Spring Semester 2016:
Preliminaries:
- W Jan 13: Pre-Class Assignments: Do them all before the first lecture
- W Jan 20: Introduction: What Is Economics? and What Is Microeconomics?; In-Class Math Quiz
- Section 1: Discuss Dasgupta
Microeconomics: Market Success:
- M Jan 25: Foundations: Choice, Opportunity Cost and Willingness-to-Pay, and Demand and Supply; Letter to GSI Due
- W Jan 27: Equilibrium: Price, Quantity, and Economic Surplus
- Section 2: How to do Problem Set 1
- M Feb 1: Monkeying Destructively: Quotas, Price Ceilings and Floors, and Taxes; Problem Set 1 Due
Microeconomics: Market Failure and Its Correction:
- W Feb 3: Monkeying Constructively: Externalities, Pigovian Taxes, and Property Rights
- Section 3: How to do Problem Set 2
- M Feb 8: Market Power: Monopolies, Oligopolies, and "Local" Market Power
- W Feb 10: Increasing Returns: Natural Monopolies, Non-Rivalry, and Regulation; Problem Set 2 Due
- W Feb 17: INSTRUCTOR REALITY-CHECK MIDTERM
- M Feb 22: Public and Near-Public Goods: Non-Excludibility, and Ancillary Services
- W Feb 24: Hidden Information: Adverse Selection, Moral Hazard, and the Economics of Health Care
- Section 4: How to do Problem Set 3
- M Feb 29: Disequilibrium: Expectations, Search, and Rationing
- W Mar 2: Behavioral Economics: Systematic Miscalculation and Nudges; Problem Set 3 Due
- Section 5: How to do Problem Set 4
Microeconomics: Malign Market Success:
- M Feb 7: Social Welfare: Maldistribution, Inequality, Surplus, Desert, Utility, and Fairness
- W Mar 9: Government Failure: Rent-Seeking, Public Choice, and Bureaucracy
- Section 6: Moral philosophy discussion
Microeconomics: Summing Up:
- M Mar 14: REVIEW: Problem Set 4 Due
- W Mar 16: MICRO MIDTERM
- M Mar 21: Spring Vacation Assignment: Slee, Nobody Makes You Shop at Wal-Mart, and Friedman and Director Friedman, Free to Choose
Macroeconomics: Business Cycles:
- M Mar 28: Introduction: What Is Macroeconomics?
- W Mar 30: The Business Cycle: "Say's Law", and "General Gluts"
- Section 7: What went wrong on the micro midterm/political economy discussion
- M Apr 4: The Circular Flow of Economic Activity: Components of Planned Expenditure; Leveraging and Deleveraging
- W Apr 6: Aggregate Demand: Working with the Income-Expenditure Framework
- Section 8: How to do Problem Set 5
Macroeconomics: Macroeconomic Policy:
- M Apr 11: Fiscal Policy: Making "Say's Law" True in Practice I; Problem Set 5 Due
- W Apr 13: Monetary Policy: Making "Say's Law" True in Practice II
- Section 9: How to do Problem Set 6
- M Apr 18: Inflation: Output Gaps, Inflation Gaps, and Expectations
Macroeconomics: Managing the Mixed Economy:
- W Apr 20: The Long Run: Rightsizing the Government, and Long-Run Economic Growth; Problem Set 6 Due
- Section 10: How to do Problem Set 7
- M Apr 25: Where We Are and Where We Are Going: The Macroeconomic Past and Future: 2000-2033;
Conclusion:
- W Apr 27: FINAL REVIEW CLASS
- Section 11: Review of the course
- M May 2: NO LECTURE: Problem Set 7 Due
- W May 4: Reading Period Assignment: Seabright, In the Company of Strangers
- F May 6: Final Paper Due
- M May 9: Pre-Exam Q & A
- F May 13: FINAL EXAM
How Markets and Governments Go Wrong:
- Externalities
- Market Power
- Non-Rivalry and Increasing Returns
- Non-Excludibility and Public Goods
- Adverse Selection and Moral Hazard
- Maldistribution
- Miscalculation
- Disequilibrium
- Rent Seeking
- Bureaucracy