I. General Information

1. Course Title:
American Economy

2. Course Prefix & Number:
ECON 1450

3. Course Credits and Contact Hours:

Credits: 3

Lecture Hours: 3

Lab Hours: 0

4. Course Description:

This course is an introduction to and a descriptive survey of the modern American Economy. Concentration is on the major forces affecting the economy, with special attention given to the role and responsibility of the federal government.

5. Placement Tests Required:

Accuplacer (specify test):

Reading College Level CLC or Reading College Level

Score:

6. Prerequisite Courses:

There are no prerequisites for this course.

9. Co-requisite Courses:

There are no corequisites for this course.

II. Transfer and Articulation

1. Course Equivalency - similar course from other regional institutions:

St. Cloud State University, ECON 201 Introduction to Economics, 3 credits
MN State University-Moorhead, ECON 100 Introduction to Economics, 3 credits

III. Course Purpose

2. MN Transfer Curriculum (General Education) Courses - This course fulfills the following goal area(s) of the MN Transfer Curriculum:

• Goal 5 – History and the Social and Behavioral Sciences
• Goal 6 – Humanities and Fine Arts
• Goal 7 – Human Diversity

IV. Learning Outcomes

1. College-Wide Outcomes

College-Wide Outcomes/Competencies	Students will be able to:
Demonstrate written communication skills	Students will apply economic theories to understand how the structure and process of the American Economy.
Demonstrate reading and listening skills	Students will read assigned material, listen and take notes using a study guide in lectures, and listen to classmates during class discussion and economic topic debate.

2. Course Specific Outcomes - Students will be able to achieve the following measurable goals upon completion of the course:

Expected Outcome	MnTC Goal Area
Define economics and the related economic basic concepts of scarcity, Ceteris Paribus, microeconomics, and microeconomics	5
Describe and illustrate the Production Possibilities Curve (Frontier)	5
Describe and illustrate the following basic concepts of Supply and Demand: Law of Demand, Law of Supply, Equilibrium, Surplus, and Shortage	5
Define, compare, and illustrate the following market structures:  perfect competition, monopoly, monopolistic competition, and oligopoly	5
Compare and contrast  fiscal and monetary policy	5

V. Topical Outline

Listed below are major areas of content typically covered in this course.

1. Lecture Sessions

1. What is the Economic Way of Thinking?
• Scarcity and opportunity cost
• Micro and Macro Economics
• Normative vs Positive Economics
• Factors of Production
2. Production Possibilities (Production Possibilities Curve)
3. The concept of Opportunity Cost
4. The fundamental economic questions (What, How, and For Whom)
5. Economic Growth – Technology and Investment
6. The process of marginal analysis
7. Law of Demand
   
   • Price Change – Change in quantity demanded
   • Non-Price Determinant – Change in demand
   • Examples of Non-Price Determinants:
   • Number of buyers
   • Tastes and preferences
   • Income (normal and inferior goods)
   • Substitute and complementary goods
8. Law of Supply
   
   • Price Change – Change in quantity supplies
   • Non-Price Determinant – Change in supply
   • Examples of Non-Price Determinants:
   • Number of Sellers
   • Technology
   • Resource Prices
   • Taxes and Subsidies
   • Future expectations
9. Law of Supply and Demand
   
   • Equilibrium
   • Surpluses and shortages
10. Markets in Action
    
    • Increases in demand creates a higher equilibrium
    • Increases in supply creates a lower equilibrium
    • Price ceilings and floors
11. Market Failures
    
    • Positive and negative externalities
    • Public Goods
    • Lack of Competition
    • Income inequality
12. Price Elasticity
    
    • Elastic vs inelastic demand
    • Unitary elastic demand
    • Perfectly elastic demand
    • Perfectly inelastic demand
13. Production Costs
    
    • Explicit vs Implicit Costs
    • Economic vs Normal Profit
    • Fixed Inputs vs Variable Inputs
    • Total Fixed Cost (TFC)
    • Total Variable Cost (TVC)
    • Total Cost (TC)
    • Marginal Cost (MC)
    • Average Fixed Cost (AFC)
    • Average Variable Cost (AVC)
    • Average Total Cost (ATC)
    • Long Run Average Cost Curve
    • Short Run Average Cost Curve
    • Law of Diminishing Returns
    • Economies of Scale
14. Market Structure
    
    • Perfect Competition
    • Price Taker
    • Perfectly Competitive firm’s short-run supply curve
    • Perfectly Competitive industry’s SR supply curve
15. Monopoly
    
    • Price Maker
    • Natural Monopoly
    • Price Discrimination
    • Arbitrage
16. Monopolistic Competition and Oligopoly
    
    • Product Differentiation
    • Price Leadership
    • Nonprice Competition
    • Cartel
    • Mutual Interdependence
    • Game Theory
17. Labor Markets and Income Distribution
    
    • Marginal revenue product (MRP)
    • Demand curve for labor
    • Derived demand
    • Supply curve for labor
    • Human capital
    • Collective bargaining
    • Poverty line
    • Comparable worth
    • In-Kind transfers
18. Gross Domestic Product
    
    • Expenditure Approach
    • Transfer Payment
    • Final goods
    • Circular Flow Model
    • Disposable personal income
    • National Income
    • Real GDP
    • Personal income
    • Nominal GDP
19. Business Cycles and Unemployment
    
    • Recession
    • Recovery
    • Economic Growth
    • Leading indicators
    • Coincident indicators
    • Lagging indicators
    • Unemployment rate
    • Civilian labor force
    • Discouraged worker
    • Types of Unemployment: Frictional, Structural, and
    • Cyclical
    • Full Employment
    • Trough
    • Peak
20. Inflation
    
    • Consumer price index (CPI)
    • Base year
    • Deflation
    • Disinflation
    • Nominal Income
    • Real Income
    • Wealth
    • Real interest rate
    • Nominal interest rate
    • Demand-pull inflation
    • Cost-push inflation
    • Hyperinflation
21. Aggregate Demand and Supply and Fiscal Policy
    
    • Aggregate Demand Curve (AD)
    • Real balances or wealth effect
    • Interest-rate effect
    • Net exports effect
    • Aggregate Supply Curve (AS)
    • Classical Economists
    • Keynesian Range
    • Intermediate Range
    • Classical Range
    • Stagflation
    • Discretionary fiscal policy
    • Spending multiplier
    • Marginal propensity to consume
    • Tax multiplier
22. Automatic stabilizers
    
    • Budget surplus
    • Budget deficit
    • Supply-side fiscal policy
    • Laffer Curve
23. The Public Sector
    
    • Government expenditures
    • Benefits-received principle
    • Ability-to-pay principle
    • Average tax rates
    • Marginal tax rate
    • Regressive tax
    • Proportional or flat tax
    • Public Choice Theory
    • Benefit-cost analysis
    • Rational Ignorance
    • National Debt
    • Net Public Debt
    • Debt ceiling
    • Internal national debt
    • External national debt
    • Crowding-out effect
    • Crowding-in effect
24. Money, The Federal Reserve System, and Monetary Policy
    
    • Barter
    • Medium of exchange
    • Unit of account
    • Store of value
    • Commodity money
    • Fiat money
    • M1 and M2
    • Currency
    • Checkable Deposits
    • Federal Reserve System
    • Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC)
    • Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
    • Board of Governors
    • Required reserves
    • Excess reserves
    • Money multiplier
    • Open market operations
    • Discount rate
    • Federal funds market
    • Federal funds rate
    • Transactions demand for money
    • Precautionary demand for money
    • Speculative demand for money
    • Demand for money curve
    • Monetarism
    • Velocity of money
25. International Trade and Finance
    
    • Comparative advantage
    • Absolute advantage
    • Free trade
    • Protectionism
    • World Trade Organization (WTO)
    • Embargo
    • Tariff
    • Quota
    • Balance of payments
    • Balance of trade
    • Exchange rate
    • Depreciation of currency
    • Appreciation of currency