TEXAS A&M INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

A.R. SANCHEZ, Jr. SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

DIVISION OF INTERNATIONAL BANKING AND FINANCE STUDIES

 

COURSE SYLLABUS

FALL, 2010

 

 

Course:                      Managerial Economics (ECO 5310)

Instructor:                Pablo Camacho, Ph. D.

Office Hours:                       WHTC 206D;  (956) 326-2516;  M & R  5:00pm – 7:15 pm

E-mail:                                   Best way to contact is by email through Angel, but may also contact at pcamacho@tamiu.edu

Other Contact:        Students are encouraged to contact me through Facebook and Twitter, as well as participate in my blog.  My webpage at www.tamiu.edu/~pcamacho/ contains the links to such social networks

Required Text:        Keat, Paul G. and P. K. Y. Young, Managerial Economics, Prentice Hall, 6th Ed.

Recommended:       Additional readings and sources of economic data will be announced in lecture.

 

Prerequisite:                        ECO 2301, ECO 2302, MATH 1324 and MATH 1325.

 

Course Description:

                             This course shows the student how to apply economic analysis to complex business decisions. Topics covered include: application of consumer and competitive firm theories; market organizations and structures; strategic pricing policies in regulated and unregulated domestic and international markets; and production possibilities and planning.. (Catalog course description.)

 

Course Goals:                      This course’s main goal is for students to be able to understand and apply Economics concepts to the decision-making within an organization; e.g., a firm.  This course is an extension to Principles of Microeconomics (ECO 2302) and Managerial Economics (ECO 3320).  Consumer behavior; firm’s behavior, production and costs; market structures; and regulation will be covered in more detail and rigor.  In addition, this course covers capital budgeting, MNCs, and applied econometrics to demand, production, and costs estimation.  Thus, this course requires students to have a working knowledge of the topics covered in DS 2301 (Business Statistics I).

 

Learning Outcomes/Objectives:

1.                  Students will understand what a firm is and the factors that determine its behavior.

2.                  Students will understand how the industry market structure determines a firm’s business decision-making; e.g., pricing decision.

3.                  Students will estimate a firm’s demand, production, and cost function using regression analysis.  

 

 

 

 

Grading Policy

 

            Partial exams (2)                     20 points each                                    A:  90 ≤ points

            Final (comprehensive)             20 points                                 B:  80 ≤ points < 90

            Homework                               10 points                                 C:  70 ≤ points < 80

            Quizzes                                    10 points                                 D:  60 ≤ points < 70

            Team Projects (2)                    10 points each                                    F:  60 > points

 

Attendance Policy:

Class attendance is required. Students are responsible for any class work, assignments, announcements, or tests that they miss because of class absence or failure to check Angel.

 

Other course policies:

      No Fault – No Make Up Policy: No make-up partial exam will be given. If one partial exam is missed, the grade on the comprehensive final exam will replace it. If a second or third partial exam is missed, the grade of that exam will be zero. Students who take all partial exams may use the grade on the comprehensive final exam to replace the lowest grade on a partial exam. No make-up final exam will be given, except under highly unusual circumstances (such as a documented medical emergency or the observance of a religious holyday).

      No late homework will be accepted. Homework shall be turn in during the first ten minutes of the lecture when it is due. Homework shall be typed using Microsoft Word (additional software may be used as it is appropriate, for instance, Microsoft Excel when the homework involves graphing) so that every student will keep an electronic copy of the solved homework. If a student expects not be able to turn in the homework on time, he/she may email the file containing the homework free of viruses before class and later turn in a hard copy of the homework. All submitted homework will be taken by the Instructor and graded, but only those that comply with the above guidelines will count towards the students´ grade. Every student shall bring two hard copies of the homework.

      A quiz will be given at the beginning of each lecture. It would primarily cover the material seen the previous lecture as well as the material of the current lecture.

      A team project involves teamwork in order to produce a written report, its corresponding power point presentation and the delivery of the presentation before class, of a topic that will be assigned by the Instructor to each team. 

 

Classroom Behavior

      The A.R. Sanchez, Jr. School of Business encourages classroom discussion and academic debate as an essential intellectual activity.  It is essential that students learn to express and defend their beliefs, but it is also essential that they learn to listen and respond respectfully to others whose beliefs they may not share.  ARSSB will always tolerate diverse, unorthodox, and unpopular points of view, but it will not tolerate condescending or insulting remarks.  When students verbally abuse or ridicule and intimidate others whose views they do not agree with, they subvert the free exchange of ideas that should characterize a university classroom.  If their actions are deemed by the professor to be disruptive, they will be subject to appropriate disciplinary action, which may include being involuntarily withdrawn from the class.  Major disruptive behavior will be penalized, after one warning per semester, by subtracting points from the overall final grade of the disruptive student in progressively larger 5-points (e.g., minus 5 points for the first offense; minus 10 points for the second offense, etc.). You will be given clear warning when your behavior is becoming disruptive.

 

 

 

 

Copyright Restrictions

      The Copyright Act of 1976 grants to copyright owners the exclusive right to reproduce their works and distribute copies of their work.  Works that receive copyright protection include published works such as a textbook.  Copying a textbook without permission from the owner of the copyright may constitute copyright infringement.  Civil and criminal penalties may be assessed for copyright infringement.  Civil penalties include damages up to $100,000; criminal penalties include a fine up to $250,000 and imprisonment.

 

Copyright laws do allow students and professors to make photocopies of copyrighted materials, but you may copy a limited portion of a work, such an article from a journal or a chapter from a book for your own personal academic use or, in the case of a professor, for personal, limited classroom use.  In general, the extent of your copying should not suggest that the purpose or the effect of your copying is to avoid paying for the materials.  And, of course, you may not sell these copies for a profit.  Thus, students who copy textbooks to avoid buying them or professors who provide photocopies of textbooks to enable students to save money are violating the law.

 

Plagiarism and Cheating

      Plagiarism is the presentation of someone else’s work as one’s own.  Recently, the Internet has complicated the picture.  Getting something from the Internet and presenting it as one’s own is still plagiarism.  Copying another student’s paper or a portion of the paper - is usually called “copying”.  Neither plagiarism nor copying will be tolerated.  Should a faculty member discover that a student has committed plagiarism, the students will receive a grade of ‘F’ in that course and the matter may, if necessary, be referred to the TAMIU Honor Council for possible disciplinary action.

 

 Students with Disabilities

      Texas A&M International University seeks to provide reasonable accommodations for all qualified persons with disabilities.  This University will adhere to all applicable federal, state, and local laws, regulations and guidelines with respect to providing reasonable accommodations as required to afford equal education opportunity. It is the student’s responsibility to register with the Disabilities Services Coordinator located in the Student Counseling Center and to contact the faculty member in a timely fashion to arrange for suitable accommodations.

 

Safety and Security- You are the Difference

     Your safety and security are of prime concern here at Texas A&M International University, and the University police department work hard to ensure the campus is a safe place to live, learn, work and play. TAMIU is not, however, exempt from crime. To be safe and secure, you must take common sense precautions. Be alert and aware of those around you; look out for the safety of others. Do not leave valuables unattended; do not attempt to touch or interfere with our wildlife.

 

Student Responsibility For Dropping a Course

      It is the responsibility of the STUDENT to drop the course before the drop date.  Faculty are not responsible for dropping students who suspend class attendance.

 

Final Examination

      The University requires all final Examinations be comprehensive and be given on the day specified.

 

 

THE INSTRUCTOR RESERVES THE RIGHT TO MAKE CHANGES TO THIS SYLLABUS AS NEEDED AND WITH NOTIFICATION TO STUDENTS

 

 

 

Course Calendar: 

 

Week

Topic

Reading

23-Aug

Course Overview; Introduction; The Firm & Its Goals

Chs 1, 2

30-Aug

Review of Mathematical Concepts

Appendices: online, 3A, 6C, 8A

6-Sep

Supply and Demand; Demand Elasticity

Chs 3, 4

13-Sep

Theory of Cost and Production

Chs 6, 7

20-Sep

Test 1

Chs 1-4, 6, 7

27-Sep

Perfect Competition; Monopoly; Monopolistic Competition

Chs 8, 9

4-Oct

Oligopoly; Game Theory; Asymmetric Information

Chs 9, 11

11-Oct

Pricing Practices; Government & Industry

Chs 10, 14

18-Oct

Team Presentations of Project 1

Assigned Projects

25-Oct

Test 2

Chs 8-11, 14

1-Nov

Capital Budgeting & Risk; MNC & Globalization

Chs 12, 13

8-Nov

Managerial Economics in Action

Ch 15

15-Nov

Team Presentations of Project 2

Assigned Projects

22-Nov

Demand Estimation & Forecasting

Ch 5

29-Nov

Estimation Production & Cost

Appendix 7B