Assignments for PARKES' Principles of Microeconomics class at UNI
Week XV
April 30, 2004: REVIEW FOR THE FINAL!
Review for the final exam.
April 28, 2004: An individual's supply curve
Backward bending supply curve for labor
.April 26, 2004: Factor Markets
Continue factor demand and supply discussion.
Value of the Marginal Product, Marginal Revenue Product and Marginal Factor Cost
Week XIV
April 23, 2004:
Rent seeking behavior assignment for Monday
Natural Monopoly assignment for Monday.
April 21, 2004: EVALUATIONS DAY!! - Advertising homework due
Factor Markets Introduction
.April 19, 2004: Oligopoly and Game Theory
The Prisoner's Dilemma
A Nash Equilibrium
Week XIII
April 16, 2004: Advertising and Rent Seeking Behavior
Test handed back and reviewed
Assignment Due Monday, April 21: An opinion piece on advertising for 5 points. Does advertising manipulate people's tastes or provide information to make better choices? Support your view!! - which must be at least 2 more sentences (total of at least four sentences). For 5 more points - find and copy (or submit the original) of an ad that manipulates and an ad that only informs readers choices in purchasing a product.
April 14, 2004: Test III: Chapters 12 - 15
.
April 12, 2004: Review for the Test!
Homework and Test review
Week XII
April 9, 2004: Advertising and Monopolistic Competition
Rent seeking behavior
April 7, 2004: Monopoly and Monopolistic Competition
Short-run profit for a monopolistic competitor.
Short-run loss for a monopolistic competitor.
Do Exercises 15.1 and 15.2 in the Checkpoints within the chapter.
April 5, 2004: Introduction to Monopolistic Competition
Price Discrimination - How to increase profit
Policy Issues - a Natural Monopoly and regulation
A basic introduction to Monopolistic Competition
Long-run for a Monopolistic Competitor
Week XI
April 2, 2004: Efficiency - Monopoly and Competition compared
Dead weight loss, consumer surplus and producer surplus revisited for Monopolies.
Rent seeking behavior
March 31, 2004: Monopoly
Short-run profit for a monopolist.
Short-run loss for a monopolist.
Do Exercises 14.1 and 14.2 in the Checkpoints within the chapter.
March 29, 2004: Long-run in a perfectly competitive market
Decreasing and Constant Cost Industries
Introduction to Monopoly
Week X
March 26, 2004: Long-run in a perfectly competitive market - Increasing Cost Industry Case
Perfect Competition in the long-run: Free entry and exit, the assumptions and conclusions.
March 24, 2004: Company web home page and profile due. Short run supply curve.
Short-run profit for a perfectly competitive firm.
Short-run loss for a perfectly competitive firm.
Do Exercises 13.1 and 13.2 in the Checkpoints within the chapter.
March 22, 2004: Chapter 12: Costs review and Chapter 13: Perfect Competition, basics
Review of Cost curves and the calculations.
Problems 7 and 8 at the end of Chapter 12 were handed in for 5 pts.
SPRING BREAK - REELAAXXXX - Alta, Uuuuttaaahhhh - 140" base!
Week IX
March 12, 2004: Free Quiz day
Industry structure: 4 types, Perfect Competition defined. Total, average and marginal revenue and economic profit.
March 10, 2004: Warren's Annual Report 2003
The relationship between cost curves and product curves, long run cost curves, economies and diseconomies of scale, constant returns to scale.
For the Web page assignment due the Wednesday after break, go to CBS Marketwatch.com, put in the "ticker" symbol for your company, click enter and then go to the profile page - make sure that the description of the company fully prints or a point will be deducted.
March 8, 2004: Gas prices around the world!
Chapter 12: Cost curves: short-run Marginal, Average Variable, Average Fixed and Average Total Cost curves
Find a company web page for Wednesday and bring a printout of the page for 5 points.
Week VIII
March 5, 2004: Review the test and begin the Firm's Production and Cost structures
March 3, 2004: TEST II - Chapters 8 through 11
March 1, 2004: Review for Test 2
Chapter 10: Four types of goods: Private goods, Public goods, Common Resources, and Natural Monopolies
Analysis of goods and resources comes from the extent to which they are excludable and rival.
Free rider problem, provision of public goods, and the tragedy of the commons (p. 244) will be discussed.
Week VII
February 27, 2004: NO CLASSES! No office hours - at the Missouri Valley Economics Conference
February 25, 2004: PAPER ASSIGNMENT IS DUE AT THE BEGINNING OF CLASS.
Chapter 9: Externalities: production versus consumption externalities - positive and negative.
Coase Theorem, social costs versus private costs, property rights and government intervention.
Knowledge - private versus social benefits and government intervention.
More or less - extra credit quotes and reflections
February 23, 2004:
Return to Chapter 8: tax incidence and elasticity (potential future quiz), social security and some equity (fairness) issues.
Tax Tables may be found at the IRS web site or from the pdf file.
Week VI
February 20, 2004:
Finish the Indifference curve approach by deriving the demand curve for water for Tina
In class quiz, do problems 3 and 4 in the appendix to Ch. 11: Derive Ben's demand for CDs from his budget constraint and indifference curves.
Tax Tables may be found at the IRS web site or from the pdf file.
February 18, 2004:
Finish consumer theory - quiz on consumer equilibrium and demand.
Appendix to Chapter 11: An Indifference curve approach.
February16, 2004:
Chapter 11: Finish marginal utility theory including deriving Tina's demand curve for water and consumer equilibrium.
Also, see Exercises 3-7 on page 276.
Appendix to Chapter 11: Axioms of Consumer Theory.
Week V
February 13, 2004:
Chapter 11 continued: Indifference curves, marginal utility theory and consumer equilibrium.
Exercises 1 and 2 on page 276 are highly recommended.
February 11, 2004: Assignment III handed out - due Wednesday, February 25th for 30 points.
Begin consumer theory - self-interest, budgeting, buying habits and preferences. How did all of the classes answer the questions? How do you see yourself vis-a-vis the classes? Does that matter (keeping up with the Jones')? The Budget Calculator at the Motley Fool can be found here. We will begin discussion of Chapter 11 on Consumer Choice and Demand.
The paper should be in 12 point Times New Roman font with 1" borders on each side and double spaced.
Tax Incidence handout from Monday's class. Make sure that you know the areas of consumer surplus and producer surplus change due to a tax, the tax revenue and dead weight loss.
February 9, 2004: Homework due (5 pts)
Chapter 8: An introduction to tax incidence including the consumer and producer surplus gains and losses. To be continued after Consumer Theory so that you can begin Assignment III as soon as possible.
Week IV
February 6, 2004: Quiz after the test, as always!
Review the test and compute consumer surpluses and producer surpluses.
February 4, 2004: ALL SECTIONS Test I: Chapters 1, 4-7
After the test for the Wednesday night section: Finish Chapter 7, price ceilings and floors including consumer and producer surplus impacts. Chapter 8: Intro to tax incidence including the consumer and producer surplus impacts.
February 2, 2004: Ground Hog Day!
Finish Chapter 7, price ceilings and floors including consumer and producer surplus impacts. REVIEW for the TEST!
Week III
January 30, 2004: MWF: Pr II is due
Chapter 6: An introduction to consumer and producer surplus as well as the efficiency/inefficiency of markets. You will also note how marginal benefits, demand and consumer surplus are related and similarly, marginal cost, supply and producer surplus. Numerous definitions are included in the chapter.
Chapter 7: Complete our investigation of price ceilings and floors by looking at consumer and producer surplus.
January 28, 2004: (Wed night class) Problem Set II is due
Elasticity discussion continued with supply elasticity.
January 26, 2004:
Total revenue's relationship to price elasticity of demand as well as cross price elasticity and income elasticity will be covered allowing you to complete the problem set.
Computations, elasticity along a linear demand curve and examples of elasticities complete the chapter.
Week II
January 23, 2004: MWF: Pr I is due and Problem Set II handed out, due January 29
Chapter 5: Price elasticity of demand, midpoint formula and discussion of inelastic versus elastic demand curves.
The four influences on price elasticity of demand and why compute elasticity were also covered.
January 21, 2004: (Wed class) Problem Set I will be worked on in class and II handed out
Finish Chapter 4 - Supply determinants, equilibrium, surplus and shortages in markets.
Chapter 7: Government influences in the market on prices and quantities.
January 19, 2004: MLK DAY - No Class
Week I
January 16, 2004: MWF: Problem Set I will be handed out, due January 23
Continuation of our review: Ch. 4 - Supply and Demand determinants
January 14, 2004: Wed: Problem Set I will be handed out, to be worked on in class on January 21
January 12, 2004: FIRST DAY - Syllabus, Chapter 1 and Introduction
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Last Update: April 26, 2004
By Andrew L. H. Parkes, Ph. D.