ECON 101: Economics in Everyday Life
Prerequisites: None
Credit Hours: (3)
Semester offered: Fall or Spring
Economics is the study of making decisions when faced with alternatives. The act of making choices does not happen in a vacuum. Decisions are made in a world with other people, necessitating that choices must somehow be coordinated across time and space. This course will study how we coordinate, cooperate, and compete with strangers.
Students who have completed ECON 205 and 206 may not take ECON 101. General
Education credit – Social and Behavioral Science
Detailed Description of Content of the Course
This course is designed to expose non-majors to the fundamental concepts of economics. The fundamental problem facing society is that people have to make decisions without all of the relevant information. Whenever we make a choice, we must give up something in order to get the thing we chose. Rather than cease to act, people use the best available information to achieve the ends they desire. This course intends to study the processes by which those decisions are made and how people learn over time to make better decisions.
Topic Outline
1.Scarcity and Cost
2.Defining the Optimal Decision
3.Talking with Your Neighbors: Intimate Order
4.Working with Strangers: Extended Order
5.Decisions under Certainty
6.Decisions under Uncertainty
7.Competition versus Coordination
8.Case Studies of Real People Making Real Decisions
Detailed Description of Conduct of the Course
The following teaching strategies may be employed:
Lectures, videos, discussions, in-class and/or at-home activities and assignments.
Goals and Objectives of the Course
After successfully completing this course, students will be able to:
1.Describe and apply basic economic principles and concepts, such as opportunity costs, productivity and efficiency, supply and demand, market supported prices, and efficient trades. (SLO 3)
2.Explain how societies address the economic problem of resource scarcity relative to the diverse consumer needs and wants. (SLO 4)
3.Describe how decisions are made in the face of real world constraints.
4.Students describe behaviors, beliefs, cultures, social institutions, and/or environments.
5.Students analyze the interactions of behaviors, beliefs, cultures, social institutions, and/or environments.
Assessment Measures
The following assessment measures may be employed: Tests, quizzes, homework, reports, presentations, or class participation. Grades and percentages depend on individual professors.
Other Course Information
Review and Approval
Date Action Reviewed by
November 2018
December 2004 Made alterations to syllabus N. Hashemzadeh, Chair