Economics 160, Principles of Economics
Spring 2004
General Information:
The course will be live/online and will consist of the
following components:
1) Lectures delivered on T or TH at 9:30AM, depending on
section enrolled, in Sequoia 104. Students attend one lecture per week
(day determined by section)
2) Online lectures downloaded from this page that are
viewed using Microsoft PowerPoint. Students view one lecture pre week
(day determined by section)
3) Weekly problem sets done online at Aplia.com and due
Tuesday morning.
4) A bulletin board run by Prof. Gary Anderson where
students post question and Prof. Anderson responds. Questions and
answers are posted and can be read by all students. The bulletin board
URL is
http://hyper.vcsun.org/HyperNews/kng/get/Economics160Spring2004.html
5) A midterm and final exam. The final exam for the Thursday class (ticket 17326),
will be on Friday May 28th from 10:15 to 12:15 in SQ104. The final for
the Tuesday class (Ticket 17797) will be at the time posted in the CSUN final exam
schedule.
Technical Requirements:
1) Access to a computer with a broadband internet connection
is required. The online lecture files are large and require a broadband
connection to download in a reasonable time. It is the students
responsibility to determine that their home/office computer is sufficient to
meet the technical demands of the course. To see if your computer/internet connection can
handle the online lectures try
downloading and
viewing a test lecture.
2) The course requires computer literate students with up to
date software and reasonably new computers. A recent version of Microsoft
Office is required. Students are responsible for all
technical issues involved in accessing the course materials through the
internet and viewing them on their computers.
Required Reading, Subscriptions, and Programs:
1) Principles of Economics, Third Edition, N. Gregory Mankiw
(available at the bookstore).
2) Current Version of Microsoft PowerPoint.
3) Subscription to Aplia.com website (cost $21)
Instructions
for subscribing to Aplia.com.
Course Outline:
Introduction Lecture Notes
(slides without sound)
Tuesday 2-3-2004 Lecture (recorded)
Thursday 2-5-2004 Lecture (recorded)
Instructions for downloading lectures and notes:
1) Right click on the link.
2) Choose Save Target as.
3) A dialogue box should come up which lets you choose where
you want to save the file on your computer, choose save and the
file should begin downloading.
4) Open the file using PowerPoint.
Part One Introduction:
1. Ten Principles of Economics
2. Thinking Like an Economist
3. Interdependence and the Gains from Trade
Part One Lecture Notes
(without recording)
Online Lectures:
Thursday 2-12-2004 Lecture (recorded, starts on
Slide 1)
Tuesday 2-17-2004 Lecture (recorded, starts on
Slide 14)
Thursday 2-19-2004 Lecture (recorded, starts on
Slide 21)
Part Two Supply and Demand I: How Markets Work
4. The Market
Forces of Supply and Demand
5. Elasticity and
Its Application
6. Supply, Demand,
and Government Policies
Part Two Lecture Notes
Tuesday 2-24-2004 Lecture (recorded, starts on
Slide 1)
Thursday 2-26-2004 Lecture (recorded, starts on
Slide 35)
Tuesday 3-2-2004 Lecture (recorded, starts on
Slide 67)
Tuesday 3-9-2004 Lecture (recorded, starts on
Slide 72)
Thursday 3-11-2004 Lecture (recorded, starts on
Slide 111)
Part Three Supply and Demand II: Markets and Welfare
7. Consumers,
Producers, and the Efficiency of Markets
8. Application: The
Costs of Taxation
9. Application:
International Trade
Part Three Lecture Notes
Online Lectures:
Tuesday 3-16-2004 Lecture (recorded, starts on
Slide 1)
Thursday 3-18-2004 Lecture (recorded, starts on
Slide 27)
Part Four The Economics of the Public Sector
10. Externalities
11. Public Goods
and Common Resources
12. The Design of
the Tax System
MIDTERM EXAMINATION w/Answer
Chapter 10 Lecture Notes (no
voice)
Chapter 11 Lecture Notes (no
voice)
Online Lectures:
Thursday 5-6-2004 Lecture
(recorded) (Note: The "slide timings" were lost for this
lecture. All this means is that you must push the mouse button or
enter key to advance to the next slide. Once all the bullet points or
material for that slide is displayed, the voice will start. This means
that on some slides you might have to push the mouse button a couple times
to fill the screen with all the bullet points for the slide before the voice
starts.)
Tuesday 5-11-2004 Lecture (recorded)
Thursday 5-13-2004 Lecture (recorded)
Tuesday 5-18-2004 Lecture (recorded)
No lecture for 5-20-2004. I will be in the classroom at 9:30 to
answer your questions.
Part Five Firm Behavior and the Organization of Industry
13. The Costs of
Production
14. Firms in
Competitive Markets
15. Monopoly
16. Oligopoly
17. Monopolistic
Competition
Chapter 13 Lecture Notes (no voice)
Chapter 14 Lecture Notes (no voice)
Chapter 15 Lecture Notes (no voice)
Chapter 16 Lecture Notes (no voice)
Chapter 17 Lecture Notes (no voice)
Chapter 10 Lecture Notes (no voice)
Chapter 11 Lecture Notes (no
voice)
Online Lectures:
Tuesday 3-30-2004 Lecture
(recorded)
Dr. Anderson's
Supplemental Notes/Comments for 3-30-2004 (Word Document
Thursday 4-1-2004 Lecture (recorded)
Dr. Anderson's
Supplemental Notes/Comments for 4-1-2004 (Word Document)
Tuesday 4-13-2004 Lecture
(recorded)
Dr.
Anderson's Supplemental Notes for 4-13-04 (Word Document)
Thursday 4-15-2004 Lecture (recorded)
Dr.
Anderson's Supplemental Notes for 4-15-04 (Word Document)
Tuesday 4-20-2004 Lecture
(recorded)
Dr.
Anderson's Supplemental Notes for 4-20-04 (Word Document)
Thursday 4-22-2004 Lecture (recorded)
Dr.
Anderson's Supplemental Notes for 4-22-04 (Word Document)
Tuesday 4-27-2004 Lecture (recorded)
Thursday 4-29-2004 Lecture (recorded)
Tuesday 5-4-2004 Lecture
(recorded)
Dr.
Anderson's Supplemental Notes for 5-4-04 (Word Document)
Thursday 5-6-2004 Lecture (Note:
The "slide timings" were lost for this lecture. All this means
is that you must push the mouse button or enter key to advance to
the next slide. Once all the bullet points or material for
that slide is displayed, the voice will start. This means that
on some slides you might have to push the mouse button a couple
times to fill the screen with all the bullet points for the slide
before the voice starts.)
Tuesday 5-11-2004 Lecture (recorded)
Thursday 5-13-2004 Lecture (recorded)
Tuesday 5-18-2004 Lecture (recorded)
No lecture for 5-20-2004. I will be in the classroom at
9:30 to answer your questions.
Part Six The Economics of Labor Markets
18. The Markets for
the Factors of Production
19. Earnings and
Discrimination
20. Income
Inequality and Poverty
Part Seven Advanced Topic
21. The Theory of Consumer Choice
Grading Policy.
Online Grade Roster
Aplia Score Summary
Grades will be determined by:
30%- Cumulative Scores on the Aplia.com assignments
30%-Midterm Exam
40%-Final Exam
The exams will be multiple choice and will be based on the Mankiw
testbank.
The final will be cumulative.
Plus/minus grading will not be used.
All examinations are closed book, closed note.
For those statistically inclined, your course score determines your grade and is
computed using the following formula:
The course score shows how well you performed relative to other students' mean
performance. A negative score denotes below average student performance. A positive course
score denotes above average student performance. For the purpose of assigning grades all
sections of the course for the semester are considered as a group.
Grades are assigned using a modified curve. Roughly speaking, A's are earned by all
students who average two standard deviation above the mean on the tests and final (a
course score of 2). B's are earned by students averaging 1 standard deviation above the
mean. C's are earned by students averaging 0 standard deviation below the mean. D's and
F's are given to students scoring below -.5 standard deviations from the mean.
The course scores required for each grade are adjusted for the overall performance of
all sections in a given semester relative to the historical performance of past classes.
Drop/Add Policy.
The University drop/add policy will be strictly followed (http://www.cgf.org/cat209/101455.pdf)
This means that after the 2nd week of classes, drops will be allowed only
for " compelling reasons clearly beyond the student's control."
Missed Exam Policy.
Students are required to show up and take all exams at the scheduled
times. A student who doesn't take an exam without prior approval will
receive a score of 0.
The final exam for the Thursday class (ticket 17326), will be on Friday
May 28th from 10:15 to 12:15 in SQ104 not the time listed in the CSUN final
exam schedule. It is the students responsibility to insure that they are
available to take the exam on that date.