Summer 2016

Econ 302- Intermediate Microeconomics Theory II

Class Hours and Location:

Tuesdays 2:30 - 4:20 pm @ SWH10041, Thursdays 2:30 - 3:20 pm @ C9002

Office Hours and Location:

Tuesdays 12:30 - 1:30 pm, Thursdays 12:30 - 1:30 pm @ WMC3607

Teaching Assistants:

• Frank Gao (frank_gao@sfu.ca)
• Peter Nelson (pwnelson@sfu.ca)
• Thomas Vigie (thomas_vigie@sfu.ca)

Textbooks:

There is NO required textbook for the class. You may find the following books helpful for supplementary reading. Note that I will occasionally assign required readings of newspaper articles or academic journal articles that relate to the course topics.

• Eaton, Eaton and Allen, Microeconomics, any edition, Pearson Education [EEA]
• Varian, Intermediate Microeconomics: A Modern Approach, any edition, W.W. Norton [VAR]
• Perloff, Microeconomics: Theory and Applications with Calculus, any edition, Pearson Education [PER]
• McAfee and Lewis (2009), Introduction to Economic Analysis, Flat World Knowledge [MAF]

Grading and Policy on Missed Midterm Exams:

There will be two mid-terms and a cumulative final. Tests are closed book and cumulative, covering all material from lectures and problem sets. Each mid-term counts for 25 % of the grade, the final for 50%. I don't believe in long exams; the midterms will be about 1 hour, the final exam 2 1/2 hours. Only if you miss any of the midterms for documented medical reasons, the weight of that exam will transfer to the final. Please do not ask me to shift the weight under any other circumstances or alter exam dates for you.

Exams Dates:

• Midterm 1: June 9 (in class)
• Midterm 2: July 21 (in class)
• Final Exam: August 10

Lectures:

I highly encourage you to ask questions and be active during lectures. I will go over the material using slides (available online) but you will have to take your own notes to complement them. Slides are provided as a courtesy, and are not designed to be complete notes. Sorry, I don't allow open laptops or other electronic devices during lectures.

Problem Sets:

Doing the problem sets is essential to success in this class. It is very important to attempt to solve the problems BERFORE heading into the tutorial where the answers are presented, as this will help you ask the right questions and understand the answers better. Hoping to get served the correct solution on a silver platter, which you then plan to memorize for the exam, will result in an almost guaranteed fail. The problem sets are not graded; it is your responsibility to stay on track. If you find them time consuming, remember that there are no papers or readings. You should be prepared to spend 4-8 hours/week. If you want additional practice, the books that I suggested contain a lot of additional questions.