UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO

Department of Economics
Econ 101 - Introduction to Microeconomics
Lec 001, Fall 2007
We meet 7:00 - 9:50 pm each Tuesday in DC 1351
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Instructor
Usman Ali Hannan
HH 131, Phone # 519-888-4567, Ext. 33635
My Office Hours: Monday and Tuesday 5.20-6.50 in the afternoon. Feel free to
drop by.
uahannan@artsmail.uwaterloo.ca
Call me at my office only during the office hours, e-mail me otherwise.

Required Text

Michael Parkin and Robin Bade, Microeconomics: Canada in the Global Environment,
6th edition, (Addison Wesley).

I will be following the textbook closely in this course.

The textbook has a Study Guide by Avi J Cohen and Harvey B. King. If you find it
helpful for practice and learning, then you are encouraged to use it. The same applies to
the web-based learning tool MyEconLab that accompanies new textbooks.

Course Objectives and Overview

We will understand and learn the basic and important principles of microeconomics that
have far ranging and important applications in business, industry, government as well as
in our day to day life. It is primarily a theory course that gives an analytical
understanding and insight into many of the choices we make as an individual, firm,
government or other stakeholders. We will derive some powerful analytical tools and
concepts out of this course that will enable us to assess and analyze the world around us
from the perspective of an Economist.

We will cover following topics:

Chapter 1: What is Economics?

Definition of Economics
The Economic Way of Thinking
Chapter 2: The Economic Problem.
Chapter 3: Demand and Supply
Chapter 4: Elasticity
Chapter 6: Market in Action (Excluding “Market for Illegal Goods”)
Chapter 7: Utility and Demand
Chapter 10: Output and Costs
Chapter 11: Perfect Competition
Chapter 12: Monopoly
Chapter 13: Monopolistic Competition and Oligopoly

You are expected to practice the analytical components (diagrams and maths) to get
sufficiently confident on them to make inferences or solve problems based on them.

Course Evaluation

There will be two midterm tests (in class) worth 25% each.

1st Midterm: Tuesday, October 09, 2007, from 7.10-8.25

2nd Midterm: Tuesday, November 06, 2007 from 7.10-8.25

There will be an hour of class after each of these midterms.

The final exam is worth 50% and is scheduled by the Registrar’s Office.

I will announce more on the midterms and final exam in the class in due time.

If you miss a midterm, you must provide me with appropriate documentation to shift the
midterm weight to the final exam.

It is assumed that students are aware of the University’s policies on Academic Offences
and other issues concerning academic integrity.
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Note on avoidance of academic offenses:
All students registered in the courses of the
Faculty of Arts are expected to know what constitutes an academic offense, to avoid
committing academic offenses, and to take responsibility for their academic actions.
When the commission of an offense is established, it will be acknowledged by
disciplinary penalties. For information on categories of offenses and types of penalties,
students are directed to consult the summary of Policy #71 (Student Academic Discipline)
which is supplied in the Undergraduate Calendar (p.1:11). If you need help in learning
how to avoid offenses such as plagiarism, cheating, and double submission, or if you
need clarification of aspects of the discipline policy, ask your course instructor for
guidance. Other resources regarding the discipline policy are your academic advisor and
the Undergraduate Associate Dean.

Students who believe that they have been wrongfully or unjustly penalized have the right
to grieve; refer to Policy #70, Student Grievance,
http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/Policies/policy70.html.

“How to Avoid Plagiarism and Other Written Offences: A Guide for Students and
Instructors - Go to http://watarts.uwaterloo.ca/~sager/plagiarism.html.

Note for students with disabilities: The Office for Persons with Disabilities (OPD),
located in Needles Hall, Room 1132, collaborates with all academic departments to
arrange appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities without compromising
the academic integrity of the curriculum. If you require academic accommodations to
lessen the impact of your disability, please register with the OPD at the beginning of each
academic term.