What its all about?

Economics 100A introduces the methods of microeconomics and applies these methods to the study of consumers, firms, and markets. As you work through this course, you will develop your skills at problem solving and you will learn to reason about economic questions in a careful, systematic way. The emphasis in this course is on reasoning and understanding, not memorization. The skills and methods you learn will find repeated application in further economics courses and in understanding your economic environment when you enter the workplace.

Math Quiz

A brief math quiz will be distributed at your first class or section meeting. This quiz is designed to help you to decide whether your mathematical skills are good enough for you to perform successfully in the course. We will not collect grades for this quiz. The answers are posted on the course web page.

If you get half or fewer of the answers right, then you are probably not prepared for this course.  If you cannot do everything on this quiz, get out your old calculus book and freshen up your memory.  If you made the mistake of selling your old calculus book, go to your favorite book store and ask to buy a cheap, used calculus book. It doesn't much matter which one you choose so long as you get a nice fat one that is used for beginning university calculus courses.

Section Meetings

You are scheduled to attend one section meeting per week. Section meetings will be devoted primarily to answering students' questions and solving problems in Workouts in Microeconomic Theory.
 

Textbook and Workouts

The textbook for this course is Intermediate Microeconomics, 6th edition,  by Hal R. Varian and the workbook is Workouts in Intermediate Microeconomics 6th edition  by T. C. Bergstrom and  H. R. Varian.  Both are used heavily throughout this course and for Econ 100B as well. Don't settle for a ratty old  marked-up 5th edition copy of Workouts.    You are going to be spending lots of time with this book and you might as well start with a   clean,  up-to-date  copy.

Problems in Workouts

You are encouraged to try all of the problems in the workbook. To help you get on the right track, there are usually one or more worked-out problems in the introduction to each chapter. You will find the answers to the even-numbered problems in the back of the book. The odd-numbered problems you should try to figure out for yourself. You can then bring your questions to the section meeting each week. The single best way to learn the subject is to work lots and lots of problems.

These problems are designed to help you use the ideas presented in the text creatively. We are not teaching you a bunch of facts to memorize. Some of the problems are designed to be challenging. Others are pretty routine. Do not be disappointed if you can not do all of the problems correctly when you first set out to do them. You will find that it takes practice to develop a knack for solving problems. But if you work at it, you will be surprised how good at it you become.

In the back of Workouts, there is a section consisting of a short multiple choice quiz based on each chapter. After you have read the chapter in the textbook and worked the problems in the workbook, you should take this quiz. You can grade it yourself. Answers are given on pages A25-A28.

Quizzes and Final examination

There will be five  scheduled quizzes in addition to the final exam. See the class schedule for the dates.

You are required to bring your own scantrons to the quizzes. These are the big reddish ones
like we used in the math quiz.  They are called Form F-1712 and are available at the bookstore and the arbor.  Do not use a crumpled or torn scantron. Torn sheets  may  not go through the scantron reader properly and may cost you points on a quiz.

Many of the  quiz questions will be almost the same as quiz questions in the back of Workouts  with the same logic, but with different numbers. If you have studied the material and can do the quizzes for the corresponding chapters, you should have no trouble getting  these quiz questions right.

The final examination will be given at the time announced in the official university time schedule.  The final will cover material from the entire quarter.  We will make available a copy of an old examination with questions similar in type to those that will appear on the cumulative exam.
 

Class Attendance and Wake-up Quizzes


Unless you are able to understand the material and do the workbook problems well enough to do A-grade work
without attending class, I expect you to attend class regularly and to pay attention to what is said.

To reward those who attend class and to break up the routine of lectures, I will administer several unannounced
in-class "wake-up quizzes."  These quizzes will consist of just a couple of simple multiple-choice questions which
will be easy to answer if you have paid attention in class.  You will even get points for filling out your name properly on your scantron.  There will be no make-ups for the wake-ups, nor any excused absences.  But when I calculate your wake-up quiz score, I will not count your lowest score (which is 0 for any quiz that you miss.)
 

Grades


To calculate your grade, I will first compute everyone's score ignoring the wake-up quizzes.  This score will be a
weighted average of your total quiz score and your final exam score, with a weight of 75% on the total quiz score
and 25% on the final exam score.   The top 20% of these scores will receive a grades of  A or A-.

For those students who did not receive an A or A-, I will then compute a score that includes  the wake-up
quizzes.  The weights will be 65% on the scheduled quizzes, 10% on the wake-up quizzes, and 25% on the final
examination. I will use the rankings on this weighted score to determine who gets the B's, C's, D's, and F's.

Your total quiz score will be the sum of your scores on your  best 4 quizzes. We will give no makeup quizzes. Since we drop your lowest quiz score, missing one quiz is not a disaster.

Your total  score for the course  will be a weighted average of your total quiz score and your final exam score, with a weight of  75% on the total quiz score and 25% on the final exam score.

The economics department has not succumbed to grade inflation.   The grade distribution for the course will be approximately 20% A's and 30% B's.  The percentage who attain a grade of C or  better will depend on absolute performance.

Work Load

Most economics students find this the most difficult course taught in undergraduate economics. The work load is substantial. Besides the reading assignments in your text, there are workbook problems for each chapter and there are regular quizzes on workbook material. The course starts out at a brisk pace and builds on what you learn. Don't even think about sloughing off at the beginning and then catching up for the exams. While this is possible in many university courses, it is almost impossible for most students to get by with this strategy in 100A.

You may be surprised to find that in this course you will be using the kind of careful reasoning that you expect in a mathematics course or a course in the hard sciences. For those who enjoy the sciences and math, this is exciting news. For those who have always tried to avoid science and math, it may be a bit frightening. If you find yourself in the latter group, it is fair to warn you that economics is far more analytic in nature than history, literature, political science, or sociology. On the hand, the mathematics we use in this course is pretty simple. If you did respectably in Math 34A-B, and if you are willing to work hard at the homework and the textbook, you are likely to succeed in this course. The ability to solve problems and to do careful analytical reasoning is a learned skill like skiing or tennis. By the middle of the course you may surprise yourself at how good you are getting at problem solving. Better yet, you are likely to enjoy it. But only if you work hard.