ADVANCED PLACEMENT MICROECONOMICS COURSE SYLLABUS

ADVANCED PLACEMENT MICROECONOMICS COURSE SYLLABUS Economics is a way of looking at the choices people make regarding their time, money, and talent. Studying economics shows how goods and services are produced, distributed, and consumed. In AP Macroeconomics you will learn about basic economic concepts and how they are applied at a national and global level. You will analyze economic behavior using major macroeconomic indicators, examine the implications of both fiscal and monetary policy, and understand the international economy with regard to both trade and finance. In addition, you will learn to apply an economic way of thinking, and use graphical analysis to study human behavior. EXPECTATIONS: Provide yourself with a complete opportunity to learn economics. This requires that you give the course your full attention while in class. Do not interfere with the opportunities of your classmates to learn economics Arrive on time, be in class for the entire period and be prepared to participate fully. Participation requires that you take detailed notes and carefully practice the graphical analysis of course material. SUPPLIES TO BRING Notebook your notes will be a very important part of this course Pencil and multiple color pens (they will make it easier to graph) Textbook (you will be issued a textbook, make sure you bring it to class) COURSE MATERIALS: Textbook: o Ray, Margaret, Anderson, David, Krugman, Paul and Wells, Rogin. Krugman s Economics for AP, 2 nd ed. New York: Worth Publishers, 2011. Other Supplementary Materials: o Virtualeconomics, version 4. Council for Economic Education. Flashdrive, 2012. o McConnell, Campbell and Brue, Stanley. Policies. New York: McGraw Hill, 2015. Economics: Principles, Problems and GRADING: o Stone, Gary L. Advanced Placement Econcomics: Microeconomics Student Resource Manual, 4 th ed. New York: National Council for Economic Education, 2012. o Ray, Margaret A. Advanced Placement Econcomics: Macroeconomics Student Resource Manual, 4 th ed. New York: National Council for Economic Education, 2012. o Anderson, David A. Economics by Example. New York: Worth Publishers, 2007. o Various newspaper and magazine articles. Various Websites with economic data. AP Microeconomics Course Syllabus Page 1

93 100% = A 90 93 % = A- 88 90% = B+ 83 88% = B 80 83% = B- 78 80% = C+ 73 78% = C 70 73% = C- 68 70% = D+ 60 68% = D 0 59% = F SEEKING ADDITIONAL SUPPORT You can have an up-to-date analysis of how you are doing in this class by accessing your grades online or by contacting me. If you are struggling, have questions, or need assistance please feel free to meet with me. The following are times when we may meet for additional support: Tutorials: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday from 7:35 to 8:35 6 th Period Prep Email questions any time! EVALUATION: Remember, this is a college level course, and I expect college level work. Homework/classwork 20% of marking period grades Student Resource Manual from the NCEE. Problem sets from various resources intended to module the AP Test. FRQs and MC. Note-book checks once per unit. Multiple Choice and Free Response Quizzes 20% of marking period grades These quizzes are intended to keep you sharp throughout the year. These quizzes are modeled to simulate the AP exam. Vocabulary Quizzes 20% of marking period grades Every unit will have one vocab quiz. Vocab words and terms are found in the textbook in multiple locations. You can find them throughout the modules as bold or italic text. You can find them at the end of each unit under Section Summary: Key Terms. Also, you can find most words in the back of the book or on-line. I will also introduce words not from the text that you will be responsible for. Pay attention in class and take good notes! Two-thirds of the AP exam is multiple-choice questions. One-third of the multiple-choice questions are focused around vocabulary words and concepts. These quizzes are intended to prepare you for these questions because one-sixth of the test is vocabulary!!! Unit Tests 40% of marking period grades Tests will be very much like a concentrated AP exam. You will be tested on multiple choice and free response questions relevant to the unit of study. A test will follow the completion of each unit. Practice tests will be given but are loosely based on the test. I intend to make you think when testing, meaning you might not have seen the question before and need to think your way through it. See the end of your syllabus for sample multiple-choice and free-response questions. AP Microeconomics Course Syllabus Page 2

MATERIAL TO BE COVERED UNIT 1: FOUNDATIONS OF ECONOMICS (APPROXIMATELY 3 WEEKS) Objectives: Students will define economics based on the concepts of limited resources and unlimited wants. Students will apply understanding of opportunity costs to examples and illustrate the tradeoff on a production possibility frontier and through the discussion of analytical examples. Students will explain how different types of economies decide what to produce, how to produce them, and how to distribute them. They will discuss the type of economic system in place in the United States. Students will use the concepts of absolute and comparative advantage to demonstrate how specialization and exchange increase total output. Students will differentiate, both graphically and in verbal description, between shifts in and movements along supply and demand curves. Students will graphically depict a market equilibrium using supply and demand curves. Students will describe how income and substitution effects impact the shape of the demand curve. Students identify how marginal analysis is used in various economic circumstances. Marginal utility, marginal benefits and costs, diminishing marginal returns. Basic Definitions and Economic Systems: Krugman Module 1 Opportunity Costs, Production Possibility Frontiers, Absolute Advantage, Comparative Advantage and Trade: Krugman Module 3 and 4 Applications of Comparative Advantage and the Economy: Krugman Module 4 Demand, Supply and Market Equilibrium: Krugman Module 5-7 Marginal Analysis: NCEE unit 1 Activities and Assessment: Modules In Krugman s Economics for AP 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 NCEE Activities: 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 1-5, 1-6, 1-7, 1-8, 1-9, 1-10, 1-11 Review Quiz #1: 25 Multiple Choice Questions (cumulative) Unit Test #1: 30 Multiple Choice and 2 Short Free Response UNIT 2: APPLICATIONS AND EXTENSIONS OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND (APPROXIMATELY 2 WEEKS) Students will graphically analyze the concepts of consumer and producer surplus and discuss the efficiency of equilibrium. Students will graphically analyze and describe how government interventions such as price ceilings, price floors, taxes, tariffs and quotas impact equilibrium, surplus, and efficiency. Students will calculate price, cross-price, and income elasticity of demand, and the price elasticity of supply. Students will identify goods with different levels of elasticity. Students will apply the concept of elasticity to different markets and discuss its implications for changes in revenue and the incidence of taxes. Students will examine the demand side of the product market by developing a basic understanding of consumer choice. Using graphical analysis and discussion they will gain an understanding of utility, diminishing marginal utility, and utility-maximization. AP Microeconomics Course Syllabus Page 3

Students will use the principles of consumer choice to discuss how incomes, prices and tastes affect consumer purchases, and will derive an individual s demand curve. Students will explain how income and substitution effects determine the shape of a demand curve. Applications of Demand and Supply: Price floors and ceilings, taxes, tariffs and quotas: Krugman Module 8 and 9 Consumer Surplus and Producer Surplus: Krugman Module 49 Efficiency and Deadweight Loss: Krugman Module 50 Consumer Choice: Krugman Module 80 Elasticity: Krugman Module 46-48 Utility Maximization: Krugman Module 51 Activities and Assessment: NCEE Activities 2-2, 2-3, 2-4, 2-5, 2-6, 2-7, 2-8, 2-9 Review Quiz #2: 25 Multiple Choice Questions (cumulative) Policy Activity: Evaluation of the effectiveness of multiple tax policies using understanding of elasticity and tax incidence. Policy Activity: Evaluating Rent Control and Agricultural Price Floors Unit Test #2: 30 Multiple Choice and 2 Short Free Response UNIT 3: COSTS OF PRODUCTION (APPROXIMATELY 2 WEEKS) Students will define the short run production function and graph the relationship between variable inputs and quantity of output. Students will understand the concepts of average product and marginal product and apply them to the concept of diminishing returns. Student will describe the inverse relationship between productivity and costs and apply the relationship to graphical depiction of the short-run cost curves. Student will graph and explain the relationship between short-run total cost, short-run variable cost, fixed cost, average cost and marginal cost. Students will define, graphically and in words, the concept of cost minimization and productive efficiency. Students will graph and discuss the relationship between short-run and long-run cost and apply it to a discussion of economies of scale and returns to scale. The Production Function: Krugman Module 54 Firm Costs: Krugman Module 55 Long Run Costs and Economies of Scale: Krugman Module 56 Cost minimizing input combinations: Krugman Module 72 Intro to market structure: Krugman Module 57 Defining Profit: Krugman Module 52 Profit Maximization: Krugman Module 53 Activities and Assessment: NCEE activities: 3-1, 3-2, 3-3, 3-4, 3-5, 3-6, 3-7, 3-8 Problem Set: Using data to calculate and graph costs AP Microeconomics Course Syllabus Page 4

Problem Set: Profit maximization Review Quiz #3: 25 Multiple Choice Questions (cumulative) Unit Test #3: 30 Multiple Choice and 2 Short Free Response UNIT 4: MARKET STRUCTURES (APPROXIMATELY 4 WEEKS) Students will identify and compare the basic characteristics of perfect competition, monopoly, oligopoly and monopolistic competition. Students will define profits and distinguish between economic and accounting profit. This will involve a review of opportunity cost and the concepts of implicit and explicit costs. Students will use marginal analysis to identify the profit maximizing rule of MR = MC. Students will graph the relationship between a sample perfectly competitive firm and the industry. They will analyze the relationship between marginal revenue, average revenue, price and demand for the perfectly competitive firm. Students will identify the short-run equilibrium for a perfectly competitive firm and will graphically analyze the relationship between price, marginal revenue, marginal cost, average cost and profit. Students will explain, graphically and in words, the process by which the perfectly competitive industry achieves long-run equilibrium and normal economic profit. Students will evaluate the productive and allocative efficiency of perfect competition. Students will examine the sources of monopoly power. Students will graph and discuss the relationship between the monopolist s downward-sloping demand curve and marginal revenue. They will learn how marginal revenue changes along a demand curve as price varies. Student will graphically identify a monopolists profit maximizing price and quantity. They will identify and evaluate the size of monopoly profits and discuss the lack of any long-run adjustment. Students will graph and discuss the size of the deadweight loss of monopoly and will evaluate the lack of allocative or productive efficiency. Students will graph and discuss the monopolist s ability to further increase profits through price discrimination. They will provide examples of price discrimination and discuss the types of markets where it is possible. Students will discuss the interdependency of firms in an oligopolistic market. Students will use game theory to evaluate the choices firms in an oligopoly make with regard to pricing, advertising and productive capacity. Students will use the kinked demand curve model to graphically depict the interdependence of oligopoly price setting. Students will discuss the sources of product differentiation in a monopolistically competitive market. Students will graph a single firm in a monopolistically competitive market and identify its short-run profit maximizing output. Students will graph and explain the long-run equilibrium for a monopolistically competitive firm. Students will evaluate and compare the levels of price, quantity, profits and efficiency in the four basic market structures. Perfect Competition: Krugman Module 58 and 59 Long Run Outcomes in PC: Krugman Module 60 Monopoly: Krugman Module 61 and 62 AP Microeconomics Course Syllabus Page 5

Price Discrimination: Krugman Module 63 Oligopoly and Game Theory: Krugman Module 64, 65, 66 Monopolistic Competition: Krugman Module 67 and 68 Activities and Assessment: NCEE Activities: 3-8, 3-9, 3-10, 3-11, 3-12, 3-13, 3-14, 3-15, 3-16, 3-17, Review Quiz #4: 25 Multiple Choice Questions (cumulative) Review Quiz #5: 2 Free Response Problems (cumulative) Application and Discussion: The Market for Simulation: Game Theory In Action Graph Review Sheet: Comparing Market Structures Unit Test #4: 40 Multiple Choice with 1 Long and 1 Short Free Response (Block Period) UNIT 5: FACTOR MARKETS (APPROXIMATELY 2 WEEKS) Students will analyze the concept for derived demand and understand how a factors marginal physical product and marginal revenue product impact demand for the factor. Students will consider the role of factors prices in the allocation of scare resources. Students will use graphical analysis and discussion to identify the equilibrium in a perfectly competitive labor market. They will compare total labor supply to the supply available to a particular firm. Students will evaluate the short-run and long-run equilibriums of a perfectly competitive labor market. Students will graph and discuss the behavior of a monopsony. Students will compare the wage, quantity of employment and efficiency in a perfectly competitive vs. a monopsony labor market. Students will examine the impact of minimum wages and unions in both a perfectly competitive labor market and a monopsony labor market. Students will discuss the relationship between investment in capital and addition to the capital stock. Students will graphically analyze the relationship between interest rates, expected returns, and the optimal quantity of capital. Students will discuss the shape of the supply curve of land and explain the determination of economic rent. By studying the determination of factor prices, students will gain an understanding of how the market determines the distribution of incomes. Students will examine the sources of inequality in a market economy and discuss the impact of education and training. Labor Demand and Supply: Krugman Module 69 Markets for Land and Capital: Krugman Module 70 Market for Labor: Krugman Module 71 Cost-Minizing Input Combinations: Krugman Module 72 Theories of Income Distribution: Krugman Module 73 Activities and Assessment: NCEE Activities: 4-1, 4-2, 4-3, 4-4, 4-5, 4-6, 4-7 Problem Set: The Production Function and Costs Using numbers to understand the relationships AP Microeconomics Course Syllabus Page 6

Review Quiz #6: 25 Multiple Choice Questions (cumulative) Policy Activity: Evaluating Minimum Wage Laws: How do they look in perfectly competitive and monopsony markets? Policy Activity: The Role of Unions Graph Review Sheet: Comparing Market Structures Unit Test #5: 30 Multiple Choice with 1 Long Free Response (Block Period) UNIT 6: MARKET FAILURE AND THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT (APPROXIMATELY 2 WEEKS) Students will review the concept of efficiency using marginal benefit and marginal cost analysis. Students will review the ways in which a competitive market with no government intervention typically produces the most efficient result. Students will graph and discuss the ways in with negative externalities lead to market failure and over-consumption of the good. They will then discuss the methods by which the government might make the market more efficient. Students will evaluate the effectiveness of taxes, quantity controls, and the sale of pollution credits in markets with negative externalities. Students will graph and discuss the ways in with positive externalities lead to market failure and under-consumption of the good. They will then discuss the methods by which the government might make the market more efficient. Students will evaluate the effectiveness of subsidies, public education, and other government policies in markets with positive externalities. Students will discuss the characteristics of public goods and identify examples of goods that share some (or all) of those characteristics. Students will define the free rider problem and discuss the role of government in the provision of public goods and services. Students will define the Coase Theorem and discuss the possibility for a private solution to externality problems when its conditions are met. Students will discuss the problem of asymmetric information and discuss the way consumers, firms, and governments provide protection where information is lacking. Students will analyze and debate the impact of the moral hazard problem. Students will review the market failures caused by monopoly and evaluate the ways in which government limits the power of monopolies. Students will debate the potential problem of unequal income distribution in market economies. Using the Lorenz Curve and Gini coefficient students will compare the levels of income distribution in different economies. Students will compare and contrast proportional, progressive and regressive taxes and discuss the degree to which they would impact income distribution. Students will evaluate the impact of government tax polices and transfer payments on the distribution of income and economic efficiency. Extrenalities and Public Policy: Krugman Module 74-75 Public Goods: Krugman Module 76 Public Policy: Krugman Module 77 Income Inequality and Income Distribution: Krugman Module 78 Environmental Economics: Handout AP Microeconomics Course Syllabus Page 7

Activities and Assessment: Problem Set: Pollution Policy Review Quiz #7: 30 Multiple Choice Questions (cumulative) Review Quiz #8: 2 Free Response Questions (cumulative) Policy Activity: Evaluating the Purpose of Financial Aid Policy Activity: Is There an Optimal Amount of Pollution? Unit Test #6: 30 Multiple Choice Questions and 2 Short Free Response TESTS & QUIZZES The following are sample multiple choice questions and a sample free response question. All tests and quizzes are designed to best prepare you for the AP Macroeconomics exam. The structure and timing of the tests will match the AP exam. Use the following table for the next three questions: Labor (# of workers) Output per Hour 0 0 1 5 2 9 3 12 4 14 5 15 If the price of the output is $4 per unit, what is the value of the marginal product of labor (MRP) as the firm moves from using four workers to using five workers? A. $4 B. $8 C. $12 D. $56 E. $60 If this profit-maximizing firm sells it output in a competitive market for $3 per unit and hires labor in a competitive market for $8/hour, then this firm should hire A. 1 worker B. 2 workers C. 3 workers D. 4 workers E. 5 workers How will a decrease in the demand for fish change the following: value of the MP of fisherman fisherman s wage employment in industry A. decreases reduces decreases B. increases increases increases C. decreases reduces increases D. increases increases decreases E. decreases increases increases AP Microeconomics Course Syllabus Page 8

Which of the following would shift demand for watches to the right? A. a decrease in the price of watches B. a decrease in consumer incomes if watches are a normal good C. a decrease in the price of watch batteries (which are a complement for watches) D. an increase in the price of watches E. non of the above As output increases, a firm s short-run marginal cost will eventually increase because of A. diseconomies of scale B. a lower product price C. inefficient production D. the firm s need to break even E. diminishing returns A perfectly competitive producer of steel rods and steel beams employs 100 workers with identical skills. If steel rods and steel beams sell for the same price, which of the following rules should the producer always follow to use the 100 workers efficiently? I. Allocate workers so that the average cost of producing beams equals the average cost of producing rods. II. Allocate workers so that the marginal product of labor is the same in both rod production and beam production. III. Allocate half the workers to rod production and half the workers to beam production. A. I only B. II only C. III only D. II and III only E. I, II, and III Which of the following is NOT employed as an argument in support of trade restrictions? A. Free trade destroys domestic jobs B. Free trade harms the environment when countries import goods from countries without environmental regulation C. Free trade is harmful to importing countries if foreign countries subsidize their exporting industries D. Free trade harms both domestic producers and domestic consumers and therefore reduces total surplus E. Free trade harms infant industries in an importing country A President s claim that the United States could increase its defense budget without sacrificing any of its domestic programs would be correct if A. The United States economy were producing at its full potential B. The United States economy were operating on its production possibilities frontier C. The United States economy were centrally planned D. Some resources were not being fully employed E. The production possibilities frontier for the United States economy were to shift to the left AP Microeconomics Course Syllabus Page 9

If a perfectly competitive industry is in long-run equilibrium, which of the following is most likely to be true? A. Some firms can be expected to leave the industry B. Individual firms are not operating at the minimum points on their average cost curves C. Firms are earning a return on investment that is equal to their opportunity costs D. Some factors are not receiving a return equal to their opportunity costs E. Consumers can anticipate price increases From the point of view of economic efficiency, a monopolist produces A. too much of a good and charges too low a price B. too much of a good and charges too high a price C. too little of a good and charges too low a price D. too little of a good and charges too high a price E. the socially optimal amount of a good Free Response: a. Assume that the fishing industry is perfectly competitive, and a single profit-maximizing firm (a fisherman) and is currently earning economic profits. For a given market price, draw a correctly labeled graph and show each of the following for a typical firm in this industry. i. Marginal revenue ii. Output iii. Economic profits b. Using the information given in part a, draw correctly labeled side-by-side graphs for the industry and a typical firm. i. Given the existence of economic profits of the typical firm, show on the graphs how the industry adjust in the long-run and explain the process that leads to long-run equilibrium. ii. Show the on the graphs above each of the following for the industry and typical firm in the long-run a. Price b. Output c. Supply curve c. Now assume that the government decides they want to encourage fish consumption by lowering consumer prices with a price ceiling. It sets a price that is less than the equilibrium price but greater than average variable cost. Indicate graphically below how each of the following will change for a typical firm and explain why the change occurs. i. Marginal revenue ii. Level of output iii. Short-run total cost iv. Short-run total revenue d. Evaluate the effects of the government s policy. Be sure to provide a thorough discussion of efficiency and identify who benefits and who loses from the policy, and why. AP Microeconomics Course Syllabus Page 10