 50 points

      Class Participation 100 points

      Writing Assignment 50 points

      Final 100 points

      TOTAL 500 points

Class Participation grades will be determined at the end of the semester based on the following criteria:

Points Characteristics
100 This student always attends class, is always prepared for class and regularly makes positive major contributions to class discussion
90 This student always attends class, is mostly prepared for class and frequently makes positive major contributions to class discussion
80 This student regularly attends class, is sometimes prepared for class and occasionally makes positive major contributions to class discussion
70 This student mostly attends class, is sometimes prepared for class and occasionally makes some contribution to class discussion
60 This student misses class frequently, is sometimes prepared for class and occasionally makes some contribution to class discussion
50 This student misses class frequently, is mostly prepared for class and rarely makes a contribution to class discussion

The following point scale will be used to evaluate your overall performance:

Grade Total Points

A        450 or above

B        400 or above

C       350 or above

D      300 or above

F       less than 300


 

KEYS TO SUCCESS

    This course has a substantial amount of reading. Some of the reading is technical, focused on economic theory and some of the reading is narrative, focused on application and situations. It is imperative that you read the assigned material in both areas. Because a large part of the class is discussion oriented, you will not maximize your classroom learning if you have not read the material in advance. In addition, participating in classroom discussion will help you clarify your own thinking. As you listen to others' economic reasoning and express your own ideas, true learning takes place. The goal of this course is not to memorize a set of facts the night before the exam but to develop economic reasoning in the area of individual and social choice. This cannot be done by cramming the night before the exam!! Finally, do the problem set independently so that you know not only the correct answer but also how to arrive at the correct answer. Many exam questions will be similar to problem set questions; so view problem sets as practice exams.

    If, after reading the assigned material, participating in class discussion and working independently on problem sets, you are not achieving the level of success that you expect of yourself, please come to see me regularly during office hours. My goal as your professor is to see you succeed. If you are doing your best to learn, I will be my best to help you learn.

     

 

COURSE OUTLINE

  1. Scarcity and Choices
    1. Tradeoffs

      Chapter 1 (HM Chapter 1)

      Chapter 3-4 (OS Chapter 1-2)

    2. Economic Systems
      Chapter 2 (HM Chapter 12)

      Chapter 5 (OS Chapter 3)

  2. Producer and Consumer Choice
    1. Supply and Demand Model

      Chapter 6 (OS Chapter 4)

    2. Market Outcomes

      Chapter 6 (OS Chapter 4)

    3. Positive and Normative Economics

      Mishan, E. J., Introduction to Normative Economics, pp. 1-26.

    4. Evaluating Choices Made in Markets

    Chapter 7 (OS Chapter 6)

EXAM #1

  1. Market Failures
    1. Problem of Monopolies

      Chapter 8 (OS Chapter 11)

    2. Benefits of Monopolies

      Chapter 8 (OS Chapter 11)

    3. Social Choices for Dealing with Monopoly/Role of Government

    Chapter 8-9 (OS Chapter 11, 14)

    TBA

     

  2. Women and Work
    1. Changing Roles in a Changing Society

      BFW Chapter 2 (photocopy), Chapter 17 (BFW Chapter 9)

    2. Human Capital Approach to Occupation and Earnings Differences

      Chapter 11, 13-16 (OS Chapter 17, BFW Chapter 5-8)

    3. Approaches of Other Social Sciences

    TBA

EXAM #2

  1. Poverty and the Distribution of Income
    1. Economic Growth and Quality of Life

      Chapter 12 (OS Chapter 19)

      Okun, Arthur, Equality and Efficiency: The Big Tradeoff, pp. 1-31

    2. Implications of Income Distributions

      Okun, pp. 32-64

    3. Determinants of Individual Incomes

      Okun, pp. 65-87

    4. Policies to Redistribute Income

Okun, pp. 88-120

FINAL