Instructor: Vinish Shrestha
Email: vshrestha@towswon.edu
Setting: Online
Economics is a versatile discipline such that the concepts of economics can be blended together with a wide spectrum of disciplines, including but not limited to mathematics, political science, medicine, law, psychology and environmental studies. At the same time, it is a comprehensive subject with various subfields of its own, including but not limited to Health Economics, Law and Economics, Labor Economics, Computational Economics and Development Economics (to name a few on the list).
This probably is your first course in economics (for many of you). This course is designed to provide theoretical underpinnings in economics through practical examples.
This course will expose you to a variety of (economic) problems that economists face. Over the course we will try and absorb knowledge to recognize the origins of economic issues and some evident problems around us through means of models, practical examples resembling real life events, data and problem solving exercises.
I will try and begin each chapter with a pressing problem, and we will work ourselves backwards to learn economic tools suited to understand and get to the core of such problems. Please note that there will be different ways to solve a given problem and I very much appreciate if your way is different. After all, we want to learn economics as we experience – in a setting where agents interact with one another and also with nature – and each of us have different experiences.
Note that any form of knowledge comes from self-education; please be prepared to spend a substantial amount of time reading and going over the problem sets.
We will be using ``The Economy’’ from the Core Project as a text to guide us along the semester. This is an open-source textbook and is freely available (zero monetary cost) online. You can find the link here.
Note that this is an online class, so I will not be holding conventional lectures. You are required to go over the text on your own. All of my lecture notes will be posed on blackboard or you can follow the link here. However, I will be posting short videos that goes over examples to aid you with the problem sets.
The grading criteria is as follows:
Table 1.| Criteria | Points | % Total Grade |
|---|---|---|
| Exam I (Sept 25) | 200 | 20 |
| Exam II (Nov 2) | 200 | 20 |
| Exam III (Dec 8) | 200 | 20 |
| Problem Sets | 400 | 40 |
| Total | 1000 | 100 |
Problem Sets. There will be a total of 10 problem sets, which will comprise 40% of your grade, and you need to solve them in groups. The groups will be randomly announced by me and you will retain the same group for every 2 problem sets, after which new groups will be assigned. The announcement of groups will be posted on Blackboard.
When you submit a problem set, the following needs to be kept in mind: i) One submission per group (for example, if there is a group of 5, only one problem set solution needs to be turned in), ii) you need to contribute (if you try and free ride your way through, I will give you a zero), iii) all problem sets need to be typed in neatly, and iv) they need to be turned in via blackboard.
In this kind of group work, there will certainly be a tendency to free ride – meaning that you try and avoid working by letting your friend do most of the work. For each person in a group, I will be sending out a peer evaluation survey, which you need to fill out. For example, say, you and I are in a group; we will each receive a survey in which I evaluate your contribution and you evaluate mine. Now, if a student “X” is consistently getting low evaluations, I will penalize the score of that particular student, and if I have to do this, it will definitely affect your grade.
The other reason why you should not be free riding off of your peer is because the problems in your assignments will be very similar to the problems on your exams. But note that your peers will not be there to help you during your exams. So, I request everyone to learn honestly, this is a great opportunity to learn from your peers; but you will not be learning at all if you choose a dishonest path.
The homework due dates are as follows:
| Problem set # | Due date |
|---|---|
| 1 | Sept 4 |
| 2 | Sept 11 |
| 3 | Sept 18 |
| 4 | Sept 25 |
| 5 | Oct 2 |
| 6 | Oct 16 |
| 7 | Oct 30 |
| 8 | Nov 6 |
| 9 | Nov 20 |
| 10 | Dec 4 |
Exams. There will be three exams on the dates mentioned in Table 1. All of the exams will be held online and you will not be allowed to communicate with one another. The exams will be posted on blackboard on the given dates at 6 am but will disappear by 11:59 pm; you can take the exam anytime in between these hours. But, please make sure that you have enough time to take your exam.
I will make an annoucement regarding the exam a week prior to the exam date. I want to make it clear that I will not be reopening the exams if you miss them for no valid reason. The three exams will comprise 600 points out of the total 1000 points.
Blackboard. We will be using blackboard to communicate. I will post my lectures, videos, homework assignments and all relevant materials of the course on blackboard. You can also find the lecture notes on my webpage here.
Email. The easiest way to reach me is through email. My email address is mentioned on top part of the syllabus. I will try my best to answer your emails within two business days. If you have any questions about the homework, please email me during the week days or come to see me during the office hours as I will not be answering emails during the weekends.
Office Hours in Blackboard Collaborative. I will have virtual office hours 2 hours each week to guide you through the materials. Again we will be using blackboard collaborative to do this. I will announce the designated days and hours, and we need to be consistent with the timing.
Feedback. I will be conducting several feedback sessions to the entire class in terms of what we have learned, your performance and such. You should be able to keep track of your grade on blackboard. Now, if something (your score) is not recorded, please send me an email. However, blackboard does not accept anything that is past due and I cannot fix this for you.
As per the University’s requirement, you are required to complete the teaching evaluation at the end part of the course. I will make an announcement during the class as well, when those are out.
All students need to work honestly. If I find that you are showing dishonest behavior such as cheating, copying work, or free riding off of your peers’ work, I will take harsh actions, which may lead to you failing the course.
The course materials will be divided into 3 parts.
Exam 1 (Sept 25) (problem set 4 practice for Exam 1)
Lecture 5. Property and power: Mutual gains and conflict (problem set 6)
Lecture 6. The firm: Owners, managers, and employees (problem set 7)
Exam 2 (Nov 2)
Lecture 7. The firm and its customers (problem set 8)
Lecture 8. Supply and demand: Price-taking and competitive markets (problem set 9)
Lecture 9. Markets, efficiency, and public policy (problem set 10)
Final Exam (Dec 8)
October 19: Last day to drop a course with no grade posted to academic record.
November 25 - 29: Thanksgiving Holiday.