Economics 1014 Principles of Microeconomics Spring 2024 Credit Hours 3 Prerequisites None Instructors Eric Parsons Associate Teaching Professor W108 Locust Street Building Tabitha Chikhladze Assistant Teaching Professor W110E Locust Street Building Instructor Office Hours By Appointment Course email address econ1014 missouri edu Course Catalog Description A broad survey of microeconomics from the basic market model and its many applications to market failures and policy responses Topics include potential trade offs between efficiency and equity in competition and trade policy determinants of wage differentials poverty and inequality and evaluation of the benefits and costs of government interventions in markets Why Economics The discipline of economics provides a rigorous and scientific approach to addressing the most important local national and global issues of our times Economic relations not only shape social and political institutions but are also the primary sources of transformations to these institutions Therefore the study of economics is vital to understanding causes and consequences of the disruptive forces of globalization inequality and poverty Moreover the theoretical and empirical tools of economists are indispensable for competent policy analysis and evaluation For this reason economists are often the most prominent and influential policy advisors in Washington DC and around world Goals of the Course This course provides an introduction to microeconomics the study of decision making processes of households and firms Students will learn to systematically and objectively analyze complex and controversial issues relating to equity and efficiency in modern society The economic way of thinking fosters critical thinking and generates insights about the manner in which people interact through markets and business relationships In the first part of this course students will become familiar with the workings of markets and the interplay of market forces and policy interventions such as price controls quotas taxes and subsidies The remainder of this course examines different sources of market failure and associated public policies Topics include market power and price discrimination labor markets and earnings differentials environmental harms and regulation and the causes and consequences of poverty and inequality Throughout this course students will analyze contemporary and classic public policy debates about market distributions of resources and government redistribution through the lens of equity and efficiency Diversity Intensive Requirement This course satisfies the DI requirement for students in the College of Arts and Sciences by intentionally and intensively focusing on 1 how markets and government policy interventions in markets affect the well being of different groups i e workers consumers investors rich and poor 2 the causes of differential economic outcomes across groups including patterns of poverty and inequality in the United States and 3 critically evaluating differing perspectives on policy options aimed at alleviating these disparities 1 Teaching Assistants Vahid Shadram Head TA Mehuli Paul Jacob Fajen Zara Tola Thomas Nauman Andrew DeVenney Cade McKnelly Reagan Swatosh Lena Niblett TA Office Hours Monday 2 5PM Middlebush 211 Monday 5 7PM Middlebush 305 and 308 Joint with Tiger Tutors Thursday 2 5PM Geology 111 Thursday 5 7PM Middlebush 305 and 308 Joint with Tiger Tutors Learning Center Resources The Learning Center provides several free resources to help you succeed in Principles of Microeconomics These include Tiger Tutors o Free drop in tutoring open to all students No appointment required o Spring 2024 Economics Tiger Tutors sessions are Monday Thursday from 5 7 p m in Middlebush 305 and 308 Academic Coaching o Open to all students o Get help with study skills metacognition and other useful skills to help you become a better student NetTutor o Schedule appointments through MU Connect o Free online tutoring o Login with your PawPrint and password o Work with a live tutor submit questions to a Q A center or access archives of previous sessions If you have questions about any of the above resources please feel free to email the Learning Center at lc missouri edu Canvas Discussions In addition to TA office hours another excellent way to get your course questions answered is on the Discussions forum of the Canvas course site As students often have difficulties over the same concepts and questions in the course it is likely that any questions you have may have already been answered on the Discussions forum Discussions forum questions will be answered by a TA or an instructor at least once daily excluding weekends and the days following an exam to assure that all posts are responded to within 24 hours We also encourage students to respond directly to other student questions Not only does this help your fellow classmates and speed up response times but it is also a great way to obtain a higher level understanding of the course material Course Attendance In person attendance for lectures is strongly encouraged and will be required to answer iClicker questions more on this below Moreover the lecture will not be live streamed via Zoom 2 Achieve AutoAccess Automatic for all enrolled students No bookstore trip required https itunes apple com us app iclicker reef id899690067 mt 8 https play google com store apps details id com mnv reef hl en US https itunes apple com us app canvas student id480883488 mt 8 https play google com store apps details id com instructure candroid hl en US Required Materials and Technologies Cowen and Tabarrok Modern Principles Microeconomics 5 E e book iClicker Student App Canvas Student App Packback Subscription AutoAccess All of the required materials and technologies are discussed in more detail below Textbook and LaunchPad The electronic textbook in this course is Cowen and Tabarrok Modern Principles Microeconomics 5 E In addition we will be making extensive use of learning software aligned with the textbook called Achieve Achieve is an online platform designed to help you engage with the content of this course as well as access the e book for Cowen Tabarrok s Modern Principles Microeconomics 5th edition and complete homework assignments and Marginal Revolution University assignments Below are a couple of links to help you get started How to Download your Achieve e book to read offline An Introduction to Adaptive Quizzing for