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THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONGFACULTY OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS

School of Economics and Finance

ECON1001: Introduction to Economics I (A & B)Fall 2011

Instructor: Dr. Ka-fu WONG Professor Richard Yue-chim WONG(Roughly before the reading week) (Roughly after the reading week)

Phone number: 2857-8512 2859-1122Office: KKL 1002 KKL 1021Email: kafuwong@econ.hku.hk rycwong@hkucc.hku.hk

Teaching Assistant: Mr Cheung Wai Ho (Jerry) Miss Li Huiyun Miss Ma Anping (Mandy)

Phone number: Not available Not available Not available

Office: KKL 1026 KKL 1026 KKL 1026

Email: jerrych@hku.hk 66lihuiyun@gmail.com maanping800@hku.hk

Course webpage: http://moodle.econ.hku.hk/ (username and passcode required)

COURSE INFORMATION:

Prerequisites: The course is open to the B. Econ, B. Econ and Fin, and BSc.QFin students only.

Course Overview: Economics is the study of human action. To understand how people can cooperate insocial orders, and why they often cannot, we need to have a framework for understanding human action andits consequences. Economics provides one such framework. This is a course in microeconomics: the theory ofconsumers, firms, prices, and markets. Microeconomics has been applied to wide range of issues, from what

determines the price of consumer goods, to such things as how people vote, how much education they acquire,and how many children they have.

The purpose of this course is to actively engage students in the discovery of the economic content of everydaylife. We will explore a range of topics and applications concerning how individuals make decisions about whatto consume, produce, buy and sell, and how they interact with other consumers, producers, buyers and sellers inthe marketplace. We will also address the role of government in the system, and policy areas such as regulation,antitrust, taxation, poverty and welfare.

Course Objectives:

1. To develop literacy in microeconomics.

2. To introduce the use of microeconomic models to analyze the choice of individuals, the supply decisionsof firms, and the market outcome of supply and demand interaction.

3. To introduce the strategic behavior and interactions among individuals.

4. To gain an appreciation of the problems facing economic policymakers and the impact of regulations onthe economy.

5. To prepare students for their subsequent study of courses in Economics and Finance.

Textbook: Frank, Robert and Ben Bernanke (2009): Principles of Microeconomics, 4th ed., McGraw-Hill.

COURSE INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES (CILOs)

On completion of this course, students should be able to:CILO1. Explain observed decisions of firms, decisions of consumers, and market outcome.CILO2. Analyze the effect of government policy on decisions of firms, decisions of

consumers, and market outcome.CILO3. Understand and evaluate the economic analyses of others.CILO4. Discuss microeconomic issues in written forms.

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ALIGNMENTS OF PROGRAM AND COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES:

Program Intended Learning Objectives Course Intended Learning Objectives (CILOs)1. Acquisition and internalization of knowledge of

economics and financeCILO1, CILO2, CILO3, CILO4

2. Application and integration of knowledge CILO1, CILO2, CILO3, CILO43. Developing global outlook CILO1, CILO2, CILO3, CILO4

4. Mastering communication skills CILO4

TEACHING AND LEARNING ACTIVITIES (TLAs)

TLA1. Lectures:Instructors will give lectures on major concepts and issues.

TLA2. Homework (writing assignments):Students will be asked to write questions and answers similar to the end-of-chapter questions. Bestexamples will be discussed in class and/or posted in the class website, for the benefits to otherstudents.

TLA3. Consultation:Both instructor and teaching assistants hold weekly consultation hours to address studentsquestions. Students are also encouraged to discuss questions with the instructor and TAs via emailor a forum in the class website.

ASSESSMENT

Assessment WeightA1 Final exam (Date and venue to be announced) 60%A2 Weekly assignments: Re-writing end-of-chapter questions with solutions 30%A3 Midterm writing assignment (due on the Friday after reading week) 10%

Final exam: Usually lasts for two hours. Covers everything taught in the semester. The exam will consist ofshort answer questions only. Date, time and venue will be arranged centrally by the university, and announced

later in the semester.The marking rubrics for the written final exam are indicated in the table below:

PerformanceLevel (with

Score Range)

Assessment Rubrics for the Written Final Exam

Outstanding100-80

All or almost all of the questions are clearly and accurately responded.All or almost all of the responses are well organized, clear, fluent, and with sufficientelaboration.

Proficient79-70

Most of the questions are clearly and accurately responded.Most of the responses are well organized, clear, fluent, and with sufficient elaboration.

Competent

69-60

Some of the questions are clearly and accurately responded.

Some of the responses are well organized, clear, fluent, and with sufficient elaboration.Adequate59-50

Few of the questions are clearly and accurately responded.Few of the responses are well organized, clear, fluent, and with sufficient elaboration.

Fail

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Weekly writing assignments (due on Wednesdays): The weekly writing assignments are meant tosharpen students writing skills and to deepen students learning in the subject. After each chapter is cov-ered, students, individually, are required to re-write two end-of-chapter questions. Students should try tore-cast the chosen questions into an interesting situation with new sets of numbers and answers. Re-castingmeans that the new questions should be sufficiently similar to, yet different from, the original questions. It isbetter the new questions are related to or represent the real-world situations.

The marking rubrics for the weekly writing assignments are indicated in the table below:

PerformanceLevel (with

Score Range)

Assessment Rubrics for the Weekly Writing Assignments

Outstanding100-80

Situation identification (30%): All or almost all of the rewritten questions are highlyrelated to important and interesting real-life situations.Analysis (50%): All or almost all of the analysis are correct, clear, logical andthorough.Effectiveness of writing (20%): The writing is well organized, clear and free of mostwriting errors.

Proficient79-70

Situation identification (30%): Most of the rewritten questions are related toimportant and interesting real-life situations.

Analysis (50%): Most of the analysis are correct, clear and logical.Effectiveness of writing (20%): The writing is well organized, clear and generally freeof writing errors.

Competent69-60

Situation identification (30%): Most of the rewritten questions are somewhat relatedto important and interesting real-life situations.Analysis (50%): Most of the analysis are correct but are insufficient in clarity andlogic.Effectiveness of writing (20%): The writing is generally organized and clear, with fewnoticeable writing errors.

Adequate59-50

Situation identification (30%): Most of the rewritten questions are somewhat relatedto less important and interesting real-life situations.Analysis (50%): Most of analysis contains some noticeable mistakes and lacks ofclarity and logic.Effectiveness of writing (20%): The writing is adequately organized and clear, withsome noticeable writing errors.

Fail

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Midterm writing assignment (due on the Friday after reading week): Each student should write ashort paper applying the cost and benefit analysis to explain why we has changed the way we do things. Thewriting gives us a chance to deepen our understanding of cost and benefit analysis, and sharpen our writingskills and our analytical skills. Students are advised to talk to their parents or friends of older generation foridea of things that had changed within the past 30 years. In less than 1000 words, use cost and benefit analysisto explain why there were such changes. Try to write concisely. Good papers are usually 500 to 600 words. Agood writing should address a very interesting phenomenon, appeal to our parents, and be readable to students

without previous economics training. The due date for this assignment is the Friday after the reading week.The marking rubrics for the midterm writing assignment are indicated in the table below:

PerformanceLevel (with

Score Range)

Assessment Rubrics for the Midterm Writing Assignment

Outstanding100-80

Situation identification (30%): The identified situation is highly important andinteresting.Analysis (50%): All or almost all of the analysis are correct, clear, logical andthorough.Effectiveness of writing (20%): The writing is well organized, clear and free of mostwriting errors.

Proficient79-70

Situation identification (30%): The identified situation is important and interesting.Analysis (50%): Most of the analysis are correct, clear and logical.Effectiveness of writing (20%): The writing is well organized, clear and generally freeof writing errors.

Competent69-60

Situation identification (30%): The identified situation is somewhat important andinteresting.Analysis (50%): Most of the analysis are correct but are insufficient in clarity andlogic.Effectiveness of writing (20%): The writing is generally organized and clear, with fewnoticeable writing errors.

Adequate59-50

Situation identification (30%): The identified situation is weakly important andinteresting.Analysis (50%): Most of analysis contains some noticeable mistakes and lacks ofclarity and logic.Effectiveness of writing (20%): The writing is adequately organized and clear, withsome noticeable writing errors.

Fail

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Relationship Among Intended Learning Outcome, Teaching And Learning Activities And Assess-ments

CILO Teaching and Learning Activities (TLA) Assessment (A)1 2 3 1 2 3 4

1! ! ! ! ! ! !

2 ! ! ! ! ! ! !

3! ! ! ! ! ! !

4! ! !

ACADEMIC CONDUCT

No plagiarism will be tolerated. The University Regulations on academic dishonesty will be strictly enforced!Please check the University Statement on plagiarism on the web: http://www.hku.hk/plagiarism/

Academic dishonesty is behavior in which a deliberately fraudulent misrepresentation is employed in anattempt to gain undeserved intellectual credit, either for oneself or for another. It includes, but is not necessarilylimited to, the following types of cases:

1. Plagiarism - The representation of someone elses ideas as if they are ones own. Where the arguments,data, designs, etc., of someone else are being used in a paper, report, oral presentation, or similar academic

project, this fact must be made explicitly clear by citing the appropriate references. The references mustfully indicate the extent to which any parts of the project are not ones own work. Paraphrasing ofsomeone elses ideas is still using someone elses ideas, and must be acknowledged.

2. Unauthorized Collaboration on Out-of-Class Projects - The representation of work as solely ones ownwhen in fact it is the result of a joint effort.

Where a candidate for a degree or other award uses the work of another person or persons without due acknowl-edgment:

1. The relevant Board of Examiners may impose a penalty in relation to the seriousness of the offence;

2. The relevant Board of Examiners may report the candidate to the Senate, where there is prima facieevidence of an intention to deceive and where sanctions beyond those in (1) might be invoked.

TENTATIVE CLASS SCHEDULE

Week Topic1 Thinking Like an Economist (Chapter 1)2 Comparative Advantage (Chapter 2)3 Supply and Demand (Chapter 3)4 Elasticity (Chapter 4)5 Demand(Chapter 5)6 Perfectly Competitive Supply (Chapter 6)7 Efficiency and Exchange (Chapter 7)8 The Invisible Hand in Action (Chapter 8)9 Monopoly, Oligopoly, and Monopolistic Competition (Chapter 9)

10 Games and Strategic Behavior (Chapter 10)11 Externalities and Property Rights (Chapter 11)12 Public Goods and Tax Policy (Chapter 15)

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