Policy about course outlines can be found in Course Requirements, Evaluation Procedures and

Gradingof the University Calendar.

Prerequisites: Econ 101/204 or the equivalent. The Department may cancel the registration of those who do not meet this requirement.

Course Description: The theory of consumer behavior; theory of production and cost; price and output determination under competition, monopoly and other market structures.

Course Objectives and Expected Learning Outcomes: This is the first course in a sequence on intermediate microeconomics. Many of the topics we will cover should be familiar to you from Econ  101/204.  The  goal  of  this  course  is  to  develop  tools,  particularly  quantitative  ones (meaning there is going to be some math!), to better understand and evaluate these topics.

Textbook:  Besanko,  D.,  and  R.  Braeutigam.  Microeconomics, John  Wiley,  2020  (6th  ed.)  (I recommend the 150-day E-book Rental option, as it is by far the cheapest!).

Lectures: At the beginning of each week, a set of recorded video lectures will be posted on eClass. You are free to watch these lectures whenever you see fit, although I strongly encourage you not to fall behind!

Office Hours:  Each Tuesday and Thursday from 10:30-11:30, I will hold online office hours via Zoom.  If for whatever reason you are unable to make that time, send me an email and we can arrange to meet at some other point.  I will of course also respond to any questions emailed to me.

Sample evaluative  material: All course  material will  be  made available via eClass,  including practice problems, solution sets, old exams, etc.

Tech Requirements: You can find the University’s minimum technology specifications here:

https://www.ualberta.ca/information-services-and-technology/services/software-                           hardwarevendors/technology-requirements.html 

Additionally, this course will be making use of “Smart Exam Monitor” software (see the exam section below).

Grading Scheme:

Note that if your final exam grade is better than your grade on at least one of your midterms, I will drop your lowest midterm grade and transfer its weight to the final.

Numerical grades will be converted to letter grades in the following manner:

Assignments: There will be three assignments: the first due Sept. 26, second due Oct. 31, and the third due Dec. 8.

Assignments  submitted  after  their  due  date  will  receive  a  zero  grade.    That  being  said,  I understand that sometimes unexpected circumstances make completing assignments on time impossible.  To address this, at the end of the term I will drop each student’s lowest assignment grade, using only the average of each student’s best two assignments to determine their total “Assignments” grade.  Thus, if for whatever reason you are unable to submit one assignment on time, the zero that you will receive for that assignment will not count against you at the end of term.

Exam Dates and Times:

Midterms will be held during the class time scheduled for this course.  Thus, if you are registered in Section 800, your midterms will be held at 9:30 am – 10:50 am; if you are registered in Section 801, your midterms will be held at 11:00 am – 12:20 pm.

Midterm #1 will be held Sept. 29 (9:30 am – 10:50 am if in Section 800; 11:00 am – 12:20 pm if in Section 801)

Midterm #2 will be held Nov. 3.  (9:30 am – 10:50 am if in Section 800; 11:00 am – 12:20 pm if in Section 801)