Course Information

Winter, 2006 Sections 2, 4, 8, & 11

Purpose:  This course provides students with a basic understanding of microeconomic theory and practice.  Students gain insight into the roles of markets, principles of prices, and concepts of supply and demand.  The theories of consumer choice, business behavior and resource use will also be explored.

Texts:  Required-- Economics, 16^th Edition, Campbell R. McConnell & Stanley L. Brue, New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc., 2005.  ISBN 0-07-281935-9

Instructor:  Kerry Webb                                                      Email:                 webbke@byui.edu

Office:          Smith 107                                                         Telephone:          Office—496-3007                                                                                                                                   Home—656-9013

Office Hours:     M-F  10:00-11:00 a.m.  Also after class or by appointment.  Drop-ins always welcome.

Participation:    This course is designed to generate thought and discussion.  Your classroom participation is expected.  Please note that I will ask each of you to respond to many questions.  However, if you have physical disabilities that make such participation uncomfortable, please discuss the matter with me or with appropriate personnel in the SSD Office so that reasonable accommodation can be made.  There is no need to suffer in silence.  If you do not understand the principles or concepts discussed, please let me know.

Attendance and Honesty Policies:  Students are expected to attend all classes.  Students may be excused in accordance with the policies described in the Winter 2006 course schedule.  All students have the responsibility to know and abide by the standards of intellectual honesty expected in an academic community and in accordance with BYU-I policies.  All students are expected to abide by both the BYU-Idaho Honor and Dress Codes.

Absences, Lateness and Leaving Class Early:  I often add and discuss material that is not found in the book, so if you are absent from class you should make arrangements to obtain the lecture notes from another class member.  Students coming in late or leaving early are generally disruptive to the class and to me.  Students are expected to be in their seats by the time we have prayer and are expected to remain in their seats for the entire class period.  Except for pre-arranged or emergency circumstances, if you repeatedly come to class late (i.e., after the prayer) or if you leave class early (i.e., prior to the conclusion of our discussion), you will be given a warning from me about the matter.  For every late arrival or early departure after the warning, you will lose the equivalent of a full quiz score.

Assignments and Tests:

Team Assignments: (Note that your team members will provide evaluations about your work effort, contribution and ability to work well with other team members.  These evaluations do have a bearing on final grades.  Negative evaluations will lower your overall grade by two grade steps (i.e., from a B- to a C).

1.  Term Paper—a minimum 7 page paper (double-spaced, font size 12, 1 inch margins where the reference and bibliography pages do not count as part of the 7 pages), written as a team, on the following topic. 

Stuff for Sale—compare and contrast the advertising characteristics (i.e., pricing, products, promotion, service, and niches) of JC Penney (stock symbol: JCP) and Macy’s (one of the department stores owned by Federated Department Stores, Inc., stock symbol: FD), and apply principles of economics to your discussion (such as concepts of demand, elasticity, utility, and market structure). 

The paper must present a unified flow of topics and ideas.  An initial draft of the paper is due March 3, 2006 at 4:00 p.m.  The final paper is due by Wednesday, April 19, 2006, but papers completed by April 10, 2005 receive a 10% bonus.  Papers will be graded based on the following categories: 

·        Thoughts, Analysis, Insight

·        Flow of Concepts/Strength of Arguments

·        Typographical Errors/Grammar Problems

·        Referencing & Sources

2.  Video Advertisement-- each team is required to make a video advertisement appropriate to be shown in class and which conforms to the Honor and Dress Codes.  You are encouraged to use a DVD/CD format so that you can apply various media skills to the advertisement, but VHS format is fully acceptable.  The advertisement must between 30 seconds and 1 minute in length.  All team members must be cast in the advertisement, but others can be used as well.  Videos will be judged on creativity, professionalism, and appeal by students in my senior level Money & Banking class.  Humor is fine, but “joking around” won’t get you any points for this assignment.  Assume your company has just developed a new, revolutionary brand of lipstick.  You are required to give me a new VHS cassette or CD without any other recording on it.  The cassettes/CD will not be returned. If you use a DVD/CD format, you must make sure it works on the classroom instructional devices before it is formally presented for viewing by the judges and classes.  If your media does not work, you will receive no credit for this assignment.  The advertisement is due Wednesday, April 5^th, at 4:00 p.m.

Individual Assignments

3.  Homework— homework is generally assigned for each chapter as we finish it.  However, all homework assignments will be due at the beginning of class on Mondays, regardless of the day we finished the chapter in the prior week.  Please note that you may have more than one homework assignment due on any given Monday.  Two late homework assignments, attached to the "Uh-Oh" sheet, will be allowed during the semester and each late homework must be completed and turned in within one week of the original due date. No other late homework will be accepted, so please don't ask for exceptions.  Homework assignments are linked below.

4.  Quizzes— an in-class quiz is typically given after each chapter.  If you miss a quiz you may make it up at the beginning of the next class period with a 20% penalty.  Except for extraordinary circumstances, make-up quizzes will not be accepted thereafter.  It is your responsibility to notify me if you miss a quiz before I discuss the results in class.  If you don’t notify before that time, you forfeit your opportunity to take the quiz and will receive a zero score. 

5. Midterms and Final—two midterm exams and a final exam will be given.  Both midterms will be in the testing center, while the final exam will be conducted in class.  The final exam schedule is as follows:

Grading Areas:               

                                      Homework                                           5%

                                             Quizzes                                              10%

                                             Term Paper                                        12.5% 

                                             Video Advertisement                        12.5%

                                             2 Midterm Exams & Final                20% each

(Note: Two extra credit projects will be made available on Blackboard, with one completed as team effort and the other is an individual project. You may only do one extra credit project, and if it is done well, it will raise your final grade by one grade step (i.e., from a C to a C+).

Grade Structure: Final grades will be based on performance on the above listed assignments and tests.  Grades will be distributed based on the percentage of the weighted total points possible, as follows:

Course Plan:      The following table lists the tentative study plan for this course.  I reserve the right to make changes to the course content as needed.

Additional Resources and Helps:

·        There are a number of additional books on economics that can be found on the 2^nd floor of the McKay Library, and, of course, there are significant resources available on the Internet.  I would also suggest that you spend some time at www.mcconnell16.com where you can find additional study material, mathematical derivations, PowerPoint’s, sample quizzes and answers to key questions.

·        You may want to obtain some graph paper and some colored pencils/pens for your lecture notes. 

·        After the third week, a weekly tutoring session will be held by my staff assistant, Ray Miller.  Ray is an economics major and is very familiar with all the material we will be covering, including the homework. The day, time and location of this session will be announced in class.

·        Drop-in tutoring sessions are also made available throughout the semester, typically during the afternoon.  Check the department bulletin boards for time and locations.