F2023 EC 260 course outline

ECON 260OC INTERMEDIATE MICROECONOMIC ANALYSIS FOR MANAGEMENT Wilfrid Laurier University Instructor: Dr. Olivia Mesta Email: [email protected] Office Hours: This is an online course with no face-to-face meetings. Please contact the instructor via email at any time with your questions. You will usually receive a response within one to two days except over weekends or university holidays. This course is being offered as an OC course. That means that you will be learning asynchronously. You will not be required to be online at designated times for virtual lectures. All of the lessons are available in MyLearningSpace. COURSE OBJECTIVES AND LEARNING OUTCOMES: Economics 260 is a course in intermediate microeconomic analysis for students in the Honours Business Administration Program in the School of Business and Economics. The most fundamental goal of the course is to develop and apply those principles of microeconomics which offer a foundation for managerial decision-making. Microeconomic tools are applied to analyze the economic choices faced by the firm, and to establish decision rules that can assist the manager of a business enterprise in achieving the goals of the firm. The course is designed to provide students with the basic background, information, and tools to build on their knowledge gained in Economics 120. When students have completed this course, they should be able to: 1. use demand theory to represent the relationship between microeconomic variables such as consumer demand and prices; 2. calculate and use demand elasticities strategically; 3. use demand theory to understand consumer behaviour and choices; 4. use production theory to explain the relationship between production inputs and output; 5. use the theory of the firm to represent the relationship between microeconomic variables such as production costs and supply; 6. understand how managers maximize firm profits by minimizing costs; 7. use measures of consumer and producer surplus to compare the benefits of different pricing proposals; 8. analyze how managers can maximize firm profits in a monopoly or monopolistically competitive market situation; 9. understand how managers employ price discrimination to increase profits; 10. analyze how managers can maximize firm profits in an oligopoly; 11. incorporate risk into managerial decision making; 12. understand how principal agent problems arise and how to apply strategies to deal with them; and 13. understand the problem of adverse selection and ways to deal with this issue.

COURSE OVERVIEW AND APPROACH/FRAMEWORK: Students will use MyLearningSpace to access weekly lesson notes, study materials (previous exams, etc.), and assignments. Students will also use email to ask questions to the instructor The work plan for a typical lesson (week) looks like this: 1. Log on to MyLearningSpace: • read the lesson outline and learning goals; • check News Items on MYLS for reminders or information from your instructor; and • check your course email. 2. Do the required reading from the textbook and online lesson notes, making sure you understand the key concepts. 3. Work on assignments. 4. Before exams, look at study questions as suggested on each of the lessons. 5. Email the instructor if something is not clear. 6. Go on to the next lesson once you are confident you have mastered the material. Steps 2 and 3 will typically consume most of your time. COURSE TOOLS AND LEARNING MATERIALS: Required Text: Allen, Weigelt, Doherty and Mansfield. Managerial Economics: Theory, Applications, and Cases: 8th Edition 1 . (W.W. Norton and Co. 2013). This course participates in digital textbook access DTA program . You will be sent a "Welcome" email to your @mylaurier.ca email address outlining how the Digital Textbook Access DTA program works prior to the start of classes. You will be given information on opt out deadline via e-mail at your @mylaurier email account from the DTA program not from the instructor. The instructor is not involved in the DTA program or in the opt out policies. Please e-mail to [email protected] for any issues/questions and read further details with regards to DTA at the last pages of this course outline. Lesson Notes: Online notes associated with each lesson are available on the course webpage. EVALUATION: Assignment #1 Tuesday, September 26 (Week 3) 10 % % Assignment #2 Tuesday, October 24 (Week 6) 10 % Assignment #3 Monday, December 4 (Week 12) 10 % Midterm Exam TBA 1 (Week 6-7) see footnote below 30 % Final Exam As scheduled by the Registrar 40% You are expected to follow on the deadlines for your homework assignments. Please do not e-mail asking for extensions on the deadlines. Exams and Coverage: Both the midterm and the final exam will be written in-person at Laurier Waterloo campus. No online exams. No remote online proctoring. Students who are located more than 100 km from 1 Tentative date for Midterm exam is Sunday October 29, 2023. Official Midterm date will be posted on the midterm exam schedule by the Lazaridis School of Business of Economics. Do not make arrangements until official schedule is announced. Page 2 of 8

campus have the option of arranging for in-person proctored exams. Students who live more than 100 kms from the campus and choose to write the midterm off campus must fill out this Midterm Examination Proctor From . There are strict deadlines for proctoring arrangements. The form will open on September 7, 2023; students will have until September 29, 2023 to submit it. Those who miss the deadline must either write the midterm on campus in Waterloo or they will be unable to take the midterm exam. Since this is an online course with in-person exams, students can choose to write their exams on the Brantford campus if they notify the instructor by the given deadline. The deadline for students to notify the instructor ( [email protected] ) if they will write at Brantford campus is September 22, 2023 . If you will write your exams at Waterloo campus, you do not need to notify the instructor. Students who live more than 100 kms from the campus and choose to write the final exam off campus must fill in a different form. Please read details and strict deadlines for arranging in-person proctored final exams from the following link: https://students.wlu.ca/academics/exams/proctor- confirmation.html If you will write your exams at Waterloo campus, you do not need to fill in any forms. Midterm exam will cover Module 1 and the first two lessons in Module 2 which includes chapters 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8. Final exam is cumulative and will cover all of the course material covered by Modules 1-3. There will be greater emphasis on the material studied after the midterm examination. Final exam is scheduled by the registrar and the instructor DOES NOT make alternative arrangements with students. You will need to file a petition (see below at final exam policy for the link to petition) if you are unable to write the final exam. COURSE POLICIES: Midterm Exam Policy: There are NO deferred midterm exam in EC260OC except for two conflicts: religious and academic conflicts. Note that for both religious and academic conflicts, the official university policy is that students must inform the instructor within 2 weeks of the start of classes, or within 1 week of discovering an academic conflict that wasn't known in advance. For academic conflicts, the student will submit the Lazaridis Petitions Form for an academic conflict and a copy of their form response will be received in the Lazaridis Deferred inbox. [email protected] For religious conflicts, the student will submit the Religious Accommodation Form and a copy of their form response is received in the Lazaridis Deferred inbox. [email protected] (The course Instructor will receive the same form). The Lazaridis Petition Coordinator will send a confirmation email to the student if the form has been approved along with the deferred midterm schedule and copy the Course Instructor and Business Process Coordinator. A missed midterm exam is given a mark of zero and is included in the calculation of the final grade unless adequate documentation is provided. If you miss the midterm due to illness, you must submit a Verification of Illness Form within 3 days of the missed midterm exam. In the event that you have a properly documented, valid reason for missing the midterm exam and it is Page 3 of 8