BU-224 Micro Economics

1. BU-224 Micro Economics Welcome to

2. A little bit about me… Marlo Chavarria Ph# 813-220-2066 Email: MChavarria@kaplan.edu AOL: marlochavarria

3. Syllabus • Doc Sharing Section • Reading Material • Course Outline • School of Business Policies • Grading Rubric – Discussion Board

4. Course Outline • 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

5. Course Outline (cont.) • 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

6. Syllabus • Reading Material • Course Outline • School of Business Policies • Grading Rubric – Discussion Board • Online Communications Guidelines • Assignments • University Policies • Plagiarism/Tutoring

7. Discussion Board Requirements 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 differentdays. The first post must be made by Saturday

9. 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

10. Scarcity Scarcity

11. Scarcity • Limited resources • Choices must be made • Opportunity Cost • The value of the next best alternative • Marginal analysis

12. Opportunity Cost Retrieved from http://strom.clemenson.edu Retrieved from www.stus.com

13. Opportunity Cost Example of cost of education • Annual 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

14. Trade offs Cost vs. Benefits

15. 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

16. Economic Agents • 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

17. Economic Agents Consumers Producers Government

18. There are gains from trade

19. Discussion • 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.

20. Assignment (Your assignment consists of 2 parts) 1 - Professional Report: You will choose one of the countries discussed in the websites you 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 and provide explanation of those tips.

21. Submit Research Topic (Research Information can be found under the Unit 8 Link) 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.

22. 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.

23. Student Resources US Department of Commerce: The Bureau of Economic Analysis http://bea.gov/index.htm  The Economist Magazine www.economist.com The New York Times www.nytimes.com Wallstreet Journal Online http://online.wsj.com/home-page US News and World Report http://www.usnews.com/

24. Student Resources (cont’d…) US Bureau of Labor Statistics www.bls.gov Financial Times http://www.ft.com/home/us The Federal Reserve Website http://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.

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