What its all about?

Economics 100B continues your introduction to 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.

Class Attendance and Clickers

My experience is that class attendance and participation  is an important ingredient for successful learning. It is also important that you do the assigned reading before the class meets.  In this class, you will be issued radio-frequency transmitters with which you can respond to questions projected on the screen.   Your responses will be recorded and will count toward your course grade. You will receive some credit simply for attending and responding to clicker questions.  You will receive additional credit for getting answers right.   Some of the questions will check whether you have done the required reading in advance of the class .   Other questions will test for your grasp of material presented in the current lecture.   More details

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.

Required Online Homework !

Important: This term we introduce an additioal  learning tool--online homework and practice exercises.  These exercises are similar to problems that are found in Workouts, and you can use your copy of Workouts as a resource to help you do the problems.  You will also find nice  explanations of answers to practice problems at the online site.  You are required to register for this site (registration is online and will cost $15) and to turn in regular homework online.  Details are found  at this link.




 


 

Quizzes and Final examination

There will be two 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.

Leave your cell phone at home.  No cell phones are allowed in the room during quizzes.   Anyone found using a cell phone during an exam  will be asked to leave and  will score a zero on that quiz.

Exams will have some true-false and multiple choice questions, but there will also be questions where you  need to write out the answer.    The best way to prepare for these questions is to do the problems in Workouts.

Cheating will not be tolerated in this class.  Last quarter, three Econ 100B students were caught cheating.
As a result, they failed the course and were suspended from the university.  Do not let this happen to you.

The final examination will be given at the time announced in the official university time schedule.  The final   covers  material from the entire quarter. 

Grades

Your score for the course will be a weighted average of your score on the  two quizzes, the  final exam,
the homework, and your clicker scores.   The weights are  20% for each quiz and 35% for the final exam,
15% for homework, and 10% for clicker score.    Homework must be turned in on time to receive credit. There will be no makeup quizzes or final exams.  If you miss one quiz, I will base your grade on a weighted average of your other quiz, the homework, and the final exam.  If you miss two quizzes you will fail the course.
 
The economics department has not succumbed to grade inflation.    The final grade distribution depends on absolute performance levels in the class, but the usual expectation is that about 15% of the class will receive
grades in the A range, 30% grades in the B range and 30-40% will receive grades in the C range.

Work Load

Many  economics students find 100A and 100B to be  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 100B.

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 100A, 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.