Document Type

Syllabus

Publication Date

Spring 2024

Course Description

Economics studies decision-making behaviors, prioritizing thoughtful choices over mere profit-seeking actions. It embodies a way of thinking and a framework for reasoning. During the initial part of the semester, basic concepts and models come to the fore, including the opportunity cost and the supply-and-demand model. These serve as building blocks to comprehend the essentials of decision-making processes. As the course progresses, we delve into the behaviors of consumers and businesses and of how markets coordinate among them, namely microeconomic analysis. The subsequent phase of the course considers the economy as a whole and introduces basic concepts of macroeconomics, such as GDP, CPI, and the unemployment rate. We then discuss factors that determines long-term growth and short- term fluctuations of an economy. Over the duration of the semester, we leverage economic data to scrutinize both societal and economic issues, including topics like healthcare reform, minimum wage, income inequality, and more. We apply economic principles to our daily lives, assessing the merits and drawbacks of public policies, thus fostering an understanding of the applicability and significance of these principles.

Student Outcomes

At the end of this course, students will be able to:

  • Love learning and exude a commitment to continued learning throughout their lives.
  • Identify and solve well-defined and ill-defined problems both collaboratively and individually, and apply these skills to problems facing humanity.
  • Attain a deep understanding of a subject area to appreciate the value of depth of knowledge and to serve as a foundation for future learning.
  • Describe economic issues with the proper use of basic concepts o Identify causes of economic issues with relevant principles and models of economics
  • Apply quantitative reasoning using economic theory
  • Develop an ability of critical thinking by employing analytical and empirical tools learned in class to address economic issues.

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