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Economics: Katherine Gumbert and Kevin Leslie

Course Overview:

Economics is an inescapable part of our everyday lives. Should you go to college or open an Internet start up company? Will a rise in oil prices affect your plans for a pre-college cross-country road trip?
 Microeconomics studies how individuals and firms decide to spend their time and money. Macroeconomics looks at large-scale economic phenomena, like unemployment and inflation. This course is designed to give you a basic overview of both micro and macroeconomics. Topics covered will include supply and demand, labor markets, inflation, the stock market, and the monetary system.

Text

 Principles of Economics (4th edition) by N. Gregory Mankiw 

Course Requirements

Daily Homework and Class participation

 Most nights there will be assigned reading from the textbook and application problems from either the text or the study guide. Each assignment should be done on a separate sheet of paper. Make sure to date each assignment. You are expected to come to class each day having done the previous night's homework and prepared to participate in discussions and simulations. There will be spot checks of homework.

Late homework assignments will not be accepted.

Although students are encouraged to work together and to discuss the material covered in class, they are expressly forbidden to copy each other’s homework.

All homework assignments can be found at the class work space on First Class.

Weekly Quizzes

(approximately 15%)

Brief quizzes will be given approximately once a week. The lowest quiz score of the semester will be automatically dropped.

Tests

(approximately 45%)

Tests will be given approximately every 3 1/2 weeks. Tests will usually cover 4 chapters. They will generally include multiple choice questions, analytical problems, and short answer questions.

Practice quizzes can be found at the official website for the textbook. You must first create an account using the serial number found in the front of your textbook.

Senior Option : You may opt not to take one of the tests. You must tell me at least one day in advance if you wish to drop a test.

Stock Market Simulation

(approximately 20%) 

Beginning in early October we will run an online stock market simulation. Students, in groups of 2-3, will purchase and maintain two separate portfolios. At the conclusion of the simulation each group will submit a detailed report on their portfolios, which will include their research and analysis for each trade and an overall assessment of their investment strategy.