AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 505
Microeconomic Analysis
Fall 2009

INSTRUCTOR - Dr. Roland K. Roberts

OBJECTIVES - At the completion of this course students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate an understanding of microeconomic theory, including demand, supply, and price determination under a variety of market structures.

2. Demonstrate an ability to conceptualize problems in the framework of microeconomic theory.

3. Demonstrate an ability to solve economic problems using verbal, graphical, and mathematical methods.

TEXT - Nicholson, Walter. Microeconomic Theory: Basic Principles and Extensions. 9th edition, 2005. Read the text before every class meeting according to the course outline below.

GRADING - Final grades will be assigned as a weighted average of grades received on quizzes, homework, homework participation, classroom participation, and exams.  The weights are:

EXAMS - Exams 1-3 must sum to 40% of your final grade and Exam 3 must count for at least 5% of your final grade. I strongly recommend that you not miss any of these exams without a very good reason. If you are sick, out of town, or miss one of these scheduled exams for any reason, you must count the missed exam within the 40% of your grade from Exams 1-3 (0% for Exams 1 or 2 and 5% for Exam 3). The final exam will be comprehensive. All exams, including the final exam, will come from material covered in lectures, reading assignments, and homework assignments. There will be no makeup exams.

READING ASSIGNMENTS -I will not announce reading assignments in class.  You are expected to review the course outline below every day to keep up with reading assignments and read the assigned material prior to class on the date listed. Lectures are based on this assumption. If lectures get behind or ahead of the dates listed in the course outline, the dates of the reading assignments will still be valid until I announce a revision of the course outline. To prepare for exams, I suggest knowing how to work the examples in the text.

QUIZZES - One true-false quiz will be given for each chapter (only one quiz for Chapters 1and 2) at the beginning of class on the first day the chapter reading is due. I will not announce quizzes in class. See the course outline below for quiz days. You are expected to review the course outline below every day, be aware of when quizzes will be given, and read the assigned chapter prior to class on the first date a chapter is listed. Your three lowest quiz scores will be dropped. Quizzes will cover the material in the reading assignment due the day of the quiz as given in the course outline below. If you miss a quiz, because you are sick or for any reason, you must count it as one of your three lowest quizzes and drop it from consideration in the quiz grade. I strongly suggest that you come to every scheduled class meeting and that you come on time. There will be no makeup quizzes.

HOMEWORK -All homework assignments will receive a number grade between zero and ten. Homework assignments will be handed out and answers returned as indicated in the course outline below. You will work on homework as teams and submit only one answer sheet per team representing the collective work of the team. I will rotate homework leadership among team members. Everyone on the team will receive the same grade. All work leading to the answers should be submitted and properly identified so your logic can be followed. If team members cannot collectively determine the answer to a problem, come to me for help any time, except between 11:30 am and 2:30 pm on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, and after 11:30 am on Mondays and Wednesdays. Each individual should understand the concepts involved in each homework assignment and be able to work all the assigned problems. Homework problems or similar problems may appear directly on Exams. Anything I share about homework with a member of the team must be shared by that student with the entire team.

Due dates for homework assignments are listed in the course outline below.  Assignments are due at the beginning of class on the day indicated.  No credit will be given for late assignments. The lowest homework grade will be dropped when computing the homework portion of your grade.  The homework leader is responsible for organizing and submitting completed assignments, but all members of hte team should participate in solving each problem.

HOMEWORK PARTICIPATION - I will put peer evaluation forms on the table outside my office for you to pick up. Use them to evaluate the performance of your peers on a scale of 1 (very poor) to 5 (very good) based on the criteria listed on the form. The Homework Participation grade of the person being evaluated for a specific homework assignment will be the mean score from all evaluators on the team. Discussions about Homework Participation scores are not allowed (no collaboration in determining scores). If you do not hand in peer evaluations for other members of your team, you will receive a score of zero no matter how others on the team evaluate you. Peer evaluations are due in a campus mail envelope at the beginning of class on the day the homework assignment is due. Envelopes are below the mail boxes in 321 MH.

COURSE PARTICIPATION –This is a grade for your overall course participation. It will be assigned at the end of the semester. Attend and be on time to all class meetings. Be alert, attentive, take notes, ask relevant questions if you have them, and kindly point out mistakes made by the instructor.

OFFICE HOURS - Please see me after class, call me (974-7482), e-mail me (rrobert3@utk.edu) or drop by my office (308B Morgan Hall) any time for help in understanding the material in the text, lectures, homework, or old exams, except between 11:30 am and 2:30 pm on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, and after 11:30 am on Mondays and Wednesdays. If I am busy, we can schedule an appointment for another time. If I am out of the office, let Mary Gage know when you will be coming back to see me. I will try to be in my office when you return or I will try to find you. Please come to see me about answers to homework problems only after you have discussed the problems with other members of your homework team.

COURSE OUTLINE - Download pdf Version