Intermediate Microeconomics
Spring 2005 GMU Syllabus

Economics 306, Section 5, meets 10:30-11:45am, Tuesday and Thursday, in room Robinson A 250, and Section 6, meets 12:00-1:15pm, TuTh, in room Robinson A 105

Instructor: Robin D. Hanson, Asst. Professor, Economics (rhanson@gmu.edu, http://hanson.gmu.edu)
Office Hours: 1:30-3:00 MW (after class). Also, I'm usually in at 10A Carow Hall. Call ahead (703-993-2326) if you want to be sure.
Catalog Entry:

306 Intermediate Microeconomics (3:3:0). Prerequisites: ECON 103 and 104, and MATH 108 or 113. Basic factors of price and distribution theory, including analysis of demand, costs of production and supply relationships, and price and output determination under various market structures.
Reccomended Texts: (None are required.)
Edgar K. Browning, Mark A. Zupan, Microeconomics: Theory & Applications, 8th Edition, Wiley, ISBN: 0-471-67871-6, 2004 (There should be a related optional study guide for this text.) Sample price $64.
David D. Friedman, Hidden Order, The Economics of Everyday Life, Harper Collins, ISBN: 0-887-30885-6, 1997. Sample price $15.
Major Dates: Midterm exam in class March 24. Paper due May 5. For class that meets at 10:30am, final is Thursday May 12, 10:30 a.m. - 1:15 p.m. For class that meets at noon, final is Tuesday May 17, 10:30 a.m. - 1:15 p.m.
Grade Weights: Your final grade will be a weighted average of Class Discussion (5%), Homework (15%), Paper (20%), and two exams (30% each).
Exams: The Final exam covers the entire course. All exams are in class and closed book, but you can use one standard size (8.5"x11") piece of paper with notes. Exam problems are similar to homework problems.
Homework Policy: Homework for each week is due the following Tuesday. You can turn in a paper copy during class or send an email to colleen.haight@gmail.com. (Colleen is the class homework grader.) Homework will be returned on Thursday and reviewed then. Homework turned in on Wednesday or before 10:30am Thursday recieves 3/4 credit. Later homework gets no credit. You can discuss homework with others in general terms, but each person should do their own specific work. Before you turn homework in, I will also only discuss it with you in general terms. (The schedule below links to the homework for each week.)
Fanciful Economics Paper: Make whatever assumptions you want about the basic features of some alternative world, but then use the economics concepts from this class to write about the economics of that world. You might describe the economics of Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny, how economics would differ on a space colony, or in a fantasy world like that of Harry Potter or Bilbo Baggins. You might describe how our world would be changed by a Star Trek "transporter," a cheap universal "duplicator", interstellar commerce, by intelligent robots, or by the world economy doubling in size every year. (Why did I pick these topics? Because it is hard to look them up; you'll need to think, I hope.) The following topics have been overdone and are now banned: What if we had no money or a new money system, and what if people could just fly.

Schedule
Week Micro Ch.H.O. Ch. Topics Homework, Notes
Jan 25,27 1,2 1,2,4,5 Supply & Demand HW1
Feb 1,3 No classes this week
Feb 8,10 2 6,7 Regulation of Supply & Demand HW2
Feb 15,17 14,15,20Welfare HW3
Feb 22,24 4 17 Welfare in Supply & Demand HW4
Mar 1,3 20 18 Externalities & Public Goods HW5
Mar 8,10 Applications No class Thursday
Mar 15,17 Spring Break
Mar 22,24 Review, Midterm Exam
Mar 29,31 16 12,13 Time & Uncertainty HW6
Apr 5,7 7,8,91,9 Production HW7
Apr 12,14 11,1210 Monopoly HW8
Apr 19,21 14 11 Game Theory and Signaling HW9
Apr 26,28 3,5,63 Indifference Curves HW10
May 3,5 21 Applications, Review
May 12,17 Final Exams (on all material)