Microeconomics Principles
A. Goodman
The course
• Class Meets: TTh 9:35 – 10:50, 100 Gen.
Lectures
• Office Hours: TTh 11 – 12, MW 10-12 or by
appointment
• Office location: 2145 FAB
• Phone: 577-3235; e-mail:
[email protected]
• Department and Course Web site:
http://www.econ.wayne.edu/agoodman/
• Also some material on Blackboard
Text materials
The text materials will be:
Principles of Microeconomics, 3rd Ed., by
N. Gregory Mankiw, to be purchased at
the appropriate bookstore … or on-line.
Make sure you get the Micro split.
Exams and Grading
Students will be responsible for the following
assignments:
• 3 mid-term exams @ 15%
45%
• 1 final exam
30%
• Quizzes
15%
• Attendance
10%
• Intermittent Extra Credit
• Friday night YYY, 6:30 – 8:30 pm
Teaching Assistants
• Susanne Buesselmann and Meihua Lu.
• They’re smarter than I am … so you
should listen to them.
• They speak for me … and vice versa.
The Curve
The following percentage curve will guide the grading policy in the course.
90 – 100 A ;
85 – 89.9 A-;
80 – 84.9 B+;
75 – 79.9 B ;
70 – 74.9 B- ;
65 – 69.9 C+ ;
60 – 64.9 C ;
55 – 59.9 C- ;
50 – 54.9
45 – 49.9
40 – 44.9
Below 40
D+ ;
D ;
D- ;
E
For some curricula, a grade below C- is considered a failing grade.
What does it cost you to come to
WSU?
• Think carefully.
• What do you GIVE
UP in order to come
here?
These are costs!
Ten Principles of Economics
Economy. . .
. . . The word economy comes from a
Greek word for “one who manages a
household.”
TEN PRINCIPLES OF
ECONOMICS
• A household and an economy
face many decisions:
– Who will work?
– What goods and how many of them should be
produced?
– What resources should be used in
production?
– At what price should the goods be sold?
TEN PRINCIPLES OF
ECONOMICS
Society and Scarce Resources:
– The management of society’s resources is
important because resources are scarce.
– Scarcity. . . means that society has limited
resources and therefore cannot produce all
the goods and services people wish to have.
TEN PRINCIPLES OF
ECONOMICS
Economics is the study of how society
manages its scarce resources.
TEN PRINCIPLES OF
ECONOMICS
• How people make decisions.
– People face tradeoffs.
– The cost of something is what you give up to
get it.
– Rational people think at the margin.
– People respond to incentives.
TEN PRINCIPLES OF
ECONOMICS
• How people interact with each other.
– Trade can make everyone better off.
– Markets are usually a good way to organize
economic activity.
– Governments can sometimes improve
economic outcomes.
TEN PRINCIPLES OF
ECONOMICS
• The forces and trends that affect how the
economy as a whole works.
– The standard of living depends on a country’s
production.
– Prices rise when the government prints too
much money.
– Society faces a short-run tradeoff between
inflation and unemployment.
Principle #1: People Face Tradeoffs.
“There is no such thing as a free lunch!”
Principle #1: People Face Tradeoffs.
To get one thing, we usually have to give up
another thing.
– Guns v. butter
– Food v. clothing
– Leisure time v. work
– Efficiency v. equity
Making decisions requires trading
off one goal against another.
Principle #1: People Face Tradeoffs
• Efficiency v. Equity
– Efficiency means society gets the most that it
can from its scarce resources.
– Equity means the benefits of those resources
are distributed fairly among the members of
society.
Principle #2: The Cost of Something Is
What You Give Up to Get It.
• Decisions require comparing costs and
benefits of alternatives.
– Whether to go to college or to work?
– Whether to study or go out on a date?
– Whether to go to class or sleep in?
• The opportunity cost of an item is what
you give up to obtain that item.
Principle #2: The Cost of Something Is
What You Give Up to Get It.
Basketball star
Lebron James
chose to skip
college and go
straight from high
school to the pros
where he has
earned millions of
dollars.
Principle #3: Rational People Think at
the Margin.
• Marginal changes are small, incremental
adjustments to an existing plan of action.
People make decisions by comparing
costs and benefits at the margin.
Principle #3: Example
• Is my first hamburger at a meal “worth it?”
• How about my second?
– My third?
• My fourth?
• And how about whatever I’m using to
wash it down ???
Back to Hamburgers!
Principle #4: People Respond to
Incentives.
• Marginal (incremental) changes in costs or
benefits motivate people to respond.
• The decision to choose one alternative
over another occurs when that
alternative’s marginal (incremental)
benefits exceed its marginal (incremental)
costs!
Principle #5: Trade Can Make
Everyone Better Off.
• People gain from their ability to trade with
one another.
• Competition results in gains from trading.
• Trade allows people to specialize in what
they do best.
• QUESTION:
– Do you produce EVERYTHING you need?