Econ 101, Section 8 Principles of Economics Fall 2009 Students are accountable for the information in this syllabus.Lectures occur on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 12:30-1:45 pm in Carroll 111. A calendar or lecture times andtopics is posted on the course web page. Students in Econ 101-008 must be enrolled in a once weeklyrecitation. A schedule of recitation times and Teaching Assistant contact information will be posted on thecourse web page shortly after the start of the semester.InstructorMichael K. Salemi, 204 Gardner HallOffice Hours: Tuesday, 2:00-4:00 pm, Wednesday, 3:00-4:30 pm, and by appointment. Phone: 966-5391 (office), 929-9504 (home)Email: [email protected] Web Page: www.unc.edu/~salemiHow to Obtain Help in the CourseStudents should normally seek help from their assigned Teaching Assistant. When that help is not sufficient,I am available during my office hours, by email and by phone (9:00 am –9:00 pm). Contact information forteaching assistants will be posted on the course web page shortly after the start of the semester. The Goals of the CourseThe purpose of this course is to change the way you look at the world. The course focuses on core economicconcepts and provides opportunities to practice using them in contexts like you will encounter throughoutyour lives. Your success in this course will be determined later in your life when you understand whateconomics has to say about taxes, environmental rules, trade agreements, free markets, unintendedconsequences of well-intended policies, and many other issues. The goal of the course is to help you thinklike an economist in ways that will help you make better decisions. It is up to you to decide how valuable theeconomist’s perspective is.What Students Will Do in This CourseFor each topic, the course combines lectures and hands-on activities such as co-operative learning exercises,simulations, discussions of readings, and writing entries in a course journal. The calendar posted on the webpage gives a day-by-day list of reading assignments. A calendar of recitation assignments is also posted.Important Course DatesSeptember 29 First Midterm ExaminationNovember 3 Second Midterm ExaminationDecember 18 12:00 pm, Final ExaminationDecember 19 9:00 am, Final Exam Makeup for students with excused absences from the final. Note: UNC has scheduled our final exam for the last day of the final exam period. No final exammakeup will be offered before the time of the scheduled exam. The Point Values of Examinations and Graded Course WorkStudents can earn one hundred points in the course. Point values appear in the table.Midterm Exam One 25Midterm Exam Two 25Cumulative Final Exam 30Graded Work in Recitations 10Graded Work in Lectures (Clickers) 10Total 100GradesLetter grades are based on total points and not on an average of the letter grades for course components. Thegrade distribution for the course depends on how well students perform. There is no maximum number ofA’s or B’s. Over the last three years out of 1200 students, 14 percent have earned A’s, 51 percent haveearned B’s, 27 percent have earned C’s, 5 percent have earned D’s and 2 percent have earned F’s. While thegrade distribution for this semester could change in either direction depending on student performance, past percentages provide an idea of my grading standards. Examination and Grading Rules 1. There are no makeup examinations for missed midterm exams. If you must miss a midterm exam,say due to illness, you may be allowed to transfer the missed credit to the final examination. Toqualify for a transfer of credit, you must contact Professor Salemi (not a Teaching Assistant) beforethe start of the missed midterm examination and provide him with an acceptable explanation formissing the exam. Professor Salemi may require you to support your explanation with suitabledocumentation.2. There are no makeup opportunities for credit associated with recitation activities. If you miss therecitation when the graded activity occurs, you will receive zero credit for the activity.3. There are no makeup opportunities for credit associated with clicker activities during lectures. Icount only the highest 90 percent of each student’s clicker assessments to allow for illness, technicalproblems and other unforseen emergencies.Honor CodeI will adhere strictly both to the Honor Code and to UNC procedures for final examinations. No aids of anykind are permitted during examinations. I and my Teaching Assistants reserve the right to demandidentification of any student during any graded course work. The use of cell phones, pagers, computers, orany other unauthorized device during examinations is an explicit violation of the honor code. A student wholies to the instructor in order to gain an academic advantage is in violation of the honor code. For example, astudent who lies to me about the reason for missing an examination is in violation of the honor code.Course JournalStudents are required to keep a course journal. The purpose of the journal is to help students recognize thatwhat they learn in the course is relevant to their lives. At regular intervals, I will assign tasks that requirestudents to make journal entries. We will collect journals near the end of the semester and review them.Students earn points based on the quality and regularity of their journal entries.LecturesA calendar of lecture dates, topics, and reading assignments is available on the course web page. Students areexpected to read the assigned readings in advance of the indicated lecture. During lecture, students willfrequently use their clickers to check their understanding of course concepts, to record their presence atlecture, and to participate in class activities such as auctions and simulations. RecitationsEvery student enrolled in Econ 101-008 is required to also be enrolled in a recitation designated Section 8xx.A calendar of recitation dates, topics, and activities is available on the course web page. Recitations for thiscourse occur on several different days of the week. In some weeks, recitations conflict with UNC holidaysor University Day. In weeks when all recitations can meet, graded work can occur during recitations and caninclude discussions of supplemental readings, quizzes, journal based activities, and exercises. In weekswhen some recitations can not meet, no graded work can occur in recitations that can meet. The recitationcalendar indicates for each week whether