Introduction to Economics Course Outline

Course Description

This comprehensive course provides students with a foundational understanding of economics, covering both microeconomics and macroeconomics principles. Students will explore how individuals, businesses, and governments make decisions when faced with limited resources and how these decisions interact in markets. The course examines economic theories, models, and concepts that help explain real-world phenomena such as supply and demand, market equilibrium, unemployment, inflation, economic growth, and international trade.

Course Objectives

Understand fundamental economic concepts including scarcity, opportunity cost, and marginal analysis
Analyze how markets function through supply and demand mechanisms
Explain different market structures and their effects on economic outcomes
Apply microeconomic concepts to understand consumer and firm behavior
Evaluate the role of government in addressing market failures and promoting economic stability
Interpret macroeconomic indicators and understand their significance
Examine fiscal and monetary policy tools and their impact on the economy
Gain insight into international trade, exchange rates, and global economic issues
Develop critical thinking skills to analyze economic problems and policy debates

Course Schedule

Week 1: Introduction to Economics

Definition and scope of economics
Scarcity, choice, and opportunity cost
Economic thinking and methodology
Positive vs. normative economics
Economic systems: market, command, and mixed
Introduction to economic models

Week 2: Supply and Demand

Market demand and market supply
Determinants of demand
Determinants of supply
Market equilibrium and price determination
Changes in equilibrium: shifts in curves vs. movements along curves
Government interventions: price ceilings and price floors

Quiz 1

Week 3: Elasticity and Its Applications

Price elasticity of demand
Price elasticity of supply
Factors affecting elasticity
Applications of elasticity concepts
Income elasticity and cross-price elasticity
Tax incidence and elasticity

Week 4: Consumer Choice and Demand

Utility theory and marginal utility
Budget constraints and optimization
Indifference curves and consumer equilibrium
Income and substitution effects
Deriving demand from consumer choice
Labor supply decisions

Quiz 2

Week 5: Production and Costs

Production functions in the short run and long run
Law of diminishing marginal returns
Economic costs vs. accounting costs
Cost curves in the short run and long run
Economies and diseconomies of scale
Profit maximization

Week 6: Market Structures - Perfect Competition and Monopoly

Characteristics of perfect competition
Short-run and long-run equilibrium in perfect competition
Pricing and output decisions by competitive firms
Characteristics of monopoly
Welfare effects of monopoly
Price discrimination

Midterm Exam

Week 7: Market Structures - Imperfect Competition

Monopolistic competition: characteristics and outcomes
Oligopoly: characteristics and strategic interaction
Game theory basics: prisoners' dilemma, Nash equilibrium
Cartels and cooperation
Markets with asymmetric information

Week 8: Factor Markets and Income Distribution

Labor demand and labor supply
Equilibrium wages and wage differentials
Capital markets and interest rates
Land markets and rent
Income inequality and poverty
Role of unions and minimum wage

Quiz 3

Week 9: Market Failures and Government Role

Externalities: negative and positive
Private solutions to externalities
Public policies for externalities
Public goods and common resources
Information problems: adverse selection and moral hazard
Government intervention benefits and costs

Week 10: Introduction to Macroeconomics

Micro vs. macro economics
Measuring economic activity: GDP and its calculation
Real vs. nominal GDP
Measuring the cost of living: Consumer Price Index
Unemployment measurement and types
The natural rate of unemployment

Week 11: Economic Growth and Productivity

Economic growth around the world
Productivity: role of physical capital, human capital, and technology
Economic growth models: classical and Solow
Government policies to promote growth
The role of institutions in economic development

Quiz 4

Week 12: Aggregate Demand and Aggregate Supply

Keynesian vs. classical views on macroeconomic fluctuations
Aggregate demand: components and determinants
Aggregate supply in short run and long run
Macroeconomic equilibrium and economic fluctuations
Causes of recessions and inflation
AS-AD model applications

Week 13: Fiscal Policy and Economic Stability

Government spending, taxes, and the budget
Multipliers and crowding out
Fiscal stabilization policy
Government debt and deficits
Automatic stabilizers
Challenges of using fiscal policy

Research Paper Due

Week 14: Money and Monetary Policy

Functions of money, measurement of money supply
Banks and money creation
Central banks: structure and functions
Monetary policy tools: open market operations, reserve requirements, discount rate
Monetary policy transmission mechanism
Monetary policy debates: rules vs. discretion