Faculty Information Professor Gilbert Skillman Office: 325 PAC E-mail: gskillman@wesleyan.edu Phone: (860) 685-2359 Office hours: Tue, Wed, and Thu (13:00 - 14:00), and by appointment Teaching assistant: Benjamin ClarkGeneral Course Information (also available in PDF format)
This is a one-semester introduction to the terminology, concerns, and analytical methods of economic analysis, intended primarily for students who plan to major in economics. The course presupposes a working knowledge of written and oral expression in the English language and of differential and integral single-variable calculus.
Text: Joseph Stiglitz, Economics, 2nd Edition
Additional Readings: Additional readings will be made available either in class, the reserve room at Olin Library, or the Econ 110 folder on the ledge outside of the Economics office on the first floor of the PAC.
Problem Sets: Weekly problem sets are assigned to promote understanding of the material. You are free to work with others, but the answers you turn in must be your own. The TA will hold weekly help sessions at a time to be announced.
Grading: Grading will be based on class participation (counting for 5% of the final grade), cumulative problem set scores (10%), two midterm exams (25% each) and a comprehensive final exam (35%). Poor individual midterm scores which are obviously out of line with other grades will be discounted, and upward trends in performance will receive extra weight, as will exceptionally strong performance on the final exam. Complaints about apparent grading errors will be considered, but requests for "extra credit" or other special consideration in assigning grades must regrettably be ignored.
Exam Schedule: The midterm examinations will be held on Wednesday, October 8 and Wednesday, November 12 at 7 PM. Please arrange your schedule so as to be present at these times. The final examination is scheduled for Thursday, May 17th at 2 pm. The final exam must be taken at this time; please arrange your schedule accordingly.
Attendance: Class attendance is expected and strongly recommended. Test questions may be based on lecture material which is not covered in the text or the reserve readings. If planning to attend class, please be on time.
Honor System: The Wesleyan Honor Code is in effect for all exams.
Course Outline (also available in PDF format)* Readings are from text, unless otherwise noted
Basic Concepts and Issues 1-3, 7, 24 Demand and Supply 4, 5: 109-119, 25-27 Savings and Investment 6, 29, 36 Money and Money Creation 30, 31 Unemployment and the Price Level 28, 32, 33 Household Preferences and Constraints 8-10 Market Behavior of Households 5: 97-104 Nature and Goals of Firms 11 Market Behavior of Firms 12 Ideal Markets 13 Imperfectly competitive markets 14-16 (17) Imperfectly complete markets 18, 19 (20), 21 (22, 23) Macro Implications of Market Failure 34, 35