Recent regular courses
COURSE CATALOG: Analysis of supply and demand in markets for goods and markets for the factors of production. Study of various market structures, price determination in perfectly competitive and imperfectly competitive markets. May not be taken for credit by students with credit for A ECO 300. T ECO 110 is the Honors version of A ECO 110; only one may be taken for credit. A ECO 110 or T ECO 110 and A ECO 111 must be completed with a C or better for the major in Economics. Prerequisite(s): recommended: plane geometry and intermediate algebra, or A MAT 100.
Many people like economics because it is quantitative, mathematical, logical. Some like it because it addresses so many areas of life. Others are attracted to its multidisciplinary social science nature, incorporating a wide array of views from psychology, sociology, and biology, for instance. Such diversity means that economics can be a challenging subject to study. It also means that study of economics can be tremendously rewarding.
Some topical questions that we will begin to address in this course include:
1. What effect will artificial intelligence have on employment, wages, and distribution of income and wealth?
2. What are the positives and negatives of trade – and how do tariffs affect those?
3. What are the reasons for widening income and wealth inequality – and what are the economic and social impacts?
4. What effect will rent control have on housing shortages that are common in many areas?
(Other questions, concerning the Federal budget debt, for example, are left to Eco111, macroeconomics.)
In this course, students will -
1. Learn about and assess multiple perspectives of economic systems such as mainstream (Neo-classical), Marxist, Ecological, Feminist, and Buddhist.
2. Learn about the influence of culture, through norms and customs, on economic outcomes, with particular attention to trust, cooperation, and fairness.
3. Learn how economic forces affect choices about family size and composition, and how communities influence economic opportunity (through peer effects, for example).
4. Learn how supply and demand are formed, evaluated, and interact in market settings.
5. Consider the effects of price floors and ceilings, taxes, and subsidies.
6. Consider the pros and cons of extension of market principles to new areas (products, services).
7. Examine the likely outcomes (price, consumer satisfaction, profits, innovation) under different market conditions – Monopoly and Oligopoly, in particular.
8. Consider multiple conceptions of (and desires for) economic freedom and how government may limit or enhance it.
9. Learn how certain activities (education; pollution) can be encouraged or discouraged through subsidies, taxes, or regulation and how those policies affect market outcomes.
10. Analyze labor market dynamics and determinants of wages.
11. Study the basic facts of income and wealth distribution, mobility, and economic opportunity.
12. Consider multiple philosophies of income and wealth distribution.
This is an incomplete list of what we will hope to achieve but it provides an idea of what the course is about.
COURSE CATALOG: Examination of the institutional structure of an economic system. Analysis of aggregate economic activity, the determinants of the level, stability, and growth of national income, the role of monetary and fiscal policy. May not be taken for credit by students with credit for A ECO 301. A ECO 110 and A ECO 111 must be completed with a C or better for the major in Economics. Prerequisite(s): A ECO/T A ECO 110.
Eco 111 is a General Education Course in the Social Sciences Category.
Eco 111 will help you better understand the coming impacts of AI, the affordability crisis, climate change, government debt, trade wars, health care, an aging population and low birth rates combined with immigration restrictions, and so many other current issues – issues that will affect you in the coming decades.
In this course, students will -
1. Learn what the official macro measure of economic activity - GDP - includes and what it excludes, and why knowing this is crucial.
2. Examine factors affecting economic growth and the environmental and social limits to growth.
3. Differentiate various types of unemployment and their connection to economic and social problems.
4. Learn of the social and economic importance of stable prices – “affordability”.
5. Compare the U.S. economy to other economies.
6. Consider the meaning of ‘money’ and what gives it value.
7. Learn how the supply of money affects prices and is adjusted to accommodate economic activity.
8. Use formal models of the economy to examine the effects of market fluctuations and government policies on output, prices, and employment.
9. Use time value of money concepts to compare current and future monetary values.
10. Examine the economic, social, and political effects of trade policy.
This is an incomplete list of what we will hope to achieve but it provides an idea of what the course is about.