I. General Information

1. Course Title:
Honors American Economy

2. Course Prefix & Number:
ECON 1451

3. Course Credits and Contact Hours:

Credits: 3

Lecture Hours: 3

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 world economy, with special attention given to the role and responsibility of the United States government in national and world economic affairs. The course will require attendance at the 2016 Nobel Conference in St. Peter, MN, and will include multiple topics related to the conference theme, “In Search of Economic Balance.” Courses in the Honors Program emphasize independent inquiry, informed discourse, and direct application within small, transformative, and seminar-style classes that embrace detailed examinations of the material and feature close working relationships with instructors. In addition, students learn to leverage course materials so that they can affect the world around them in positive ways.

5. Placement Tests Required:

Accuplacer (specify test):

Writing Honors College Level

Score:

6. Prerequisite Courses:

There are no prerequisites for this course.

7. Other Prerequisites
One of the following: ACT English score 24, ACT Reading score 24, Accuplacer Reading Comprehension score 78, Accuplacer NextGen Reading score 250, High School GPA 3.0, Or permission from the instructor or Honors Coordinator

9. Co-requisite Courses:

There are no corequisites for this course.

II. Transfer and Articulation

2. Transfer - regional institutions with which this course has a written articulation agreement:

III. Course Purpose

1. Program-Applicable Courses – This course is required for the following program(s):

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

IV. Learning Outcomes

1. College-Wide Outcomes

College-Wide Outcomes/Competencies	Students will be able to:
Demonstrate written communication skills	Apply economic theories to understand how the structure and process of the American Economy.
Demonstrate reading and listening skills	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:

• Define economics and the related economic basic concepts of scarcity, Ceteris Paribus, microeconomics, and microeconomics (MnTC Goal 5);
• Describe and illustrate the Production Possibilities Curve (Frontier) (MnTC Goal 5);
• Describe and illustrate the following basic concepts of Supply and Demand: Law of Demand, Law of Supply, Equilibrium, Surplus, and Shortage (MnTC Goal 5);
• Define, compare, and illustrate the following market structures:  perfect competition, monopoly, monopolistic competition, and oligopoly (MnTC Goal 5);
• Compare and contrast  fiscal and monetary policy (MnTC Goal Area 5);
• Evaluate different methods of allocating goods and services, by comparing the benefits and the costs of each method;
• Compare the benefits and costs of policies that alter trade barriers between nations, such as tariffs and quotas;
• Describe the roles of various economic institutions and explain the importance of these institutions to societies;
• Identify and evaluate the benefits and costs of alternative public policies, and assess who enjoys the benefits and who bears the costs; and
• Describe and discuss various competing economic theories and how they explain and propose to deal with current world economic problems.

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?
2. Production Possibilities (Production Possibilities Curve)
3. Law of Demand
4. Law of Supply
5. Market Failures
6. Price Elasticity
7. Production Costs and cost curves
8. Market Structure
   • perfect competition
   • monopoly
   • monopolistic competition and oligopoly
9. Labor Markets and Income Distribution
10. Gross Domestic Product
11. Business Cycles and Unemployment
12. Inflation
13. Aggregate Demand and Supply and Fiscal Policy
14. The Public Sector
15. Money, The Federal Reserve System, and Monetary Policy
16. International Trade and Finance
17. Potential Topics for Discussion and Argumentation
• Capitalism vs. Socialism vs. Marxism
• Sustainability vs. Infinite growth
• Equality of Opportunity vs. Equality of Outcome
• Managed trade vs. Free trade vs. the Globalization of trade
• Keynesians vs. Neo-classical economics vs. Monetarists (Supply side vs. Demand side economics)
• Keynes and Samuelson and Stiglitz vs. Hayek and Friedman and the Chicago School
• Foreign aid vs. Foreign Direct Investment as a path to development
• Small is Beautiful vs. Too Big to Fail
• Living wage vs. Minimum wage
• Conservatism vs. Conservation
• Development from the top down (centralization) vs. Development from the bottom up (decentralization)
• Gross National Product vs. Gross National Happiness

2. Laboratory/Studio Sessions