Economics 4011

Spring 2012 (material from other quarters)

by Rohan Dutta and David K. Levine

All materials distributed in class, plus slides from the lectures and due dates will be available at this web site. For information about how to access the material on this site, click here. Changes in the course and other course news can be found here.

Discussion, announcements and news

Exam rules and tips

Information on accessing material from this site

Course schedule and slides from lectures

Contact information and office hours for the Professor and TAs

Background Reading: Pure Exchange General Equilibrium; Production Theory

This is the intermediate level microeconomics course for economics majors. It covers the basics tools required for economics, and is relatively mathematical.

FORMAT: The course has two instructors each of whom will give half the lectures and will be jointly responsible for the content and grading of the course.

PREREQUISITES: You must have Economics 103 and Mathematics 131 and 132. You are also expected to be at least concurrently enrolled in the mathematics for economists course Economics 493. We will make serious use of calculus. We will do differentiation, simple equation solving, and a limited amount of integration. It is crucial that you feel comfortable with these operations. If calculus is something you once knew but are now fuzzy on, you will find this course difficult.

TEXTS: The OPTIONAL text is Martin Osborne An Introduction to Game Theory.

LECTURES AND SECTIONS: You are responsible for all material covered in lecture and section meetings as well as the required reading.

SLIDES: The main resource for the class are the slides which can be found on the course schedule page. These are the slides used in lecture, and you are encouraged to print them out and bring them to class to take notes on. You may wish to print more than one slide on a page: Adobe Acrobat allows you to do this from the print menu. Click on the "properties" button. The next dialog will give you the option to select the number of "pages per page" that you would like to print.

GRADING: There will be 4-5 ungraded problem sets with answers. You will be graded on two midterms and the final exam. The final exam is equal to the midterm and will last 1 1/2 hour just like the midterms. Each midterm and the final counts 1/3rd of your grade. If you get a higher grade on a later exam that replaces your grade on an earlier exam. So if you get an A on the final, you get an A on the two midterms, and an A in the class. If you get a B on the first midterm and a B+ on the second midterm, it is the same as getting a B+ on both midterms, and so forth. As a result the first two midterms are optional: if you don't take them the grades are replaced by grades on later exams. There are no makeup midterms - if you miss a midterm for any reason the makeup is the next exam. The final is scheduled at the beginning of the semester. If you will have any problem attending, including many exams on the day of the final, do not take this class. Only unanticipated health or personal problems are a possible excuse for missing the final - if there is an unanticipated problem please contact one of the instructors to discuss the matter. It is never possible to take any exam before the rest of the class under any circumstances.

EXAMS: Dates of the exams are given in the course schedule. The midterm is given in class. The final exam is mandatory. You must take the final exam on the scheduled day and time - check your schedule before enrolling in the class to make sure this will not be a problem.

REGRADING: We are always happy to talk to you about how exams are graded. If a score has been tallied incorrectly, we will gladly correct it. Otherwise, if you feel your exam has been graded unfairly, you should bring it to me (and not to the TA). In each case you must submit the entire assignment for regrading, you may not just ask to get extra points for a particular question. If errors in your favor are discovered, you may receive a lower grade. It is not fair to ask for a few more points on a particular question because it might net you a higher grade in the class, but we are all concerned that your grade fairly reflect your performance in the class. Please do not ask us what the cutoff is for the next highest grade. NO EXAM SUBMITTED IN PENCIL IS ELIGIBLE FOR REGRADING.

EXAM EQUIPMENT: We will issue bluebooks for the exam. Do all scratchwork in the bluebook. You must use pen. Do not remove pages or erase: simply put a line through errors or scratch work. Calculators are not allowed, rulers are OK.

EXAMS TIPS: Several tips for getting the best possible score on exams.

You must explain your answer: few points are awarded for correct answers without explanation. An incorrect numerical answer together with a correct explanation will get most of the possible points.
When you are asked for an equilibrium (Nash, subgame perfect) the correct answer is the strategies, and not the payoffs. For example, (5,4) are equilibrium payoffs; (L,R) are equilibrium strategies. If you are simply asked for an equilibrium this always means the equilibrium strategies: (L,R) would get full credit while (5,4) would only get partial credit.
Do not consider the answer sheets to problem sets and past exams a guide to writing a good answer. These are just notes to help you understand how to do the problem. A good answer must clearly communicate to the person reading the exam how your reached the conclusion, and what conclusion your reached. If you communicate poorly, you will not get a high grade. Remember: all we see is what you write on the paper.
Do not do your work on the exam sheet we distribute. You will get credit only for what is in the blue book.

CORNERSTONE: Some students have registered with Disability Resources and receive exam accommodations consisting of extra time to take the exam. If you are such a student you must take the exam at Cornerstone and you must take the exam under the exact same rulesas other students in the class. In particular: you must start the exam at the same time as the rest of the class, you may neither start earlier nor later. If you arrive late, that reduces the amount of time you have to work on the exam. You may take a break if you need to, but that break counts against the time you have to work on the exam - if you take a ten minute break during a three hour exam, then you are only allowed two hours and fifty minutes on the exam. On the final exam you also must follow the same rules as the rest of the class. That means you have one and half hours plus whatever additional allowance you are entitled to. You must also follow any special instructions written on the exam. Proctors will be given instructions to make sure that these rules are followed, but it is your obligation to follow the rules regardless of what the proctors do. If there are problems with the proctoring you should report by email what happened as soon after the exam ends as it is practical. Like other students you are entitled to ask questions about the exam: if you have a question contact Carissa Re at 314-935-9529 and she will put you in touch with one of us.