EC 110 Section 004: Prin Of Microeconomics
Fall, 2009
3 Credit Hours
Primary Instructor: Paul Pecorino
Core Designation: Social and Behavioral Sciences
Professor: Paul Pecorino
Office: 268 Alston
Office hours: 9:00-11:00 AM Monday, 12:45-1:45 PM Wednesday, and by appointment.
Office phone: 348-0379
E-mail: You should e-mail me through eLearning. I will check this e-mail during each weekday, but I will not regularly check it after regular business hours or on weekends.
Introduction to microeconomic analysis concentrating on consumer and producer behavior, competitive and imperfect markets, and public policy and regulation.
Students will receive an introduction to the workings of a market economy.
This will include an analysis of conditions under which free markets work very well, situations
in which they may not work well and a discussion of the role (if any) for government
intervention in situations where the market does not work well. In the process, students will be
introduced to the economic way of thinking. Most fundamentally, this means confronting the role of trade-offs in economic decision making.
Examinations: Your test average will consist of four equally weighted exam scores. Each exam will each contain 110 points worth of questions. Thus, there are 10 “extra” points available on each exam. Beyond these 10 extra points, there will be no curving of the exam scores. There will be three mid semester exams and a two part final. Part I of the final is the 4th exam. Everyone must take part I of the final. Part II is a comprehensive exam covering material from tests 1-3. This serves as the mandatory make-up exam for anyone who missed any of the first three exams for any reason. Part II of the final is the only available make up for students who miss a mid-semester exam. In addition, other students may use this exam to replace their lowest score from exams 1-3. The score from part I of the final cannot be replaced. If the part II score is lower than all of the test 1-3 scores, it will not count. Thus taking the optional final cannot lower a student's final average. For students who miss a midterm, part II of the final will replace the missing score.
After the substitution (if any) from part II of the final, you will have four equally weighted exam
scores which will be used to determine your test average.
In the highly unusual circumstance that a student misses more than 1 of the 3 mid-semester
exams, he or she will receive a 0 unless an acceptable and well documented excuse is provided
for all exam absences. In this circumstance, the method of making up for the missing test score
will be determined at my discretion. Students who missed the final will be excused only if they
have a legitimate and well documented excuse. These students must take the deferred final on
Wednesday, January 13th at 2 PM. The only time you should present me with an excuse in
this class is if you miss more than one mid-semester exam or the final.
Exam Date
1 Wednesday, September 16th
2 Monday, October 12th
3 Wednesday, November 4th
Final Friday December 11th, 7:00 – 9:30 PM
All exams will be administered in Alston 10. All exams except the final will be administered at
the regularly scheduled class time. There will be no "early" midterm exams, and part II of the
final is the only available make up for students who miss a mid-semester exam.
Additional Notes:
1. You must bring your student I.D. to all exams.
2. For our record keeping, it is essential that you correctly bubble in your name and your eight
digit college wide identification number (CWID) on the scantron for each exam. If you fail to
correctly bubble in your name and CWID on the scantron, it will cost you points off the exam in
question. The cost is one point on exam 1, two points on exam 2, three points on exam 3 and four
points on the final. If you correctly bubble in your CWID on your scantron, you will gain
electronic access to your raw score, the test answer key, and your test answers via myBama.
3. You may not use a cell phone as a calculator on an exam. Conventional calculators are
allowed, but are subject to inspection. A calculator with text storage capability is prohibited
during the exam.
4. If you are absent on the day that the exam book is returned, you may pick it up in Alston,
Room 270 in a box labeled with my name and your section number.
5. Students have two class periods after an exam is handed back to submit a written appeal of the
grading of a particular question or questions. After the appeal period expires, the grade is
considered final, and cannot be changed. I will address substantive issues on appeal, but
"needs" based appeals will not be entertained.
Homework: Your homework assignments will be completed online at the Aplia website. Each
homework will be graded on a 110 point basis. Aplia will give you the raw score. The homework
score = (Raw Score/Total Points Available) x 110.
Your lowest four scores will be dropped from your average, and your homework average will be
the simple average of the remaining scores. If you do not complete a homework by the
assigned deadline, you will receive a zero. There are no exceptions to this policy. Technical
problems should be immediately reported to Aplia. You should regularly check the Aplia
website for new assignments and their due dates.
Do your homework by yourself and do not copy answers from others. Copying answers is
academic fraud. In addition, if you copy answers from others without making a serious
effort on your own, you are very likely to fail the exams (which are 90% of your grade).
Weekly Help Session: Starting on September 1st, there will be two weekly help sessions, one on
Tuesday from 6:30 – 7:30 PM, and one on Thursday from 6:30-7:30 PM. Both sessions will be
held in Bidgood 13. During the help session the teaching assistant will answer questions related
to the course materials. In addition, the teaching assistant can go over homework problems after
the homework has been graded. Attendance at a help session is optional but I strongly
encourage you to attend if you need help with the course materials.
The teaching assistant will arrive to the help session at the scheduled starting time. If no
students show up for 10 minutes after a session is scheduled to start, the teaching assistant will
leave. A session lasts one hour at maximum from scheduled starting time. If you plan to
attend a help session, please arrive on time.
Teaching Assistants: There are two teaching assistants for this course. Office hours will be held
in the TA’s office, and the evening help sessions will both be in Bidgood 13.
Name: Michaela Patton Sondra Collins
Office: Bidgood 341 Bidgood 345
Office Hour Tuesday, 3:30 – 4:30 PM Thursday, 1:30 – 2:30 PM
Help Session Tuesday, 6:30 – 7:30 PM Thursday, 6:30 – 7:30 PM
E-mail Both TAs can be contacted through eLearning
Course Grade: Your final average determines your course grade on a scale where 90 or above is an A and less than 60 is an F. Passing grades are modified within each range so that grades falling within [0,3) receive a '-' and those within [7,10) receive a '+'. For example, 90 is an A-, 87 is a B+ and 82.9 is a B-. EXCEPTION: You need an average of 100 or more to get an A+.
Your final average = 0.90xTest Average + 0.10xHomework Average + Bonus Points.
Details on how your test average, homework average and bonus points are computed are found
below. Grades will be determined in strict accordance with the policy above. I will not
entertain needs based appeals of your course grade.
In the highly unusual circumstance that a student misses more than 1 of the 3 mid-semester exams, he or she will receive a 0 unless an acceptable and well documented excuse is provided for all exam absences. In this circumstance, the method of making up for the missing test score will be determined at my discretion. Students who missed the final will be excused only if they have a legitimate and well documented excuse. These students must take the deferred final on Wednesday, January 13th at 2 PM. The only time you should present me with an excuse in this class is if you miss more than one mid-semester exam or the final.
Attendance will be taken at every class meeting, through the use of a seating chart. Sitting in the same seat is essential for keeping attendance records and is, therefore, required for all students, regardless of which bonus option they choose. A seating chart will be established on Monday, August 24th. I may reassign seats at any time.
Bonus Point Contract: There are two options for bonus points in this class. Later, I will ask you to sign a contract indicating which option you have decided to choose. Anyone who fails to sign a contract by Monday August 31st will automatically be enrolled in the Good Conduct Point Option. Regardless of which option you choose, you are responsible for all lecture material and all in class announcements. Attendance is vital to success in this class. Students who miss class regularly should expect to fail.
Aside from the bonus policies described below, there are no other opportunities for "extra"
points in this class. These are truly bonus points in that a failure to receive points under these
policies will not detract from your grade as determined by your test and homework performance.
Other than points awarded under these policies, there will be no rounding. If you need
.00001 points for the next higher grade, but are awarded 0 points under these policies, you
will not get the next higher grade. For example, after all bonus points have been awarded, a
69.99999 is a D+, rather than a C-.
Good Conduct Point Option: If you choose this option and maintain good conduct in the class,
you will receive one bonus point added onto your final average at the end of the semester. While
you will be asked to sign the daily attendance sheet, your attendance will not affect your ability
to receive this bonus point. However, you must maintain the rules of classroom etiquette as
outlined above. When you come to class, be on time and stay until the end.
Attendance Bonus Option: Attendance is extremely important to succeeding in class, which is
why I am offering the Attendance Bonus Option and recommending that you take it. However,
the policy needs to be one which is manageable from my perspective. As a result, this is a no
excuse policy. If you feel that this is unjust or unfair or that you will have too many unavoidable
absences, then you should opt for the Good Conduct Point Option. If you choose the
Attendance Bonus Option, you agree to bear the risk that you will receive 0 bonus points,
because you unavoidably have five or more absences.
Students may be awarded bonus based on attendance as follows:
Number of absences Bonus points
0-2 4
3 3
4 1
5 or more 0
All students in attendance at the University of Alabama are expected to be honorable and to observe standards of conduct appropriate to a community of scholars. The University expects from its students a higher standard of conduct than the minimum required to avoid discipline. Academic misconduct includes all acts of dishonesty in any academically related matter and any knowing or intentional help or attempt to help, or conspiracy to help, another student.
The Academic Misconduct Disciplinary Policy will be followed in the event of academic misconduct.
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UA is a residential campus with many students living on or near campus. In general classes will remain in session until the National Weather Service issues safety warnings for the city of Tuscaloosa. Clearly, some students and faculty commute from adjacent counties. These counties may experience weather related problems not encountered in Tuscaloosa. Individuals should follow the advice of the National Weather Service for that area taking the necessary precautions to ensure personal safety. Whenever the National Weather Service and the Emergency Management Agency issue a warning, people in the path of the storm (tornado or severe thunderstorm) should take immediate life saving actions.
When West Alabama is under a severe weather advisory, conditions can change rapidly. It is imperative to get to where you can receive information from the National Weather Service and to follow the instructions provided. Personal safety should dictate the actions that faculty, staff and students take. The Office of Public Relations will disseminate the latest information regarding conditions on campus in the following ways: