Assignments for PARKES' Principles of Microeconomics class, Section 7, Spring 2018

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Tentative Schedule and Course Assignments:

      Week 15


April 30, 2018      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 - Quiz #20: Backward Bending Individual Supply curve for labor
  • Equilibrium in the Labor Market
• PowerPoint for Chapter 18: The Markets for the Factors of Production
  
  

May 2, 2018      Review Day


• PREVIEW and REVIEW for the Final Exam - Quiz #21 is the Online Survey in Bb Learn on the Writing assignments


      Week 16


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

     PAST ASSIGNMENTS:

      Week 14


April 23, 2018      Review the Exam and Begin Oligopoly discussion


• Review of Exam 3: Quiz #18: Test Corrections
• 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 25, 2018      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 - Quiz #19: Fare wars       Quiz #19 answers
    • Other example and th Welfare of Society
  • Public Policy toward Oligopolies
• PowerPoint for Chapter 17: Oligopoly
  
  
  
  
        Week 13
  
  
April 16, 2018      Finish Monopolistic Competition and Review


• REVIEW for EXAM 3



• Finish 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 18, 2018      EXAM 3: 13 - 16


      Week 12


April 9, 2018      Chapter 14: Finish Perfect Competition in the Long Run


• Finish Perfect Competition in the Long-run (4 panels) - Increasing Cost Industry
• Quiz #15: PC in Short and Long-Run for an increasing cost industry and A Decrease in Demand in an ICI
  
  

April 11, 2018      Chapter 15: Monopoly and Chapter 16: Monopolistic Competition


• Chapter 15: Monopoly
  • Why Monopolies Arise
    • Monopoly Resources - DeBeers
    • Government Created Monopolies
    • Natural Monopolies
  • Profit and Loss in Monopoly
  • 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 2, 2018      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 Curve and the Firm's Supply Decision
    • The Firm's Short-Run Decision to Shut Down
• PowerPoint for Chapter 14: Firms in Competitive Markets
  
  

April 4, 2018      Chapter 14: Firms in Competitive Markets continued


• Chapter 14: Firms in Competitive Markets continued
  • 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
• PowerPoint for Chapter 14: Firms in Competitive Markets
  
  
  
        Week 10
  
  
  March 26, 2018      Review the Exam and 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
    
    
  
  March 28, 2018      Chapter 13: The Costs of Production
  
  
  • Review Exam II - Quiz!
  • 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 Curve and the Firm's Supply Decision
      • The Firm's Short-Run Decision to Shut Down
  • PowerPoint for Chapter 14: Firms in Competitive Markets
    
    
    
  
  March 17 - 25, 2018      SPRING BREAK - ENJOY!!!
  
  
  
        Week 9
  
  
  March 12, 2018      Review for the Exam
  
  
  • REVIEW for Exam II! March 12, 2018      Class is Cancelled
    
    
    • REVIEW for Exam II with the SI Leaders!
    • I'm out of town - please attend at least one SI session
    • The Minimum Wage Paper covers today's class
    
    
    
  
  March 14, 2018      EXAM 2: Chapters 7 - 11 and 21 (in part)
  
  
  
  
        Week 8
  
  
  March 5, 2018      Chapter 10: Externalities and Begin Chapter 11: Public Goods and Common Resources
  
  
  • Chapter 10: Externalities
    • Review: Externalities and Market Inefficiency
      • Welfare Economics: A Recap
      • Negative Externalities
      • Positive Externalities
    • Private Sollutions to Externalities
      • The Coase Theorem
      • Why Private Solutions Do NOT always Work
    • Internalizing the Externality:
      • Public Policies toward Externalities
        • Command-and-Control Policies: Regulation
        • Market-Based Policy 1: Corrective Taxes and Subsidies
        • Market-Based Policy 2: Tradable Pollution Permits
        • Objections to the Economic Analysis of Pollution
    • Today's PowerPoint on Pigouvian Subsidies and Taxes
  • PowerPoint for Chapter 10: Externalities
    
    
  • 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
  • PowerPoint for Chapter 11: Public Goods and Common Resources
    
    
  
  March 7, 2018       Chapter 11 continued and Chapter 21: The Theory of Consumer Choice
  
  
  • Chapter 11: Public Goods and Common Resources
    • Common Resources
      • The Tragedy of the Commons
      • Some Important Common Resources
  • PowerPoint for Chapter 11: Public Goods and Common Resources
    
    
  • 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 (NOT on the exam)
    • Optimization: What the Consumer Chooses
      • The Consumer's Optimal Choices
      • Utility: An Alternative Way to Describe Preferences
      • Income and Price Changes (NOT on the exam)
      • Graphing the demand curve from the Consumer's Optimal Choices (NOT on the exam)
  • PowerPoint for Chapter 21: The Theory of Consumer Choice
    
    
    
          Week 7
    
    
  February 26, 2018      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
      • Effects of a Tariff
      • Lessons for Trade Policy
      • Other Benefits of International Trade
  • PowerPoint for Chapter 9: Application: International Trade
    
    
  
  February 27, 2018      Minimum Wage Paper (#1)
  
  
  • Paper #1 Due in Bb Learn: "Minimum Wage Slowdown" at 11:59 pm, TUESDAY
    
    
  
  
  February 28, 2018       Chapter 9: Application: International Trade
  
  
  • Chapter 9: Application: International Trade
    • Review The Determinants of 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 19, 2018      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
      • 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
    
    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 21, 2018      Introduction to Chapter 8: Application: The Costs of Taxation
  
  
  • What is a Benevolent Social Planner?
  • Introduction to Chapter 8: Application: The Costs of Taxation
    • The Deadweight Loss of Taxation
      • How does a tax affect market participants?
  • 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
    
    
    
          Week 5
    
    
  February 12, 2018      Review for the Exam
  
  
  
  • REVIEW
  • Review for Exam #1
  
  
  February 14, 2018      EXAM 1: Chapters 1 - 6
  
  
  
  
        Week 4
  
  
  February 5, 2017      Finish 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
  • Quiz 5: Elasticity Quiz and Answers
  • PowerPoint for Ch 5: Elasticity and Its Application
    
    
    
  February 7, 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
      • The elasticity affecting a tax
  • PowerPoint for Chapter 6: Supply, Demand, and Government Policy
    
    
    
    
          Week 3
    
    
  January 29, 2018      Chapter 4: The Market Forces of Supply and Demand (continued)
  
  
  • 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
  • Tesla becomes an Electricity Provider
  
  January 31, 2018      Chapter 5: Elasticity and Its Application
  
  
  • Chapter 4: The Market Forces of Supply and Demand
    • What is a Market? A competitive Market?
    • 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
  • Tesla becomes an Electricity Provider
    
    
  • Quiz 4: Supply and Demand and Quiz #4 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
    • Variety of Demand Curves
    • Total Revenue and Price Elasticity of Demand
  • PowerPoint for Ch 5: Elasticity and Its Application
    
    
    
          Week 2
    
  
  January 22, 2018:  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
    • Income = Spending, BASE IDEA, So what does total income equal?
    • Four resources and four payments to those resources
    • Where do households fit in? ... Business firms?
    • Model 2: The Production Possibilities Frontier (PPF)
    • Very simple and basic - Where is an efficient economy producing?
    • Where is the U.S. economy today?
    • Positive versus Normative Economics - JUST THE FACTS!
    • Why Economists Disagree
  • Quiz #2: Production Possibilities Frontier - BASICS
  • PowerPoint for Chapter 2: Thinking Like An Economist
    
  
  January 24, 2018      Chapter 3: Interdependence and Gains from Trade
  
  
  • Chapter 3: Interdependence and Gains from Trade
    • A Parable for the Modern Economy
      • Production Possibilities
      • Why does Specialization and Trade allow more consumption than self-sufficiency?
    • Comparative Advantage
      • Absolute Advanatage
      • What is the Opportunity Cost? and Who has the Comparative Advantage
      • Comparative Advantage and Trade
      • What is "The Price of Trade?"
    • Applications:
      • Quiz #2 and the answers
      • Serena Williams, Should she mow the lawn?
      • Should we trade with other nations?
  • Article from Bloomberg.com on Boeing discussed in class
  • NOTE: Quiz #3 is in the PowerPoint for Chapter 3 below, questions and answers
  • PowerPoint for Chapter 3: Interdependence and Gains from Trade
    
    
    
    
    Week 1
    
    
  January 15, 2018:  Martin Luther King Day Holiday
  • Enjoy the last day of holidays
  
  
  
  January 17, 2018:  FIRST DAY - Syllabus and Introduction, Chapter 1: Ten Principles of Economics
  • The Syllabus, Outline, and a little about me
  • What are these 10 Principles?
    • Definitions: Economics, scarcity, efficiency vs. equity (equality), opportunity cost, marginal, incentive, property rights, externalities (market failures)
    • Can you tell me your opportunity cost of being here?
    • Better to focus on efficiency or equality?
  • 3 Goals of a Macroeconomy: Full Employment, Economic Growth, and Price Stability
  • Real GDP growth rate, Inflation rate (CPI), and the Unemployment Rate
  • Day 1 PowerPoint Slides
  • PowerPoint for Chapter 1: Ten Principles
    
    

    

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email: Andrew.Parkes(at)nau.edu or andrew(at)andrewparkes.com
Last Update: April 29, 2018
By Andrew L. H. Parkes, Ph. D.