ECN 311 Syllabus PDF

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ECN 311 Syllabus...

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Syracuse University Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs Department of Economics ECN 311: Intermediate Mathematical Microeconomics Fall 2019

SYLLABUS Class Meetings: MW 12.45-2.05 PM, Eggers 032 Instructor: Leyla D. Karakas Email: [email protected] Office Hours: Tuesdays 2-4 pm and by appointment Office Location: Eggers 133 Teaching Assistant: Jing Li Email: [email protected] Office Hours: Thursdays 2-4 pm Office Location: Eggers 026

Course Description This course studies consumer and producer behavior and market structures. Although the presentation of each topic will begin with a conceptual overview, the emphasis will be on the tools and the analytical foundations of microeconomic analysis that will help the students analyze individual and firm-level decisions in a systematic way using economic modeling tools. At the end of the course, students will be able to utilize economic reasoning and analytical techniques to analyze

individual decision-making and market interactions. Topics to be covered include utility maximization, profit maximization, cost minimization, demand and supply analysis, consumer and producer surplus, and forms of imperfect competition such as monopoly and oligopoly. This course is more analytically intensive than ECN 301 and requires a good knowledge of calculus. Note that ECN 301 and ECN 311 cannot be simultaneously counted toward fulfilling the requirements of the major or the minor.

Prerequisites Students should have taken the principles course or the equivalent. In addition, students should have the necessary calculus skills demonstrated by the successful completion of either one of the following courses: MAT 284, 285, 295 or 296.

Textbook "Intermediate Microeconomics with Calculus" by Hal R. Varian, W.W. Norton Publishers, 2014. (ISBN: 978-0-393-92394-0) The textbook is required and is available at the bookstore (or the internet). You may also find a copy on reserve at the library. I expect each student to read the assigned textbook chapter for each lecture.

Course Requirements Midterm: There will be three midterm exams on September 25, October 23 and November 20, each accounting for 20 percent of your course grade. Midterms are not cumulative. Problem Sets: There will be five problem sets throughout the semester that will account for 15 percent of your course grade. You are allowed to work together on them, but each student must turn in his/her own assignment. These problem sets

are designed to be challenging in order to advance your understanding of the material. Therefore, students are encouraged to seek help from their TA or me when needed. The assignments must be turned in at the beginning of class on the date they are due. The lowest grade on a problem set will be dropped when determining the final grades. Final: There will be a comprehensive final exam on December 11, 2019 from 5.15 PM to 7.15 PM. The final exam accounts for 25 percent of your course grade.

Course Policies Attendance: Although I will not be taking formal attendance in class, it is strongly recommended that you attend each lecture. Fulfillment of course requirements: Serious illness, family emergencies, religious observances or University-sponsored athletic events are the only legitimate reasons a student can miss a midterm or the final exam. Students should contact me to make arrangements as soon as they know that they will be missing an exam. For religious observance excuses, the student should notify me before the end of the second week of classes as per University policy. Failure to turn in a problem set due to one of the above reasons will result in that assignment not being counted towards the overall grade. No late problem sets will be accepted.

Academic Integrity Syracuse University's Academic Integrity Policy holds students accountable for the integrity of the work they submit. Students should be familiar with the policy and know that it is their responsibility to learn course-specific expectations, as well as about University policy. The University policy governs appropriate citation and use of sources, the integrity of work submitted in exams and assignments, and the veracity of signatures on attendance sheets and other verification of participation in class activities. The policy also prohibits students from submitting the same written work in more than one class without receiving written authorization in advance from both instructors. The presumptive penalty for a first offense by an

undergraduate student is course failure, accompanied by a transcript notation that the failure resulted from a violation of Academic Integrity Policy. The standard sanction for a first offense by a graduate student is suspension or expulsion. For more information and the complete policy, see http://academicintegrity.syr.edu.

Accommodations If you believe that you need accommodations for a special need or disability, please contact the Office of Disability Services (ODS), located in Room 309 of 804 University Avenue, or call (315) 443-4498 for an appointment to discuss your needs and the process for requesting accommodations. ODS is responsible for coordinating disability-related accommodations and will issue students with documented Disabilities Accommodation Authorization Letters, as appropriate. Since accommodations may require early planning and generally are not provided retroactively, please contact ODS as soon as possible. You are also welcome to contact me privately to discuss your academic needs.

COURSE SCHEDULE 09/26: Introduction (Chapter 1) 09/28: Budget constraint (Chapter 2) 09/04, 09/09: Preferences, marginal rate of substitution, and utility (Chapters 3 and 4) 09/11, 09/16: Optimal consumer choice (Chapter 5) 09/18, 09/23: Demand (Chapter 6) 09/25: MIDTERM I

09/30: Income and substitution effects (Chapter 8) 10/02: Consumer surplus (Chapter 14) 10/07: Market demand and elasticity (Chapter 15) 10/09: Introduction to firm behavior (Chapter 19) 10/14, 10/16: Short-run and long-run profit maximization (Chapter 20) 10/21: Problem session and review 10/23: MIDTERM II 10/28, 10/30: Cost minimization and duality (Chapter 21) 11/04: Cost curves (Chapter 22) 11/06: Supply (Chapters 23 and 24) 11/11: Market Equilibrium (Chapter 16) 11/13: Monopoly (Chapter 25) 11/18: Problem session and review 11/20: MIDTERM III 12/02: Monopoly continued (Chapter 26) 12/04: Monopsony and Oligopoly (Chapters 27 and 28) 12/11, 5.15-7.15 PM: FINAL EXAM...