Assignments for PARKES' Principles of Microeconomics class, Section 6

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Tentative Schedule and Course Assignments:

      Week 15


May 1, 2017      Chapter 18: Labor Markets


• The Markets for Factors of Production
  • The Competitive Profit-Maximizing Firm
    • The Production Function and the Marginal Product of Labor
    • The Value of the Marginal Product of Labor = Price x MPL
    • What causes the Labor Demand curve to shift? Output price, technological change, other factors supplies
  • The Supply of Labor - trade-off between work and Leisure
  • Equilibrium in the Labor Market
• PowerPoint for Chapter 18: The Markets for the Factors of Production

May 3, 2017       Review Day


• Review Day

      Week 16


May 8, 2017, 5:30 to 7:30 pm     FINAL EXAM - ALL Chapters covered

     PAST ASSIGNMENTS:

      Week 14


April 24, 2017      Review the Exam and Begin Oligopoly discussion


• Review of Exam 3
• Electric Car Revolution?!!?
• Shale Oil and The OPEC cartel
• Oligopoly - an introduction
  • Markets with only a few sellers
    • A Duopoly Example
• PowerPoint for Chapter 17: Oligopoly

April 26, 2017       Chapter 17: Oligopoly Continued


• Oligopoly - an introduction
  • Markets with only a few sellers
    • A Duopoly Example
    • Competition, Monopolies, and Cartels
    • Nash Equilibrium
    • How the size of an Oligopoly affects the Market Outcome
  • The Prisoner' Dilemma
    • Dominant Strategy
    • Oligopolies as a Prisoner's Dilemma
    • Other example and th Welfare of Society
  • Public Policy toward Oligopolies
• PowerPoint for Chapter 17: Oligopoly
  
        Week 13
  
  
April 17, 2017      Chapter 16: Monopolistic Competition


• Chapter 16: Monopolistic Competition
  • Between Monopoly and Perfect Competition
    • Many Sellers, Product Differentiation, and Free Entry and Exit
    • Competition with Differentiated Products
  • The Firm's Short-Run Decisions: Profit, Loss, and Breakeven
  • Excess Capacity and Markup over Marginal Cost
• Advertising: Quality and Brand Names
• PowerPoint for Chapter 16: Monopolistic Competition

April 19, 2017      EXAM 3: Chapters 21 and 13 - 16

      Week 12


April 10, 2017      Chapter 14: Firms in Competitive Markets continued


• Chapter 14: Firms in Competitive Markets
  • Profit Maximization and the Competitive Firm's Supply Curve
    • A Simple Example of Profit Maximization
    • The Marginal Cost Curve and the Firm's Supply Decision
    • The Firm's Short-Run Decision to Shut Down
    • Spilt Milk and Other Sunk Costs
    • The Firm's Long-Run Decision to Exit or Enter a Market
    • Measuring Profit in our Graph for the Competitive Firm
  • The Supply Curve in a Competitive Market
    • Profit and Loss in Perfect Competition
  • Quiz #14: PC in Short and Long-Run for an increasing cost industry
• PowerPoint for Chapter 14: Firms in Competitive Markets

April 12, 2017       Chapter 15: Monopoly


• Chapter 15: Monopoly
  • Why Monopolies Arise
    • Monopoly Resources - DeBeers
    • Government Created Monopolies
    • Natural Monopolies
  • How Monopolies Make Production and Pricing Decisions
    • Monopoly versus Competition
    • A Monopoly's Revenue
    • Profit Maximization
    • A Monopoly's Profit/Loss
  • Price Discrimination
  • Profit and Loss in Monopoly
• PowerPoint for Chapter 15: Monopoly
  
  
        Week 11
  
  
April 3, 2017      Chapter 13: The Costs of Production continued


• Chapter 13: The Costs of Production
  • Production and Costs
  • The Production Function
    • Marginal Product - it is diminishing as output increases
    • From the Production to the Total-Cost Curve
  • The Various Measures of cost
  
  
• Chapter 14: Firms in Competitive Markets
  • What is a Competitive Market?
• PowerPoint for Chapter 13: The Costs of Production

April 5, 2017       Chapter 14: Firms in Competitive Markets


• Chapter 14: Firms in Competitive Markets
  • What is a Competitive Market?
    • The Meaning of Competition
    • The Revenue of a Competitive Firm
    • Marginal Revenue and Average Revenue
  • Profit Maximization and the Competitive Firm's Supply Curve
    • A Simple Example of Profit Maximization
    • The Marginal Cost Cuver and the Firm's Supply Decision
    • The Firm's Short-Run Decision to Shut Down
• PowerPoint for Chapter 14: Firms in Competitive Markets
  
        Week 10
  
  
March 27, 2017      Chapter 21: The Theory of Consumer Choice


• Chapter 21: The Theory of Consumer Choice
  • The Budget Contraint: What the Consumer Can Afford
  • Preferences: What the Consumer Wants
    • Indifference Curves - how to draw them
    • MRS: the Marginal Rate of Substitution
    • Four Properties of Indifference Curves
    • Two extremes: Perfect Substitutes and Perfect Complements
  • Optimization: What the Consumer Chooses
    • The Consumer's Optimal Choices
    • FYI: Utility: An Alternative Way to Describe Preferences
    • Income and Price Changes (not on the exam)
• PowerPoint for Chapter 21: The Theory of Consumer Choice

March 29, 2017       Chapter 13: The Costs of Production


• Chapter 13: The Costs of Production
  • What are Costs?
    • Total Revenue, Total Cost, and Profit
    • Costs as Opportunity Costs: Implicit versus Explicit Costs
    • The Cost of Capital as an Opportunity Cost
    • Economic Profit Versus Accounting Profit
  • Production and Costs
  • The Production Function
    • Marginal Product - it is diminishing as output increases
    • From the Production to the Total-Cost Curve
  • The Various Measures of cost
• PowerPoint for Chapter 13: The Costs of Production


      Week 9


March 20, 2017      Review for the Exam


• REVIEW and Quiz!

March 22, 2017      EXAM 2: Chapters 7 - 11


March 11 - 19, 2017      SPRING BREAK - ENJOY!!!



      Week 8


March 6, 2017      Chapter 10: Externalities


• Chapter 10: Externalities
  • Externalities and Market Inefficiency
    • Welfare Economics: A Recap
    • Negative Externalities
    • Positive Externalities
    • Internalizing the Externality: Quiz #9 Answers Pigouvian Subsidy       Pigouvian Tax
  • Public Policies toward Externalities
    • Command-and-Control Policies: Regulation
    • Market-Based Policy 1: Corrective Taxe and Subsidies
    • Market-Based Policy 2: Tradable Pollution Permits
    • Objections to the Economic Analysis of Pollution
  • Private Sollutions to Externalities
    • The Coase Theorem
    • Why Private Solutions Do NOT always Work
• PowerPoint for Chapter 10: Externalities

March 8, 2017       Chapter 11: Public Goods and Common Resources


• Chapter 11: Public Goods and Common Resources
  • 4 Different Kinds of Goods
    • Two questions: Is the good rival? Is it excludable?
    • Private, Public, and Club Goods, and Common Resources
  • The Free-Rider Problem
    • The Difficult Job of Cost-Benefit Analysis
  • Common Resources
    • The Tragedy of the Commons
    • Some Important Common Resources
• PowerPoint for Chapter 11: Public Goods and Common Resources
  
  


      Week 7


February 27, 2017      Chapter 8: Application: The Costs of Taxation


• Chapter 8: Application: The Costs of Taxation
  • The Deadweight Loss of Taxation
    • How a Tax Affects Market Participants
    • Welfare without a tax, Welfare with a Tax, Changes in Welfare
    • Deadweight Losses and the Gains from Trade
  • The Determinants of the Deadweight Loss
  • Deadweight Loss and Tax Revenue as Taxes Vary
  • The Laffer Curve
• PowerPoint for Chapter 8: Application: The Costs of Taxation
  
  
• Chapter 9: Application: International Trade
  • The Determinants of Trade
    • Equilibrium without Trade
    • The World Price and Comparative Advantage
  • Winners and Losers from Trade
    • The Gains and Losses of an Exporting Country
    • The Gains and Losses of an Importing Country
• PowerPoint for Chapter 9: Application: International Trade
  
  

March 1, 2017      Continue Chapter 9: Application: International Trade and Chapter 10: Externalities


• Chapter 9: Application: International Trade
  • Review The Determinants of Trade
    • Equilibrium without Trade
    • The World Price and Comparative Advantage
  • Winners and Losers from Trade
    • The Gains and Losses of an Exporting Country
    • The Gains and Losses of an Importing Country
    • Effects of a Tariff Quiz 8: Tariff Welfare Effects and DWL effects
    • Lessons for Trade Policy
    • Other Benefits of International Trade
  • Arguments for Restricting Trade
    • The Jobs Argument
    • The National Security Argument
    • The Infant Industry Argument
    • The Unfair Competition Argument
    • The Protection as a Bargaining Chip Argument
• PowerPoint for Chapter 9: Application: International Trade
  
  
• Chapter 10: Externalities
  • Externalities and Market Inefficiency
    • Welfare Economics: A Recap
    • Negative Externalities
    • Positive Externalities
• PowerPoint for Chapter 10: Externalities
  
  
  
        Week 6
  
  
February 20, 2017      Review the Exam and Introduce Chapter 7: Consumers, Producers, and the Efficiency of Markets


• We will review the exam - QUIZ on the EXAM!
  
• Chapter 7: Consumers, Producers, and the Efficiency of Markets
  • Consumer Surplus
    • Willingness to pay
    • Using the Demand Curve to Measure Willingness to Pay
    • How a lower price raises consumer surplus
• PowerPoint for Ch 7: Consumers, Producers, and the Efficiency of Markets
  
  Articles Discussed in class today:
• U.S. and Canadian Heavy Oil replaces OPEC production cuts
• Permian Basin, Texas Land Rush
• Texas Oil Fields Rebound Lean and Mean, less workers, more tech!
• Video of New Shale play in Oklahoma

February 22, 2017      Chapter 7: Consumers, Producers, and the Efficiency of Markets


• Chapter 7: Consumers, Producers, and the Efficiency of Markets
  • Consumer Surplus continued
    • What Does Consumer Surplus Measure?
    • Figure 3 in the text - Price changes
  • Producer Surplus
    • Cost and Willingness to Sell
    • How a Higher Price Raises Producer Surplus
    • Figure 6 in the Text - Price changes
  • Market Efficiency
    • The Benevolent Social Planner
    • Evaluating the Market Equilibrium
• PowerPoint for Ch 7: Consumers, Producers, and the Efficiency of Markets
  
  
• Introduction to Chapter 8: Application: The Costs of Taxation
  • The Deadweight Loss of Taxation
    • How a Tax Affects Market Participants
• PowerPoint for Chapter 8: Application: The Costs of Taxation
• Quiz #6: Applying the ideas of CS and PS to the Incidence of a Tax
• Quiz #7 Answers from Chapter 7


      Week 5


February 13, 2017      Review and Chapter 6: Supply, Demand, and Government Policy continued


• REVIEW
• Chapter 6: Supply, Demand, and Government Policy
  • Controls on Prices
    • Price ceilings
    • Price floors (minimum wage, for example)
  • Taxes
    • Sellers instituting a tax
    • Buyers instituting a tax
    • Skip the elasticity affecting a tax part - Micro
• PowerPoint for Chapter 6: Supply, Demand, and Government Policy

February 15, 2017      EXAM 1: Chapters 1 - 6



      Week 4


February 7, 2017      Chapter 5: Elasticity and Its Application
• Chapter 5: Elasticity and Its Application
  • Price Elasticity of Demand and Its Determinants
  • Computing Price Elasticity of Demand
    • The Midpoint Method
    • Percentage Change in Qd over Percentage Change in Price
  • Variety of Demand Curves
  • Total Revenue and Price Elasticity of Demand
  • Elasticity and TR along a Linear Demand Curve
  • Other Demand Elasticities
  • Elasticity of Supply
  • Computing Elasticity of Supply
  • 3 Applications of Supply, Demand, and Elasticity
• PowerPoint for Ch 5: Elasticity and Its Application
  
  Elasticity Example and Quiz #4    Quiz #4 Answers

February 9, 2017      Chapter 6: Supply, Demand, and Government Policy
• Chapter 6: Supply, Demand, and Government Policy
  • Controls on Prices
    • Price ceilings
    • Price floors (minimum wage, for example)
  • Taxes
    • Sellers instituting a tax
    • Buyers instituting a tax
    • Skip the elasticity affecting a tax part - Micro
• PowerPoint for Chapter 6: Supply, Demand, and Government Policy
  
  Quiz #5: Tax Incidence


      Week 3


January 30, 2017      Chapter 4: The Market Forces of Supply and Demand
• Chapter 4: The Market Forces of Supply and Demand
  • What is a Market? A competitive Market?
  • Demand Side
    • The price of the good, movement along the curve
    • Shifts: P-P-P-INT
  • Supply Side
    • The price of the good, movement along the curve
    • Shifts: P-P-EST
  • Equilibrium: Qd=Qs
  • Surplus
  • Shortage
  • 3 Steps to Changes in Equilibrium
  • Note what Ambiguous means
• PowerPoint for Chapter 4: The Market Forces of Supply and Demand

February 1, 2017      Chapter 4: The Market Forces of Supply and Demand (continued)
• Chapter 4: The Market Forces of Supply and Demand
  • Equilibrium: Qd=Qs
  • Surplus
  • Shortage
  • 3 Steps to Changes in Equilibrium
  • Note what Ambiguous means
• PowerPoint for Chapter 4: The Market Forces of Supply and Demand
  
  Quiz 3 - Graphing    Answers
  
  
• Chapter 5: Elasticity and Its Application
  • Price Elasticity of Demand and Its Determinants
  • Computing Price Elasticity of Demand
    • The Midpoint Method
    • Percentage Change in Qd over Percentage Change in Price
  • 4 Determinants of Price Elasticity of Demand
    • Availability of Substitutes
    • Narrowly versus Broadly defined goods
    • Necessities versus Luxuries
    • Long-run versus short-run
• PowerPoint for Ch 5: Elasticity and Its Application
• Tesla becomes an Electricity Provider


      Week 2



SNOW DAY January 23, 2017      Chapter 2: Thinking Like An Economist
• Chapter 2: Thinking Like an Economist
  • The Scientific Method and the Role of Assumptions
  • The Circular Flow: The first model of Economics we will study
  • Model 2: The Production Possibilities Frontier (PPF)
  • Positive versus Normative Economics
  • Why Economists Disagree
• PowerPoint for Chapter 2: Thinking Like An Economist

January 25, 2017      Chapter 3: Interdependence and Gains from Trade
• Chapter 3: Interdependence and Gains from Trade
  • A Parable for the Modern Economy
    • Production Possibilities
    • Specialization and Trade
  • Comparative Advantage
    • Absolute Advanatage
    • Opportunity Cost and Comparative Advantage
    • Comparative Advantage and Trade
    • The Price of Trade
  • Applications:
    • Serena Williams, Should she mow the lawn?
    • Should we trade with other nations?
• Article from Bloomberg.com on Boeing discussed in class
• PowerPoint for Chapter 3: Interdependence and Gains from Trade
  
  
  
  Week 1
  
  
January 16, 2007:  MLK Day, Holiday!

January 18, 2007:  FIRST DAY - Syllabus and Introduction, Chapter 1: Ten Principles of Economics
• The Syllabus, Outline, and a little about me
• What are these 10 Principles?
  • How people make decisions
  • How people interact
  • How the Economy as a Whole Works
• PowerPoint for Chapter 1: Ten Principles

    

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email: Andrew.Parkes(at)nau.edu or andrew(at)andrewparkes.com
Last Update: May 2, 2017
By Andrew L. H. Parkes, Ph. D.