This version: Monday, September 03, 2007
Course Syllabus and Outline ECON1001 (A&B): Introduction to Economics I Fall 2007 Instructor: Ka-fu Wong Phone number: 2857-8512. Office: KKL 1002. Office hours: To be announced. Email: kafuwong@econ.hku.hk Teaching assistant : Clifford Chan Phone number: 2857-8310. Office: KKL 1109. Office hours: To be announced. Email: givencana@yahoo.ca
University of Hong Kong Faculty of Business and Economics
Course webpage (login required): http://econ8.hku.hk/moodle/ COURSE OBJECTIVES, OUTCOMES, AND ASSESSMENT: Assessment Midterm #1 (Date: October 6, 2007, Saturday; Time: 10:00-11:00a.m.) Midterm #2 (Date: November 17, 2007, Saturday; Time: 10:00-11:30a.m.) Final exam (To be announced) Tutorials Weekly assignments Economic naturalist writing assignments Weight 10% 20% 30% 0% 10% 30%
Note: A “leisure / lazy” mode of study (that counts only the Final exam) is available, subject to the approval of the instructor in the first two weeks of class. Midterms: Usually lasts for one hour for midterm #1 and one and a half hours for midterm #2. Covers everything taught up to the date of test. The question paper will consist of multiple choice questions and short essay questions. The midterm exams will be held on Saturday: students should plan to arrive five minutes early on these dates to their assigned classroom in order that the designed duration is available to them for the exam. Students arriving late will not receive compensating time: all exams must be turned in to the proctor at the end of the exam. There will be no make-up exams to replace midterms that have been missed. Students missing any midterm will receive a grade of zero for the exam unless they provide documentation of illness. Final exam: Usually lasts for two hours. Covers everything taught in the semester. About 50% will be multiple choices and 50% will be short essay questions. Date, time and venue will be arranged centrally by the university later in the semester. Tutorials: The tutorials are optional. The TA will discuss solutions to the homework assignments, and give additional examples. You can also sit in the optional tutorials for the non-majors, which are slightly different from the ones we have. Weekly assignments: A short assignment (usually consisted of 10 multiple choices plus one or two short essay questions) will be posted (in pdf format) in the course website on every Monday, which is to be handed in on the following Monday. A detailed solution will be posted in the course website afterwards.
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Economic naturalist writing assignments: We would like to make you into an economic naturalist – through two short writing assignments and through assessing the work of others. In each of these writing assignments, you will have to use a principle, or principles, discussed in the course to explain some pattern of events or behavior that you personally have observed. Don’t worry. You will see numerous examples in the text and in class. The assignments should have an Asian context (not limited to China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, or Japan). Try to begin with a really interesting question. A really successful paper often begins with an interesting question that makes the listener instantly curious to learn the answer. The remaining task is to use an economic principle or principles to construct a plausible answer. You’ll know you have a good paper if the first thing your roommate wants to do upon reading it is to tell their friends about it. Please do not write more than 500 words in each of the assignments. Many excellent papers are significantly shorter. Please do not use complex terminology. Imagine yourself telling your story to a relative who has never had a course in economics. The best papers are ones that would be clearly intelligible to such a person. Avoid using algebra and graphs. No need to include a bibliography. No need to do voluminous research in support of your argument. We are not writing a PhD dissertation. Nevertheless, a relevant fact or two might help convince yourself and others. Late assignments will not be accepted. The two assignments are due on Friday, October 12 and Friday, November 23. Please write your assignment using your favorite software and copy and paste your writing to the corresponding page in our class website. Your submission will be graded anonymously. Please do not include any information (such as your name, student ID, email address, etc.) that allows other to identify the author. After each due date, we will ask 10 of your classmates to grade your submission, within a week, based on the following criteria: o whether the question asked is interesting (a weight of 2/6), o whether the economic principle or principles are applied correctly and appropriately to analyze the question (a weight of 3/6), and o whether the submission is easy to read, i.e., on English writing and organization (a weight of 1/6). Our TA will grade all the submissions. The score for each submission is then computed as the weighted average score assigned by the 10 peer reviewers and our TA (unreliable assessments will be dropped). The instructor will read only the top-scoring 10 or 20 percent of all submissions and decide if any of them deserve additional bonus points (up to two points). On average, each student will have to assess 10 submissions. He or she will earn a grade from his/her assessment effort. The overall grade of the writing assignment will be a weighted sum of the submission grade (70 percent) and the assessment grade (30 percent). No plagiarism will be tolerated. Please refer to the section of Academic Conduct below for more details. Students can anticipate that grades will fall roughly along the following distribution: Grade A+, A, AB+, B, BC+, C, CD and F
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distribution 20% of the class 40% of the class 30% of the class 10% of the class
Statement Of Course Objectives, Outcomes And Assessment And Their Relationship
Objectives 1. Acquisition and internalization of knowledge of microeconomics Outcomes Should know the fundamental principles and theories of microeconomics Should be able to use analytical tools to formulate and solve microeconomic problems. 2. Application and integration of knowledge Should be able to identify various microeconomic issues. Problem sets + Exams + writing assignments + peer assessment Assessment Problem sets + Exams + writing assignments + peer assessment
Should be able to identify and use relevant information Should be able to make trade-offs and informed decisions 3. Developing global outlook 4. Mastering communication skills Should demonstrate knowledge and awareness of international issues Should be able to write effectively. Writing assignments with a focus on Asian issues Problem sets + writing assignments + peer assessment
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Programme objectives, outcomes, etc. (Bachelor of Economics / Bachelor of Finance / Bachelor of Economics and Finance)
Objective 1. Acquisition and internalization of knowledge of economics & finance Outcomes Should know the fundamental principles and theories of economics and finance Should be able to use analytical tools to formulate and solve economic and business problems Should be able to continue their graduate studies Should be able to distinguish between minor and major issues Should be able to identify and use relevant information Should be able to make trade-offs and informed decisions Should demonstrate knowledge and awareness of international issues Assessment Modes Course-embedded assessment (assignments, tests/quizzes/examination) External examiner’s assessment Percentage admitted to graduate programs Course-embedded assessment (assignments, tests/quizzes/examination, cases, projects)
2. Application and integration of knowledge 3. Developing global outlook
Should be able to function in multicultural settings
Course-embedded assessment (assignments, tests/quizzes/examination) Percentage participating in field trips and exchange programs Percentage participating in international competitions and forums Percentage participating in exchange programs Effective contribution to study groups comprising international students Course-embedded assessment (assignments, cases, projects) Percentage participating in competitions and forums
4. Mastering communication skills
Should be able to articulate and make convincing and coherent presentations Should be able to write effectively Should demonstrate the capacity to deal with ethical and social issues Should adhere to and respect university regulations on academic conduct Should function in teams effectively
5. Inculcating professionalism and leadership
Should display leadership traits
Course-embedded assessment (assignments, tests/quizzes/examination) Percentage participating in Internship programs Percentage subjected to disciplinary action Survey of employers of our graduates. Course-embedded assessment (cases and group projects) Percentage serving on student associations, university dormitories, and external organizations Percentage participating in external competitions and forums Course-embedded assessment (cases and, group projects) Percentage serving as executives in student associations, university dormitories, and external organizations Percentage participating in leadership training programs, e.g., ILOP (Intensified Learning Opportunities Program), TILIP(Tufts Institute for Leadership and International Perspective), AIPE (Asia Institute for Political Economy)
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COURSE INFORMATION: Prerequisites: The course is open to the B. Finance, B. Economics, B. Economics and Finance students only. Course overview: Economics is the study of human action. To understand how people can cooperate in social orders, and why they often cannot, we need to have a framework for understanding human action and its consequences. Economics provides one such framework. This is a course in microeconomics: the theory of consumers, prices, and markets. Microeconomics has been applied to wide range of issues, from what determines the price of consumer goods, to such things as how people vote, how much education they acquire, and how many children they have. The purpose of this course is to actively engage students in the discovery of the economic content of everyday life. We will explore a range of topics and applications concerning how individuals make decisions about what to consume, produce, buy and sell, and how they interact with other consumers, producers, buyers and sellers in the marketplace. We will also address the role of government in the system, and policy areas such as regulation, antitrust, taxation, poverty and welfare. Textbook: Frank, Robert H. and Ben S. Bernanke (2007): Principles of Microeconomics, 3rd edition, McGraw-Hill. Additional readings: Additional readings will be assigned during the course, either distributed as handouts or available for download from the course webpage. Online study materials: 1. The website that accompanies the text (http://www.mhhe.com/economics/frankbernanke3). 2. PowerPoint slides for the lectures will also be accessible on the course webpage, before lectures. Course delivery: Lectures will be conducted by the instructor. There will be optional tutorials. Discussions are welcome in class and off class. ACADEMIC CONDUCT Plagiarism is defined as the unacknowledged use, as one's own, of work of another person, whether or not such work has been published. A candidate shall not engage in plagiarism nor employ nor seek to employ any other unfair means at an examination or in any other form of work submitted for assessment as part of a University examination. (Please refer to http://ec.hku.hk/plagiarism/introduction.htm for further elaboration of the regulation.)
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COURSE OUTLINE (coverage is subject to change) Week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Topic Thinking like an Economist (Chapter 1) Games and Strategic Behavior (Chapter 13, 453-466) Comparative advantage: the basis for exchange (Chapter 2) Supply and demand (Chapter 3) Elasticity (Chapter 4) Demand: the benefit side of the market (Chapter 5) Midterm #1 (Date: October 6, 2007, Saturday; Time: 10:00-11:00a.m.) Perfectly competitive supply: the cost side of the market (Chapter 6) Efficiency and exchange (Chapter 7) The quest for profit and the invisible hand (Chapter 8) Monopoly and other forms of imperfect competition (Chapter 10) Strategic choice in oligopoly, monopolistic competition, and everyday life (Chapter 11) Midterm #2 (Date: November 17, 2007, Saturday; Time: 10:00-11:30a.m.) Externalities and Property Rights (Chapter 12) The Economics of Information (Chapter 13)
* May also cover “Labor Markets, Poverty, and Income Distribution” (Chapter 14) if time permits.
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