The purpose of this course is to provide students with an overview of the principles of economic analysis. The topics we will cover range from the behavior of "small" economic agents such as individuals and firms (microeconomics) to the behavior of “large” market aggregates (macroeconomics) and national economies. Learning economics is not so much a matter of acquiring knowledge of a collection of facts about the economy but rather a process of learning to view behavior and social phenomena through the prism of economic concepts and theories. By the end of the course, you should be able to think as economists – that is, be able to analyze questions involving choices made by individuals, organizations, and society subject to the constraint of scarce resources in a rigorous and logical manner. The methods learned in this course apply to questions ranging from how a tax on a good (say alcohol or gasoline) affects consumer behavior to why nations trade with each other, and what is the role of global trade in growth and development.
Students are expected to maintain the highest standards of academic integrity. All work submitted must be original and properly cited. Plagiarism, cheating, or any form of academic dishonesty will result in immediate consequences as outlined in the university's academic integrity policy.
This is a Core IMPACTS course that is part of the Social Sciences area.
Core IMPACTS refers to the core curriculum, which provides students with essential knowledge in foundational academic areas. This course will help master course content, and support students’ broad academic and career goals.
This course should direct students toward a broad Orienting Question:
- How do I understand human experiences and connections?
Completion of this course should enable students to meet the following Learning Outcome:
- Students will effectively analyze the complexity of human behavior, and how historical, economic, political, social or geographic relationships develop, persist or change.
Course content, activities and exercises in this course should help students develop the following Career-Ready Competencies:
- Intercultural Competence
- Perspective-Taking
- Persuasion