Assignments for PARKES' Principles of Microeconomics class

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Course Assignments:

Week XVI

May 15, 2007:   10:00 am - FINAL EXAM - ALL CHAPTERS COVERED!! 

Week XV

May 8, 2007:   Finish Chapter 20: The Supply and Demand for Labor 

• Wage Determination
  • Marginal Revenue Product - Demand for Labor
  • Influences on the Demand for Labor
  • Supply of Labor - Substitution Effect versus the Income Effect
  • The Backward Bending Individual Supply Curve for Labor
• Review for the Final Exam
• Turn in Assessment Sheets if done

May 10, 2007:   Review and have Free Quiz

• Review
• Take the final TUCE test  - TUCE Results of Test 1
• Turn in Assessment Sheets 

Week XIV

May 1, 2007:   Chapter 12: Continued - Oligopoly

• Oligopoly - Definitions and delineation
• Game Theory:  Otherwise known as strategic behavior
• Dominant Strategies, payoff matix, games
• Prisoner's Dilemma
• Assignment Due Today, May 1: 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 or an ad that only informs readers choices in purchasing a product.

May 3, 2007:   Chapter 20: The Supply and Demand for Labor - Paper #4 DUE

• The class decided that Paper #4 would be today, May 3.
• Factors of Production: Labor - Chapter 20
• Benefits versus wages - Figure 1, p. 416
• Portions of income - Figure 2, p. 416
• Wage Determination
  • Marginal Revenue Product - Demand for Labor
  • Influences on the Demand for Labor
  • Supply of Labor - Substitution Effect versus the Income Effect
  • The Backward Bending Individual Supply Curve for Labor

Week XIII

April 24, 2007:   Chapter 11: Monopoly Continued

• Paper #4 handed out.  The class decided that Paper #4 would be due on May 3.
• Comparing Monopoly to Perfect Competition
• Price Discrimination
• Perfect Competition and Efficiency - Dead Weight Loss
• Natural Monopoly
• Quiz - Monopoly-Perfect Competition Comparison and Natural Monopoly

April 26, 2007:   Chapter 12: Monopolistic Competition - Paper #3 DUE

• The class decided that Paper #3 is due today, April 26.  Please see me if you have any questions/issues.
• Chapter 12: Monopolistic Competition

Week XII

April 17, 2007:   Test III - Chapters 7 - 11

April 19, 2007:   Test Corrections and Paper #3 handed out

The class decided that Paper #3 is due one week from today on April 26.  Please see me if you have any questions/issues.

Week XI

April 10, 2007:   Chapter 10: Perfect Competition Long-Run continued and Chapter 11: Monopoly

• Perfect Competition and Efficiency
• Entry and Exit, Long-run in Perfect Competition
• Increasing Returns to Scale
• Constant Returns to Scale
• Chapter 11: Monopoly - Definition
• Sources of Monopoly: Barriers to Entry and Cost Advantages
• Monopolist's Supply Decision

April 12, 2007:   Chapter 11: Monopoly Continued

• Determining Profit Maximizing output
• Perfect Competition  - revisited
• Four graphs of PC
• Monopoly with a profit
• Barriers to entry revisited

Week X

April 3, 2007:   Chapter 10:  Perfect Competition continued

• Short-run Loss
• Revised Rules
• The Supply Curve for a Perfectly Competitive Firm
• New Handout - Problem Set 4

April 5, 2007:   Entrepreneurship Day - Liff Auditorium - Quiz 12

Week IX

March 27, 2007:   Chapter 8: Marginal Analysis and Profit Maximization

• Definition: Marginal Revenue Product
• Short-run versus Long-run
• Increasing Returns and Decreasing Returns to Scale
• Definitions of Profit
• Market versus the firm
• Breakeven and Shutdown Points

March 29, 2007:   Chapter 10: Perfect Competition 

• Definition of Perfect Competition
• Marginal Analysis
• Marginal Cost equals Marginal Revenue
• MC = MR ( = P) for Profit Maximization
• Short-run Profit

Week VIII

March 20, 2007:   Chapter 7: Cost Curves

• Minimum wages in the states
• Cost and its dependence on output - the inverse of the product curves
• Marginal Cost, Average Variable Cost, Average Fixed Cost and Average Total Cost
• The Law of Diminishing Marginal Productivity - U shaped cost curves

March 22, 2007:   Chapter 8: Marginal Analysis and Profit Maximization

• FREE QUIZ DAY!
• Cost Curves Revisited Day
• Formulas hand out and other stuff
• Article 7.3 - Graphing and Tables - 10 points Problem Set (Due Tuesday if you didn't already hand it in).

March 12-16, 2007:   SPRING BREAK - RELAX AND ENJOY!

Week VII

March 6, 2007:   TEST 2 - Chapters 5, 6 and 7

March 8, 2007:   Review the Test and Chapter 7: Cost Curves and Chapter 8: Marginal Analysis and Profit Maximization

• Quiz after the Test
• PASSIONS PAPER DUE (Paper #2)
• Cost and its dependence on output - the inverse of the product curves

Week VI

February 27, 2007: Finish Chapter 5: Consumer Theory and Chapter 7: Production

• QUIZ first
• Elasticity Homework Due today! Problem Set 2 - 20 points
• Total versus Marginal Utility
• Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility
• Market Demand Curve
• Example of consumer optimum (as on the test)
• Marginal Rate of Substitution, diminishing MRS
• Discuss Paper 1 - What's a student to do? Due March 1 - 25 points
• Paper 2 assignment handed out.
• Due on Thursday, March 1: Value your car at Kelly Blue Book, make sure that I can read the amount it is worth. The print out is due Thursday, March 1 for 5 pts.
• Chapter 7: Production, Inputs and Costs
• Total, Average and Marginal Products - Quiz for next class, graph the curves - Handout

March 1, 2007:    Chapter 7: Production Curves

• Paper 1 Due today! - 25 points
• Kelly Blue Book (or NADA) car valuation printout due.
• Chapter 7: Production, Inputs and Costs
• Total, Average and Marginal Products
• Production Quiz
• Review for Test 2

Week V

February 20, 2007:    WINTER BREAK - Enjoy the long weekend!

February 22, 2007:    Chapter 6: Elasticity -  How sensitive ARE you?  Continued

• Budget due - See Feb. 15
• Determinants of Elasticity: Availiability of Close Substitutes, Nature of the Good, Share of the Budget, Passage of Time
• Income Elasticity
• Cross-Price Elasticity
  • Substitutes
  • Complements
• Elasticity of Supply
• Movement along the demand curve versus shift in demand, revisited
• Elasticity examples

Week IV

February 13, 2007:    Chapter 5: Consumer Choice - continued

• Utility (or Satisfaction) - how people behave
• Maximize Satisfaction
• Budget Constraint
• Income Changes
• Price Changes
• Doubling of Income and Prices
• Axioms revisited
• Indifference Curves defined, Preferred, Indifferent and Not Preferred

February 15, 2007:    Chapter 5: Consumer Choice - continued and Chapter 6: Elasticity - How sensitive ARE you?

• Scarcity and Demand
• Consumer Surplus - what you want versus what you have to pay!
• Budget assignment - fill out the budget sheet (How much am I spending?) and bring the first and results pages to class Thursday, February 22 for 5 pts.  Note that the "How much am I spending?" page can be found by going to fool.com and then the personal finance calculators.
• Utility (or Satisfaction) - how people behave
• Price Elasticity of Demand (Elasticity of Demand)
• The formula
• Types of elastic goods: inelastic, unit elastic and elastic
• Problem Set 2 handed out - Due February 27, 2007 for 20 points.
• Article 1 Assignment handed out, Due March 1, 2007 for 25 points.

Week III

February 6, 2007:    TEST I - Chapters 1 - 4

• See the h: drive for last semester's Macroeconomics Test I

February 8, 2007:    Go over the Test - QUIZ after the test!

• Begin Chapter 5 - Consumer Choice, the three axioms (assumptions)

• CHALLENGE THE ASSUMPTIONS:  Bring an example of where less is preferred to more - must be a good, not a "bad" - make sure to bring in a clipping from a magazine, etc.  Due Tuesday, February 13 for 5 points.

Week II

January 30, 2007:    Finish Chapter 4 and TUCE test - Problem Set I DUE

• Price ceilings
• Discuss the problem set
• Factors of Production and the payments to the factors (Labor, Land, Capital and Entrepreneurship)
• Minimum wage - effective price floors versus ineffective price floors

February 1, 2007:    Chapters 2 & 3:  Production Possibilities Frontiers, Problem Set I handed back

• Read Chapters 2 and 3
• Production Possibilities,  efficiency, equity, comparative advantage and absolute advantage
• Division of Labor and specialization
• Opportunity Cost
• P-P-PEST (Supply Determinants)
• Review for the test.  See the Macroeconomics Principles Test I on the h: drive - Questions?  Please see me. 

Week I

January 23, 2007:  FIRST DAY - Syllabus and Introduction, Chapter 1

January 25, 2007: Problem Set I will be handed out, Supply and Demand

• Chapter 4: Graphing and the determinants of Demand
• P-P-P-PINT and P-P-PEST mnemonic.
• Price floors, equilibrium, surplus and shortages in markets.
• Thre functions of a market and two signals - quiz on Tuesday! 

[Home Page] - [Drew's MSC Page] - [MSC - Dept. Bus. Adm.] - [MSC]
email: aparkes (at) mesastate.edu or drew (at) drewparkes.com
Last Update: May 10, 2007
By Andrew L. H. Parkes, Ph. D.