ECON 201 : Microeconomics
Business and Economics
2024 Semester One (1243) (15 POINTS)
Course Prescription
Course Overview
This is an intermediate microeconomics course designed to give you a comprehensive study and understanding of various decision economic phenomena, building on simple intuition, and developing theoretical constructs, and analytical tools. The course provides a set of microeconomic models for students who are: (1) intending to advance further with economics; and/or (2) expecting to be involved in business and policy elds; and/or (3) interested in humanities and social science and ways of analysing social processes.
This course uses a concise, example-lled approach to intermediate microeconomic theory. For each concept introduced, worked-out examples are oered with step-by-step solutions. The goal of this course is for each student to be able to understand and analyse microeconomics problems and acquire some essential tools for solving standard exercises, through mastering a common approach for solving similar problems. To that end, we will use simple algebra, and step-by-step derivation of each result for each model considered, so only a basic background in algebra is assumed to navigate the material covered in this course.
Course Requirements
Capabilities Developed in this Course
| Capability 3: | Knowledge and Practice |
| Capability 4: | Critical Thinking |
| Capability 5: | Solution Seeking |
| Capability 6: | Communication |
| Capability 8: | Ethics and Professionalism |
Learning Outcomes
- Critically analyse how consumers and producers make decisions in a variety of economic settings; particularly under conditions of uncertainty in consumer choice and the impact of asymmetric information on market outcomes. (Capability 3.1, 3.2 and 4.1)
- Analyse and interpret how markets affect the distribution of resources and deal with problems of externalities that impact individual and social welfare. (Capability 3.1, 3.2 and 5.1)
- Engage in collaborative group work and evaluate via oral communication the nature of and solutions to problems involving consumer choice, firm choice, and the operation of markets. (Capability 3.1, 4.1, 4.2 and 6.1)
- Display independence and integrity by identifying ethical situations and by reflecting on applications of economic tools to address those in a variety of social problems, while understanding the importance of incorporating multiple perspectives when doing so. (Capability 8.1 and 8.2)
Assessments
| Assessment Type | Percentage | Classification |
|---|---|---|
| Reflective Essay | 5% | Individual Coursework |
| Presentation | 10% | Group Coursework |
| Take-home online assessments via Canvas | 30% | Individual Coursework |
| Final Exam | 55% | Individual Examination |
| 4 types | 100% |
| Assessment Type | Learning Outcome Addressed | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |||||||
| Reflective Essay | ||||||||||
| Presentation | ||||||||||
| Take-home online assessments via Canvas | ||||||||||
| Final Exam | ||||||||||
Workload Expectations
This course is a standard 15 point course and students are expected to spend 10 hours per week involved in each 15 point course that they are enrolled in.
For this course, you can expect overall, weekly:
- 3 hours of lectures,
- 1 hour of tutorials,
- an average of 6 hours of reading and thinking about the content, as well as of work on assignments and/or test preparation.
It is important to note that most learning can be achieved during class and tutorial time, plus preparation for both classes and tutorials. Lectures provide a structure to assist your study, introducing the relevant topics, concepts, tools, and providing examples and exercises for you to work on, to begin with. Tutorial time allows you to practice with the self-assessment exercises and selected end-of-chapter exercises on a regular basis. Weekly tutorials will focus on reviewing self-assessed and selected end-of-chapter exercises. The level of diculty of exercises chosen for either tutorial sessions or assessments (take-home tests) will be on the easier side. Even if not assessed on those, students can choose to also practice with more challenging exercises, especially if interested in pursuing further studies in economics. Regardless, the available exercises always give students ample opportunity to apply concepts from previous worked-out examples during class time.
Delivery Mode
Campus Experience
Expectations for this course:
- Attendance is highly recommended at scheduled activities (lectures and tutorials) to succeed in the course.
- Lectures will also be available as recordings, and so will tutorials.
- Final examination - as examinations for other courses - is likely to still occur via Inspera, therefore remotely.
The activities for the course are scheduled as a standard weekly timetable.
Learning Resources
Course materials are made available in a learning and collaboration tool called Canvas which also includes reading lists and lecture recordings (where available).
Please remember that the recording of any class on a personal device requires the permission of the instructor.
Student Feedback
At the end of every semester students will be invited to give feedback on the course and teaching through a tool called SET or Qualtrics. The lecturers and course co-ordinators will consider all feedback and respond with summaries and actions.
Your feedback helps teachers to improve the course and its delivery for future students.
Class Representatives in each class can take feedback to the department and faculty staff-student consultative committees.
We value students' feedback. Timely communication about what students like and would like to see more of, and what they like less and would like to see less of, will make it for a more enjoyable teaching and learning experience, as well as help to improve the design and delivery of future offerings of this course.
Other Information
Please refer to the Canvas site for any updates and announcements about this course. Any important communication will be posted on that site for you to be informed about it promptly.
Course materials are made available in a learning and collaboration tool called Canvas which also includes reading lists and lecture recordings. Please remember that the recording of any class on a personal device requires the permission of the instructor.
Academic Integrity
The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework as a serious academic offence. The work that a student submits for grading must be the student's own work, reflecting their learning. Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced. This requirement also applies to sources on the internet. A student's assessed work may be reviewed for potential plagiarism or other forms of academic misconduct, using computerised detection mechanisms.
Class Representatives
Class representatives are students tasked with representing student issues to departments, faculties, and the wider university. If you have a complaint about this course, please contact your class rep who will know how to raise it in the right channels. See your departmental noticeboard for contact details for your class reps.
Inclusive Learning
All students are asked to discuss any impairment related requirements privately, face to face and/or in written form with the course coordinator, lecturer or tutor.
Student Disability Services also provides support for students with a wide range of impairments, both visible and invisible, to succeed and excel at the University. For more information and contact details, please visit the Student Disability Services’ website http://disability.auckland.ac.nz
Special Circumstances
If your ability to complete assessed coursework is affected by illness or other personal circumstances outside of your control, contact a member of teaching staff as soon as possible before the assessment is due.
If your personal circumstances significantly affect your performance, or preparation, for an exam or eligible written test, refer to the University’s aegrotat or compassionate consideration page https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/exams-and-final-results/during-exams/aegrotat-and-compassionate-consideration.html.
This should be done as soon as possible and no later than seven days after the affected test or exam date.
Learning Continuity
In the event of an unexpected disruption, we undertake to maintain the continuity and standard of teaching and learning in all your courses throughout the year. If there are unexpected disruptions the University has contingency plans to ensure that access to your course continues and course assessment continues to meet the principles of the University’s assessment policy. Some adjustments may need to be made in emergencies. You will be kept fully informed by your course co-ordinator/director, and if disruption occurs you should refer to the university website for information about how to proceed.
Student Charter and Responsibilities
The Student Charter assumes and acknowledges that students are active participants in the learning process and that they have responsibilities to the institution and the international community of scholars. The University expects that students will act at all times in a way that demonstrates respect for the rights of other students and staff so that the learning environment is both safe and productive. For further information visit Student Charter https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/forms-policies-and-guidelines/student-policies-and-guidelines/student-charter.html.
Disclaimer
Elements of this outline may be subject to change. The latest information about the course will be available for enrolled students in Canvas.
In this course students may be asked to submit coursework assessments digitally. The University reserves the right to conduct scheduled tests and examinations for this course online or through the use of computers or other electronic devices. Where tests or examinations are conducted online remote invigilation arrangements may be used. In exceptional circumstances changes to elements of this course may be necessary at short notice. Students enrolled in this course will be informed of any such changes and the reasons for them, as soon as possible, through Canvas.