Economics Homework
Alas, I am not teaching Economics this academic year (2008-2009), but below you'll find last year's syllabus and some worthy links. Mmmm, links... sweet, sweet links.
Economics 2007-2008
Text: Economics: Principles in Action (Prentice-Hall, 2007)
Supplementary texts
Ø Freakonomics, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner (summer reading)
Ø Naked Economics, Charles Wheelan
Ø AP Economics: Macroeconomics
Ø AP Economics: Microeconomics
Grading Policy
Tests and quizzes = 35%
Papers/Projects = 40%
Work ethic = 10%
Final exam = 15%
Tests, papers and project assignments will be announced ahead of time; quizzes may be announced or unannounced. Papers and projects that are late and unexcused will be graded down a letter grade for each day late. Plagiarism will result in a Disciplinary Committee hearing. Everyone starts with 7 points out of 10 for "work ethic," which refers to how thoroughly you do your assignments, how well you work with others, and how intelligently you act in class.
Goals and Purpose
The purpose of this course is to acquaint students the essential elements of economics, which is really the study of choices people make. This is not an AP-level course; the focus will be on core principles and how they can be applied to real-world situations. (We will be using selected exercises from the AP workbooks listed above.) At the same time, both the material and its application will take work to comprehend. Whenever we examine key principles, such as scarcity or supply and demand, our goal will be to enhance our understanding with homework, exercises, and projects that move those principles into the level of simulations and real-world situations.
Units for the year:
Summer reading project: Paper based on Freakonomics (due early September)
Unit 1 - Introduction and Economic Systems
· Chapters 1-3 in the textbook
· Some reading in Naked Economics
· Project: The school library as an economic center (due late September)
Unit 2 - Supply and Demand
· Chapters 4-6 in textbook
· Some reading in Naked Economics
· Project: Settlers of Catan (due mid October)
Unit 3 - Market Structures, Banking, and Financial Markets
· Chapters 7, 10-11 in textbook (skip Chaps. 8-9)
· Some reading in Naked Economics
· Project: Podcast on human capital (due early December)
Unit 4 - Government Spending and Challenges
· Chapters 12-14 in textbook
· Some reading in Naked Economics
· Project: Congressional budget simulation (due before winter holiday)
Unit 5 - Fiscal and Monetary Policy and International Trade
· Chapters 15-17 in textbook (skip Chap.18)
· Some reading in Naked Economics
It is increasingly important for you to understand how economics works, from a personal level to a global level. Thinking like an economist means understanding how and why people, businesses, and governments make the choices they do. Economics isn't about acting ethically or even rationally necessarily, but this course should help you understand human motivations for their choices. You should also begin to read with intelligence about current events related to economics. Finally, you should be able to apply what you learn to new situations. The first half of the course will deal mostly with the economic decision-making of individuals and firms (microeconomics), while the second half will focus on how governments and systems operate in the economic sphere (macroeconomics). However, we are not drawing a line between the two, so don't be thrown if a discussion of profit motives leads to a discussion of the free enterprise system. In addition to the textbook, sources of information for our discussions and for your analytical essays will come from primary sources, secondary sources, software, the Internet, and DVD's.
Economics Links
Scarcity, Opportunity Cost, and Production Possibility Curves
Types of Economies
 | A mixed economy |
| Command, market, mixed economies |
| Factor markets |
Adam Smith and the Free Market
| Adam Smith Institute |
| Adam Smith, the invisible hand, the prisoner's dilemma |
| Adam Smith and 'The Wealth of Nations' |
The Circular Flow Model
| A brief synopsis |
| Factors affecting the circular flow |
Benefits of Free Enterprise
| Free enterprise and the economy |
| Foundations of a free enterprise economy |
| Free enterprise and the role of government in America |
| Macroeconomics vs. microeconomics |
Business Cycles
| Image of a business cycle |
| Business cycle dates for the US economy |
| What is a business cycle? |
Public vs. Private Sectors
| Free riders, public goods, and externalities |
| The problem of the free rider |
| The tragedy of the commons |
| Market failure |
| Externalities and property rights |
| Externalities |
Demand
Supply
| Supply and demand |
| Explorations in the concept of supply |
| Interactive lecture on supply and demand |
| 10 supply and demand practice questions |
| Excise taxes and subsidies |
| Efficiency of an excise tax |
Prices
Competition, Monopoly, and Oligopoly
Regulation and Deregulation
| Deregulation: Case Study of the Banking Industry |
| Predatory pricing |
| Antitrust law basics |
| Cartels |
| What is a merger? |
Money and Banking
| What is money? |
| How currency works |
| How banks work |
| Greenbacks |
| What is the gold standard? |
| Gold standard vs. fiat money |
| FDIC |
| What is a mutual fund? |
| Credit and debit cards |
Saving and Investing
| Investing 101 |
| Stocks basics |
| Bond and debt basics |
| Mutual fund basics |
| Reading financial tables |
| More on stocks |
| Stock exchanges |
| More on bonds |
| More on mutual funds |
| Index investing |
Gross Domestic Product
Unemployment, Inflation, Poverty
Taxes
Fiscal Policy
The Federal Reserve and Monetary Policy
International Trade
