Introduction to Economics

ECON 100, Section W01 - WEB CLASS

1 Introduction to Economic Thinking

1.1 The Basics of Economics

1.1.1 Defining Economics (Disc 1, 6:36)

1.1.2 What Economists Do (Disc 1, 13:20)

1.1.3 Macroeconomics and Microeconomics (Disc 1, 11:21)

1.1.4 An Overview of Economic Systems (Disc 1, 10:50)

1.1.5 Case Study: The Work of Adam Smith (Disc 1, 8:58)

1.2 Graphs in Economics

1.2.1 Using Graphs to Understand Direct Relationships (Disc 1, 9:50)

1.2.2 Plotting a Linear Relationship between Two Variables (Disc 1, 9:57)

1.2.3 Changing the Intercept of a Linear Function (Disc 1, 8:42)

1.2.4 Understanding the Slope of a Linear Function (Disc 1, 7:28)

1.4 Production Possibilities

1.4.1 Understanding the Concept of Production Possibilities Frontiers (Disc 1, 24:46)

1.4.2 Understanding How a Change in Technology or Resources Affects the PPF (Disc 1, 10:10)

2 Understanding Markets

2.1 Demand

2.1.1 Understanding the Determinants of Demand (Disc 1, 11:58)

2.1.2 Understanding the Basics of Demand (Disc 1, 11:54)

2.1.3 Analyzing Shifts in the Demand Curve (Disc 1, 8:13)

2.1.4 Changing Other Demand Variables (Disc 1, 10:43)

2.1.5 Deriving a Market Demand Curve (Disc 1, 9:16)

2.2 Supply

2.2.1 Understanding the Determinants of Supply (Disc 1, 6:00)

2.2.2 Deriving a Supply Curve (Disc 1, 9:49)

2.2.3 Understanding a Change in Supply versus a Change in Quantity Supplied (Disc 1, 6:52)

2.2.4 Analyzing Changes in Other Supply Variables (Disc 1, 8:47)

2.2.5 Deriving a Market Supply Curve from Individual Supply Curves (Disc 1, 7:16)

2.3 Equilibrium

2.3.1 Determining a Competitive Equilibrium (Disc 1, 11:04)

2.3.2 Defining Comparative Statics (Disc 1, 7:02)

2.3.3 Classifying Comparative Statics (Disc 1, 13:04)

2.5 Interfering with Markets

2.5.1 Understanding How Price Controls Damage Markets (Disc 1, 9:38)

2.5.2 Understanding the Problem of Minimum Wages in Labor Markets (Disc 1, 14:47)

2.5.3 Understanding How an Excise Tax Affects Equilibrium (Disc 1, 9:12)

3 Consumer Choice and Household Behavior

3.1 Utility Theory

3.1.1 Understanding Utility Theory (Disc 1, 4:31)

3.1.2 Finding Consumer Equilibrium (Disc 1, 4:47)

3.3 Consumer Optimization

3.3.1 Locating the Consumer's Optimal Combination of Goods (Disc 1)

3.3.2 Understanding the Effects of a Price Change on Consumer Choice (Disc 1, 4:41)

3.3.3 Deriving the Demand Curve (Disc 1, 5:40)

4 Production and Costs

4.1 The Basics of Production

4.1.1 Understanding Output, Inputs, and the Short Run (Disc 1, 8:48)

4.1.2 Explaining the Total Product Curve (Disc 1, 15:57)

4.1.3 Drawing Marginal Product Curves (Disc 1, 7:22)

4.1.4 Understanding Average Product (Disc 1, 10:32)

4.1.5 Relating Costs to Productivity (Disc 1, 5:25)

4.2 Variable Costs

4.2.1 Defining Variable Costs (Disc 1, 4:23)

4.2.2 Graphing Variable Costs (Disc 1, 4:57)

4.3 Marginal Costs

4.3.1 Defining Marginal Costs (Disc 1, 6:44)

4.3.2 Deriving the Marginal Cost Curve (Disc 1, 10:59)

4.4 Average Costs

4.4.1 Defining Average Variable Costs (Disc 1, 5:37)

4.4.2 Understanding the Relationship between Average Variable Cost and Average Product of Labor (Disc 2, 6:06)

4.4.3 Understanding the Relationship between Marginal Cost and Average Variable Cost (Disc 2, 7:54)

4.5 Total Costs

4.5.1 Defining and Graphing Average Fixed Cost and Average Total Cost (Disc 2, 6:55)

4.5.2 Calculating Average Total Cost (Disc 2, 4:51)

4.5.3 Putting the Cost Curves Together (Disc 2, 4:51)

4.6 Long-Run Production and Costs

4.6.1 Defining the Long Run (Disc 2, 5:55)

4.6.2 Determining a Firm's Return to Scale (Disc 2, 9:01)

5 Perfect Competition

5.1 The Basic Assumptions of Competitive Markets

5.1.1 Understanding the Role of Price (Disc 2, 3:43)

5.1.2 Understanding Market Structures (Disc 2, 10:55)

5.1.3 Finding Economic and Accounting Profit (Disc 2, 13:54)

5.2 Calculating Profit and Loss

5.2.1 Finding the Firm's Profit-Maximizing Output Level (Disc 2, 14:24)

5.2.2 Proving the Profit-Maximizing Rule (Disc 2, 4:20)

5.2.3 Calculating Profit (Disc 2, 12:26)

5.2.4 Calculating Loss (Disc 2, 9:13)

5.2.5 Finding the Firm's Shut-Down Point (Disc 2, 8:35)

5.3 Market Supply

5.3.1 Deriving the Short-Run Market Supply Curve (Disc 2, 20:44)

5.3.2 Relating the Individual Firm to the Market (Disc 2, 18:52)

6 Other Market Models

6.1 Monopolies

6.1.1 Defining Monopoly Power (Disc 2, 10:10)

6.1.2 Defining Marginal Revenue for a Firm with Market Power (Disc 2, 12:43)

6.1.3 Determining the Monopolist's Profit-Maximizing Output and Price (Disc 2, 14:18)

6.1.4 Calculating a Monopolist's Profit and Loss (Disc 2, 6:24)

6.2 The Social Cost of Monopoly

6.2.1 Determining the Social Cost of Monopoly (Disc 2, 12:22)

6.3 Oligopoly

6.3.1 Understanding the Kinked-Demand Curve Model (Disc 2, 4:22)

6.4 Monopolistic Competition

6.4.1 Defining Monopolistic Competition (Disc 2, 7:01)

6.4.2 Understanding Pricing and Output under Monopolistic Competition (Disc 2, 8:58)

8 Market Failures

8.1 Overview of Market Failures

8.1.1 Understanding Market Failures (Disc 2, 17:50)

8.2 Public Goods and Public Choice

8.2.1 Defining Public Goods (Disc 2, 13:32)

8.2.2 Analyzing the Tax System (Disc 2, 8:19)

8.2.3 Understanding Public Choice (Disc 2, 11:10)

8.4 Externalities

8.4.1 Defining Externalities (Disc 2, 5:46)

9 Evaluating Market Outcomes

9.1 Normative Economics

9.1.1 Measuring the Benefits of Consumption (Disc 3, 6:14)

9.1.2 Using the Demand Curve As a Measure of Benefit (Disc 3, 3:37)

9.2 Calculating Total Economic Value

9.2.1 Quantifying Benefit (Disc 3, 3:27)

9.2.2 Quantifying Cost (Disc 3, 4:33)

9.2.3 Determining Total Social Cost (Disc 3, 2:48)

9.2.4 Understanding Economic Value (Disc 3, 5:47)

9.4 Market Interference and Economic Value

9.4.1 Understanding the Effects of Price Controls (Disc 3, 6:31)

9.4.2 Understanding How Price Controls Destroy Economic Value (Disc 3, 7:28)

10 Macroeconomic Measurements

10.1 Aggregate Output and Income

10.1.1 The Production Possibilities Frontier: Macroeconomic Applications (Disc 3, 18:18)

10.1.2 The Circular Flow Model (Disc 3, 9:38)

10.1.3 Real GDP (Disc 3, 16:03)

10.1.4 The New BEA Procedure for Calculating Real GDP (Disc 3, 8:15)

10.1.5 Limitations of GDP and Alternative Indexes (Disc 3, 10:40)

10.1.6 Hot Topic: Feminist Economics and the Measurement of GDP (Disc 3, 5:08)

10.1.7 Hot Topic: Off the Books: The Underground Economy (Disc 3, 5:43)

10.2 Approaches to Calculating GDP

10.2.1 The Expenditures Approach (Disc 3, 9:29)

10.2.2 The Income Approach (Disc 3, 7:02)

10.2.3 Hot Topic: The Impact of E-commerce on the Economy (Disc 3, 6:07)

10.3 Cost of Living

10.3.1 Changes in the Cost of Living and the CPI (Disc 3, 9:59)

10.3.2 Case Study: The Index of Leading Economic Indicators (Disc 3, 6:30)

10.3.3 Calculating the Rate of Inflation (Disc 3, 10:12)

10.3.4 Comparing the CPI and the GDP Deflator (Disc 3, 6:02)

11 Economic Fluctuations: Unemployment and Inflation

11.1 The Business Cycle

11.1.1 Recessions, Depressions, and Booms (Disc 3, 10:32)

11.1.2 Theoretical Explanations for Cycles (Disc 3, 10:09)

11.2 Measuring Unemployment

11.2.1 Measuring the Labor Force and Unemployment (Disc 3, 9:30)

11.2.2 Types of Unemployment (Disc 3, 9:37)

11.2.3 Hot Topic: The Unemployment Rate and the Crime Rate (Disc 3, 3:50)

11.2.4 Hot Topic: Too Old to Work: Are We Discarding Valuable Workers? (Disc 3, 6:04)

11.4 Causes of Unemployment

11.4.1 Minimum Wage Laws (Disc 3, 7:31)

11.4.2 An Analysis of Labor Unions and Unemployment (Disc 3, 7:27)

11.4.3 Case Study:" La Causa": The United Farm Workers (Disc 3, 5:10)

11.4.4 Unemployment Insurance (Disc 3, 6:36)

11.5 Inflation

11.5.1 Inflation, Deflation, Stagflation, and Hyperinflation (Disc 3, 9:34)

11.5.2 Inflation and Purchasing Power (Disc 3, 7:45)

11.5.3 Short-Run Causes: Demand-Pull and Cost-Push Inflation (Disc 3, 9:59)

11.5.4 The Quantity Theory of Money (Disc 3, 11:58)

11.5.5 The Costs of Inflation (Disc 3, 9:23)

11.5.6 Case Study: Behavior during Hyperinflation (Disc 3, 6:14)

12 The Aggregate Expenditures Model

12.1 Historical Background

12.1.1 Say's Law and Keynes: An Overview (Disc 3, 8:35)

12.1.2 Case Study: John Maynard Keynes (Disc 3, 6:15)

13 Money: Banking, Spending, Saving, and Investing

13.1 Money in the Economy

13.1.1 The Money Supply (Disc 4, 10:42)

13.1.2 Case Study: The Cashless Society (Disc 4, 8:18)

13.1.3 Determinants of Money Demand (Disc 4, 9:00)

13.1.4 The Money Market (Disc 4, 10:02)

13.2 Financial Markets

13.2.1 Hot Topic: Should the U.S. Government Bail Out Failing Financial Institutions? (Disc 4, 8:35)

13.2.2 Stocks and Bonds (Disc 4, 11:32)

13.3 The Fed

13.3.1 The Federal Reserve System (Disc 4, 8:13)

13.3.2 Hot Topic: Are Reserve Requirements Necessary? (Disc 4, 7:11)

13.3.3 The Fed's Tools of Monetary Policy (Disc 4, 9:47)

13.4 The Creation of Money

13.4.1 How Goldsmiths Created Money (Disc 4, 7:40)

13.4.2 Case Study: Cigarettes As Money (Disc 4, 6:07)

13.4.3 How Banks Create Money (Disc 4, 12:09)

13.4.4 How the Fed Changes the Money Supply (Disc 4, 10:06)

14 Aggregate Demand/Aggregate Supply Model

14.1 Aggregate Demand

14.1.1 Deriving the Aggregate Demand Curve (Disc 4, 7:26)

14.1.2 Movement along the Aggregate Demand Curve (Disc 4, 9:15)

14.1.3 Shifts in Aggregate Demand (Disc 4, 6:03)

14.2 Aggregate Supply

14.2.1 The Short-Run Aggregate Supply Curve (Disc 4, 9:03)

14.2.2 The Long-Run Aggregate Supply Curve (Disc 4, 11:17)

14.3 Differences in the Long Run and the Short Run

14.3.1 Equilibrium in the Long Run and the Short Run (Disc 4, 12:10)

14.3.2 Long-Run Macroeconomic Equilibrium (Disc 4, 16:55)

14.3.3 Case Study: The U.S. National Debt (Disc 4, 8:46)

15 Monetary and Fiscal Policy

15.1 Recessions and Booms

15.1.1 Unanticipated Changes in Aggregate Demand (Disc 4, 12:04)

15.1.2 Unanticipated Changes in Aggregate Supply (Disc 4, 15:43)

15.2 Fiscal Policy: The Mainstream

15.2.1 Fiscal Policy Using the AD/AS Model (Disc 4, 16:10)

15.2.2 Hot Topic: The Political Business Cycle (Disc 4, 3:35)

15.3 Fiscal Policy: Alternative Approaches

15.3.1 New Keynesian and New Classical Approaches to Fiscal Policy (Disc 4, 11:03)

15.3.2 Supply-Side Policy (Disc 4, 5:26)

15.4 Monetary Policy: The Mainstream

15.4.1 Monetary Policy Using the AD/AS Model (Disc 4, 9:56)

15.4.2 Monetary Responses to Changes in the Economy (Disc 4, 12:20)

15.4.3 Hot Topic: Should Monetary Policy Be Made by Rule or Discretion? (Disc 4, 6:34)

15.5 Monetary Policy: Alternative Approaches

15.5.1 New Keynesians versus Monetarists (Disc 4, 11:23)

15.5.2 Case Study: Policy in the Great Depression (Disc 4, 8:22)

16 Productivity and Growth

16.3 Emerging Economies

16.3.1 Growth in Emerging Economies (Disc 5, 11:32)

16.3.2 Policies to Promote Growth (Disc 5, 7:50)

16.3.3 Hot Topic: The Myth of Exploding Populations (Disc 5, 8:01)

16.3.4 Case Study: Growing Pains in Indonesia (Disc 5, 11:46)

17 International Focus

17.4 Government Policies

17.4.1 Hot Topic: Winners and Losers in NAFTA (Disc 5, 4:20)

17.4.2 Hot Topic: Is the World Trade Organization a Conspiracy? (Disc 5, 16:15)

17.5 Transition Economies

17.5.1 Centrally Planned Economies (Disc 5, 10:57)

17.5.2 Policies to Change to Market Systems (Disc 5, 11:18)

17.5.3 Comparative Economic Performance (Disc 5, 12:16)

17.5.4 Case Study: A Successful Transition in the Czech Republic (Disc 5, 7:13)

17.6 Alternative Systems

17.6.1 Case Study: Post-Mao China (Disc 5, 7:26)

17.6.2 Case Study: Revolution and Reform in Mexico (Disc 5, 5:46)