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Course INFORMATION
Course INFORMATION
Course Title: Principles of Micro Economics
CRN: CRN82143
Units: 3 units
Transfer Credits: UC/CSU Transferable Credit
Semester: Fall 2025
Class Meeting Days: Tuesday, Thursday @11:10A. In person.
Office Hours: No regularly scheduled hours. Please book office hours via Calendly.
Other Data: Available in the Course Outline of Record
Course Description
Course Description
From the Catalog:
From the Catalog:
Microeconomics (Econ 102): Supply, demand, and price determination in a market economy; business firm’s costs, revenues, and price policies under conditions of competition through monopoly; the role of government in cases of market failure; determination of wages, rent, interest, and profits; international trade and finance; comparative economic systems of other nations.
Guillermo's Description:
Guillermo's Description:
Microeconomics studies the interactions between markets, social preferences (e.g. laws), and (sometimes) private property. We will see frameworks that will allow us to understand better the consumer, firms, the labor market, and others, such as the government. We will examine the interactions through technological, historical, environmental, and equity perspectives throughout the course. I hope to expose you to materials and tools to help you succeed in the rest of your academic and professional careers. Additionally, I hope to inspire you to become civically engaged through critical analyses of economic structures and market failures.
Why this course is important to you?
Why this course is important to you?
This course will provide foundational knowledge, skills, and experiences that will be useful for the rest of your academic and professional careers. For example, we will be using Excel, express ourselves on topics useful in your Business career, or learning how to prepare for a salary negotiation.
Teaching Philosophy
Teaching Philosophy
Guillermo's Teaching Philosophy
Guillermo's Teaching Philosophy
Erin Castro studies the community college student and suggests training students in four commonly cited dimensions: Interpretation, problem-solving, the ability to construct an argument, and to help create awareness of the norms necessary to navigate the labor market successfully.
Most of my career has been in the Tech industry, not academia. Specifically, In my tech roles in sales and marketing, I hired, trained, and supervised many folks who were fresh out of college. In this course, I try to provide the training that made many of those folks successful.
I will point out the sometimes oppressive realities that you will find in Business and try to equip you to navigate them. For example, 36% of the American labor force is an independent contractor or works in the "gig" economy. I think it is an issue of social justice to provide you with tools or expose you to mindsets that will allow you to grow your income in this new labor market. For example, we will learn how to prepare for a salary negotiation.
Textbooks
Textbooks
TEXTBOOK (Free)
OpenStax College. (2022) Microeconomics. 3rd Edition. OpenStax.
David Shapiro, Daniel MacDonald, Steven A. Greenlaw
https://openstax.org/books/principles-microeconomics-3e
TEXTBOOK (Free)
CORE Econ - Microeconomics 2.0. Economics for a Changing World (2024).
https://core-econ.org/the-economy/
The above textbooks are available for free online. If you require a physical text or PDFs, please reach out to:
College of San Mateo Bookstore
1700 West Hillsdale Blvd.San Mateo, CA 94402
Phone: 650-574-6367Email: csmbookstore@smccd.edu
PERIODICALS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS
PERIODICALS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS
● Sign up for the Wall Street Journal. Use this link for a free subscription. Type "College of San Mateo."
● Register for a Harvard Business Review Account. Subscribe to the Free Newsletter called Management Tip of the Day.
(suggested) Movies and documentaries
(suggested) Movies and documentaries
● The Corporation. Directed by Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbot. Zeitgeist Films. 2003.
● The Big Short. Adam McKay. Paramount Pictures. 2015.
● Moneyball. Brad Pitt. Columbia Pictures. 2011
● Amazon Empire. PBS. Frontline. 2020.
Technical requirements
Technical requirements
Fairly recent Mac, ChromeBook, or PC with a current operating system.
A system that can execute Zoom meetings and simple spreadsheets.
Current browser (Chrome is preferable)
Stable internet connection
An account with a Large Language Model Provider. I would recommend you replace your Google search box with perplexity.ai. Perplexity is much better than ChatGPT.
Computer Readiness
Computer Readiness
This is a list of basic computer system requirements to use Canvas. It is always recommended to use the most up-to-date versions and better connections. Canvas will still run with the minimum specifications, but you may experience slower loading times.
Because it's built using web standards, Canvas runs on Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, or any other device with a modern web browser. Chrome is recommended, but NOT Internet Explorer.
The Computer Readiness Test will test your current browser for plugins and versions to help you navigate general websites. You may want to update your browser.
Canvas also has mobile apps!
Canvas also has mobile apps!
To access this course and others as a student, download the Canvas App for iOS or Android. Your students can also download this app to access their Canvas courses on their mobile devices.
Recommended Free Software
Recommended Free Software
Student Canvas App: available on the App Store or Google Play. Type “San Mateo Community College District” when you search for your institution.
Adobe Reader: Some of the documents in this course will be available to you in PDF format. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader software on your computer, you can download it by going to Adobe Reader.
Perplexity: https://www.perplexity.ai/ . Second best, ChatGPT. https://chat.openai.com/
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