Course ePortfolio

Principles of Microeconomics

This collection contains the California Open Educational Resources Council (CA OER) list of peer-reviewed textbooks for Principles of Microeconomics (common course-id ECON 201) , one of the top 50 college courses identified for inclusion in the California Open Online Library for Education (COOLforEd).

CID Number: ECON 201

Course:

General Course Description: ECON 201

This is an introductory course focusing on choices of individual economic decision-makers. Topics include scarcity, specialization and trade, market equilibrium, elasticity, production and cost theory, market structures, factor markets, and market failure.

Minimum Units: 3.0

Date Added to MERLOT:: December 1, 2014
Created by:: Una Daly
License:

Prerequisites

Prerequisite(s):
Elementary Algebra

Corequisite(s):
(none)

Advisories/Recommendations:
Intermediate Algebra

Pedagogical Approach & Learning Outcomes

Pedagogical Approach

None

Learning Outcomes

Course Content:
Fundamentals of Economic Thinking
Scarcity
Opportunity Costs
Production Possibilities
Marginal Analysis
Rational Behavior
Positive v. Normative Distinction
How Markets Operate
Definition of a market
Factors of production
Supply and demand
Price mechanism
Producer and consumer surplus
Price controls
Elasticity
Consumer demand
Production and cost in the firm
Introduction to the production function
Marginal and average product
Law of diminishing returns
Explicit and implicit cost
Accounting profit v. economic profit
Total cost, average cost and marginal cost in short-run
Short-run production decisions
Long run average cost curve
Economies and diseconomies of scale
Market structures
Perfect competition
Monopoly
Monopolistic competition
Oligopoly
Introduction to factor markets
Market failure and public policy
Specialization and gains from trade

Laboratory Activities (if applicable):

Course Objectives:
At the conclusion of this course, the student should be able to:

Utilize the concept of scarcity to explain economic trade-offs, opportunity costs, and rational behavior.
Calculate and interpret measures of elasticity.
Demonstrate how markets function and what happens in the presence of market failures.
Analyze production and costs of the firm.
Demonstrate how firms attempt to optimize their objectives in response to price signals under a variety of market structures in the short and long-run.

Assessment & Other Information

Assessment

Methods of Evaluation:
Assessed written work is recommended for this course and may include any of the following (colleges are encouraged to work with local CSU and UC departments to determine writing requirements):

           Current event analysis

           Term papers

           Essay questions on exams

           Exams and Quizzes containing one or more:

          Multiple Choice questions

          Short answers

          Problem Solving

          True/False

          Essays

          Homework Problem Sets

          Presentations

          Debates and class discussion

          Group projects

          Experiments

Other Information

None

Course Resources

Principles of Microeconomics 2.0 (Open (Access) Textbook)

This low-cost textbook v2.0 available from Flat World Knowledge introduces college students to microeconomics. Authors... More

This low-cost textbook v2.0 available from Flat World Knowledge introduces college students to microeconomics. Authors Rittenberg and Tregarthen have written both a microeconomics and macroeconomics textbook and use integrating themes to present economics so that students realize that it is a unified discipline and not an array of seemingly unrelated topics. The integrating theme for microeconomics is the marginal decision rule, a simple approach to choices that maximize the value of some objective. Following its presentation in an early microeconomics chapter, the marginal decision rule becomes an integrating device throughout the discussion of microeconomics. Each chapter features pedagogical devices to aid student mastery: Heads Up sections clarify potentially confusing aspects of each concept. You Try It sectionsencourage students to walk through scenarios related to concepts and ideas. Case In Point sections feature real-world applications to ground the concepts in reality. Dr. Matthew Holian's open textbook adoption for Microeconomics at California State University, San Jose
Modern Microeconomics (Open (Access) Textbook)

Bookboon’s free text authored by Sanjay Rode provides an explanation of modern microeconomic theories with simple... More

Bookboon’s free text authored by Sanjay Rode provides an explanation of modern microeconomic theories with simple examples in 5 chapters. Consumer equilibrium, production function, game theory, information economics and social welfare are the major topics of this book. It features systematic analysis of consumer utility and behavior illustrating the decision making of the consumer. Each chapter features questions at the end and chapter 6 provides a bibliography for further exploration.
Microeconomics: Theory Through Applications (Open (Access) Textbook)

Russell and Andrew’s open textbook presents all the theory that is standard in Principles books. But by beginning with... More

Russell and Andrew’s open textbook presents all the theory that is standard in Principles books. But by beginning with applications, students get to learn why this theory is needed. The authors take the kind of material that other authors put in “applications boxes” and place it at the heart of their book. Each chapter is built around a particular business or policy application, such as minimum wages, the stock exchange, and auctions. The authors’ applications-first approach ensures that students will not see chapters with titles like “Cost Functions” or “Short-Run Fluctuations”. They introduce tools and ideas as and when they are needed. Each chapter is designed with two goals. First, the application upon which the chapter is built provides a “hook” that gets students’ attention. Second, the application is a suitable vehicle for teaching the principles of economics. Important tools appear over and over again, allowing students to learn from repetition and to see how one framework can be useful in many different contexts. These are collected separately in a “toolkit” that provides students with an easy reference and also gives them a condensed summary of economic principles for examination preparation.
Principles of Microeconomics 2e (Open (Access) Textbook)

OpenStax College's text authored by Taylor and Greenlaw covers the scope and sequence for a one-semester microeconomics... More

OpenStax College's text authored by Taylor and Greenlaw covers the scope and sequence for a one-semester microeconomics course. The text also includes many current examples, including; the Keystone Pipeline, Occupy Wall Street, and debates over the minimum wage. The pedagogical choices, chapter arrangements, and learning objective fulfillment were developed and vetted with feedback from educators dedicated to the project. The outcome is a balanced approach to economics and to the theory and application of economics concepts. Learningpod has partnered with OpenStax College to offer free pods (question sets) for the Principles of Microeconomics textbook. You can answer questions, get explanations and track your results. You can also generate quick practice sets (Instapods) on any subject you're interested in. Learningpod's goal is to help our community build the largest library of free, online practice questions in the world. Learningpod's goal is to help our community build the largest library of free, online practice questions in the world. Learn more at http://www.learningpod.com