That's me ;-)

Economics & Statistics
 Summer term 2012 - 20 July 2012
ECONOMICS I -- Introduction to Economics, Microeconomics -- BIM 2nd semester Summer Term 2012

Basic Material:

Literature: The course is based on the textbook of Sloman: Economics. (8th edition, February 2012 - Links to Pearson-bookshop and catalogue).
To access the material on the book webpage (of 7th ed.) go to: http://media.pearsoncmg.com/intl/ema/ema_uk_he_sloman_econ_7e/pages/textbook_resources_index.htm to access most of the material available for the textbook).     

+ you are invited to consult other (literature) sources - for your presentation (at least three additional sources) as well as for the general work in class, preparation, homework ... (the best might be to take some time in the library starting at the very shelf where our book is located and look around - books about general Economics as well as specific books about Microeconomics can both be helpful. Some first examples:
- Mankiw "Principles of Economics"
- Case Fair Oster “Principles of Macroeconomics” 10th ed.
- David Begg and Damian Ward: "Economics for Business".

In this module, we use the AULIS, the E-Learning-Platform of the Hochschule Bremen. The group is Repository (=Magazin) » Faculty 1: Business Sciences (School of Int. Business - SIB) » Business Studies / Int. Management (BIM BA) » BIM 2 - Microeconomics - summer term 2012. We are going to use this group for our internal communication and the uploads of the students.
-> please kindly upload a picture to your AULIS profile, thank you.

Assessment:
The assessment is a LEARNING PORTFOLIO. This is a relatively new type of assessment in which the students document their own responsibility for their learning process and learning outcome.
Theoretical definition from the module handbook:  "A Learning Portfolio consists of several parts which may include individual as well as team results. Part of the final performance are the reflective statements in which the teams and every student critically reviews and evaluates the individual and teams' learning process as well as the roles of the different topics and partial assessments.
   These partial assessments may be essays, concept papers, individual or team presentations, web pages, web logs, reflected literature research in form of documented bibliographies, own analyses including the documentation of case studies, applied methods, term papers, oral/written tests/exams or also other types that can be proposed to the lecturer. Normally 2 to 4 of these types are selected."
Required parts of the Learning Portfolio in this class will be discussed at the beginning of the semester they might be subject to change / discussion during the semester.

One part of the assessment is a team presentation about one chapter of the book (Sloman, preliminary dates see below). It is expected, that you present (and quote of course) additional material (for example the literature listed above) and examples. Presentations should be delivered by groups of 3 - 4 students and take between 20 and 30 minutes. The groups are formed in January (by registering in AULIS !) to give you the possibility to prepare your presentation during the spring break. It is expected that you provide a handout. No additional paper has to be delivered. See here for the Marking Criteria for Presentations and an example result for our discussion in class "What makes a good presentation". If you did not enrol for a presentation up to now please do so as soon as possible - using the AULIS forum mentioned above.
Please recall that the material for the presentation (handout and ppt) has to be delivered on the Saturday before the presentation, so everyone has the possibility to download and print the material on time. If a team fails to deliver the material in time this will lead to a reduction in the mark.

Another part of the assesment is the weekly team-homework, see table below.             ----> Further information about the ... "AssessmentSoSe12.docx"   <----

8th. ed.:

Tentative Schedule

No week date presentation Unit - topics (Preliminary Schedule) Material
1 1 (Wed) 11 April  

Introduction: Basic problems - Objectives (of Economics / economic policy)

Organisational issues: schedule, assessments, online-learning

Homework for next Wednesday (see table below)
Teamwork about Mankiws "Ten Principles of Economics" and part from B. Obama "The Audaciy of Hope" (p. 176-184) (also see the current debate in the Economist)

Welcome.ppt
"Basic Concepts"
Economics @ Wikipedia

You have to DOWNLOAD and PRINT the READER to do the homework !
2 1 (Thurs) 12 April  

(no class due to a business trip)

=> please use the time to prepare your team-homeworks for next Wednesday AND Thursday (see table below)

 
3 2

18 April

  

Teams' Presentation of Mankiws "Ten Principles of Economics" & Obama text.

Introduction: Basic problems; economic systems

Introduction: economic systems
Objectives of economic policy and political systems.

- Hierarchy of goals in market economies
- "Wall Street" @ Wikipedia
- See also the quotations of T. Friedman

Please use the online resources, tests and case studies on the Sloman webpage (see above)

4 2 19 April (no pres. 1)

PART A: INTRODUCTION
1: Introducing economics
Economic systems
Objectives of economic policy and political systems.  

Please check whether the registrations to the presentations are correct - and let me know any changes as well as further registration.
Please accept other (international) students into your teams !

 
5 3 25 April (D 204)  

Teams for presentations
+ presentation methods & strategies
("What makes a good presentation?"; also check the Marking Criteria)

PART A: INTRODUCTION
1: Introducing economics

Thanks to all of you who uploaded their expectations in time!

 - Marking Criteria for Presentations
- "What makes a good presentation"
6 3 26 April  

Economic systems
Objectives of economic policy and political systems.  

PART B: FOUNDATIONS OF MICROECONOMICS 		  
7 4 2 May (D 204) (no Pres. 2) 2: Supply and demand (just a reminder: there are many textbook-resources available online)
8 4 3 May Pres. 3 3: Markets in Action (6th ed: Government intervention in the market)  
9 5 9 May  

3: Markets in Action (6th ed: Government intervention in the market)
-> Elasticity

External links:
ERS Glossary,  Price Elasticity of Demand, Income Elasticity, Excel-File with empirically measured Elasticities (xls 13 MB, zip 1,3 MB) from Defra
10 5 10 May                          - no class - (Hans Diers Symposium in Bremen)  
11 6 16 May  

3: Markets in Action (6th ed: Government intervention in the market)
-> Elasticity

  
12 6 17 May                          Ascension day - no class -  
13 7 23 May Pres. 4 PART C: MICROECONOMICS
4: Background to demand		  
14 7 24 May   4: Background to demand  
15 8 30 May Pres. 5  5: Background to supply  
16 8 31 May   5: Background to supply The production process 
17 9 6 June Pres. 6 6: Profit maximising under perfect competition and monopoly  
18 9 7 June  

(5: Background to supply -> Profit Maximisation)
6: Profit maximising under perfect competition and monopoly

7: Profit maximising under imperfect competition: Oligopoly
Review / Repetition and questions - chapters 4-7 (and also 1 (Mankiw) - 3)

 
19 10 13 June
guest lecturer
Dr. Michael Kopp
 SiB Business Week
"Finanz- und Staatsschuldenkrise - Auf dem Weg hinaus"
  
20 10 14 June   SiB Business Week: no class, but please participate and attend the programme !

Excursus: Standards for academic work / quotations:
One possibility (=there are others): "Harvard style" -> Skills 4 Learning (C) Leeds Metropolitan University): "Quote, Unquote" Quotation guide -> more material in our Aulis-group (two zip-files, both are needed - unpack them and open index.html)

21 11 20 June Pres. 7 (7.3, 7.4) 7: Profit maximising under imperfect competition -> Game Theory  
22 11 21 June Pres. 8

8: Alternative theories of the firm

Finishing chapters 6 & 7: Oligopoly and Game Theory
+ review and your questions - esp. about capters 4 - 6

Movie "A beautiful Mind" about John F. Nash

 For Module Exercise: VWL1-MicroExamWS11-12.doc (test of last semester)
23 12 27 June Pres. 9

9: The theory of distribution of income

+ discussion of time schedule

 
24 12 28 June  

Finishing chapters 6 & 7: Oligopoly and Game Theory
+ review and your questions - esp. about capters 4 - 6

 The production process, Functions of Competition
25 13 4 July Pres. 10 10: Inequality, poverty and policies to redistribute incomes  
26 13 5 July   Review chapters up to 10
11: Markets, efficiency and the public interest		  
27 14 11 July Pres. 11 11: Markets, efficiency and the public interest
     + review and your questions		  
28 14 12 July Pres. 12 12: Applied microeconomics
     + review of last chapters ++ and your questions 		 
29 15 18 July  

YOUR questions + Review and conclusion
Exam preparation - summary and questions

  
30 15 19 July  

YOUR questions

Final Test (30 minutes)

Feedback (Teamwork)

(Contents_of7th_edition.doc)

The solution of the exam we discussed in class has been updated as well
    31. July   Test - 2nd date /resit --> Tue, 31. July 10.15, room B 101  

 

The "Module Exercise" takes place every week. Starting in week 3 (from 26 April on) the teams will be divided into two groups so every student has a module exercise every two weeks. We formed 6 teams and every team / group is assigned tasks for the next session and is expected to present the results.
The module exercise is part of your individual workload, the lecturer won't deliver new information there; he will only moderate the sessions. The tasks of the module exercise normally refer to the topics discussed in the last week(s). The numbers in the table below normally refer to the chapter in the textbook (Sloman: "End of chapter questions" = EoC).
The exercises discussed in the module exercise are relevant for the individual as well as the teams grades and they also show the topics of the test. If the students deliver results or approaches to the solution, we'll discuss the correct solution in class. If no approaches are presented, the task will not be discussed in class but nevertheless stay relevant for the test.
Teams:

Date:

 


All students

            

names of students /

            
Wednesday ! 18 April (in the lecture - as an exception)

Mankiws "Principles" & Obama text - presentation in class:
-> What's it about?
-> OWN example(s)
1-2
3-4
5-6
7-8
9-10
Obama
19 April (in normal Module Exercise)

Mankiw: "Problems and Applications"
ALL-> No. 17 ONE example !
Sloman p 29 (End of chapter 1 questions)
5 and 6
13-15
10-12
7-9
4-6
1-3
26 April

Mankiw: "Problems and Applications"
ALL-> No. 17 ONE example !

No. 17 ONE example ! No. 17 ONE example ! No. 17 ONE example ! No. 17 ONE example ! No. 17 ONE example ! No. 17 ONE example !
3 May

Topic: Chapter 2, EoC p 55

-> all students please prepare question 1

2
3
4
5
6
8
10 May (no class) no class (Hans-Diers-Symposium)          
17 May (no class)

no class

(Ascension day)          
24 May

+ Topic: Chapter 3, EoC p 91
1; 2-a
3; 2-b
3; 2-c
4; 2-d
5; 2-e
6; 2-f
31 May

questions not discussed last session +

Chapter 4, EoC p 121,122
8
7
6
 2, 4 - use (own) illustrations for your answer
1
 Describe the income and the substitution effect using figures like 4-16 to 4-18
07 June

We will discuss some tasks from the Microeconomics WS 05/07 EFA 3 (English) (90 min)

all teams should please look at the whole exam - we'll roll the dice which team presents which task ;-)

all teams should please look at the whole exam - we'll roll the dice which team presents which task ;-)

all teams should please look at the whole exam - we'll roll the dice which team presents which task ;-)

all teams should please look at the whole exam - we'll roll the dice which team presents which task ;-)

all teams should please look at the whole exam - we'll roll the dice which team presents which task ;-)

all teams should please look at the whole exam - we'll roll the dice which team presents which task ;-)
14 June (no MÜ / Business Week)            
21 June no homework, we'll do exercises in class -> VWL1-MicroExamWS11-12.doc (test of last semester)            
28 June in the ME we discuss the test of last semester            
5 July in the ME we discuss old exams of the last semesters
no tasks
but we discuss
old exams -
AND ...
YOUR
questions !
12 July
Tasks from chapters 5-7
 Tasks from chapters 5-7 Tasks from chapters 5-7 Tasks from chapters 5-7 Tasks from chapters 5-7 Tasks from chapters 5-7 Tasks from chapters 5-7
19 July
30 minutes test
30 minutes test
30 minutes test
30 minutes test
30 minutes test
30 minutes test
30 minutes test

 

You find some older exam papers here, i.e.:
- Macroeconomics SoSe 06 EFA 4 (English) (60 ! min)
- Microeconomics WS 05/06 EFA 3 (English) (90 min) und the corresponding resit exam
- ISGM combined module "Micro- and Macroeconomics"(parts of 45 Minutes each)
   - exam of 27.01.05: Microeconomics, Macroeconomics
   - resit exam of 08.04.05: Microeconomics, Macroeconomics
please remember that these were all courses based on different books, partly of different intensity, so they are not directly comparable.

 

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Links:

 Quotations form the book of Thomas Friedman: "The World is flat":
- For some, particularly among the older generations, this was an unwelcome transformation. Communism was a great system for making everyone equally poor. In fact, there was no better system in the world for that than Communism. Capitalism made people unequally rich, and for some who were used to the plodding, limited, but secure Socialist lifestyle--where a job, a house, an education, and a pension were all guaranteed, even if they were meager--the fall of the Berlin wall was deeply unsettling. (p. 51/52)
- ... to some degree Mikhail Gorbachev's hapless efforts to reform something that was unreformable brought communism to an end. But if I had to point to one factor as first among equals, it was the information revolution that began in the early- to mid-1980s. Totalitarian systems depend on a monopoly of information and force, and too much information started to slip through the Iron Curtain, thanks to the spread of fax machines, telephones, and other modern tools of communication. (p 54)

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Hochschule Bremen
Fachbereich Wirtschaft
VWL und Statistik