ECON 101 - Economics Fundamentals

PREREQUISITES: Demonstrated competency through appropriate assessment or earning a grade of “C” or better in ENGL 093 - Introduction to College Writing and ENGL 083 - Reading Strategies for College or ENGL 095 - Integrated Reading and Writing, or ENGL 075 - Co-Requisite Integrated Reading & Writing, and MATH 023 - Essentials of Algebra or MATH 080 - Mathematical Principles
PROGRAM: Social Sciences
CREDIT HOURS: 3
LECTURE HOURS: 3
DATE OF LAST REVISION: Fall, 2018

Provides a survey of microeconomics, macroeconomics, international economics, comparative economic systems, historical development of economic thought, and their application to current economic problems. An introductory course intended primarily for students who need only one semester of economics.

MAJOR COURSE LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Upon successful completion of this course the student will be expected to:

Apply the concepts of scarcity, choice, opportunity costs, and marginal analysis.
Contrast how different economic systems allocate scarce resources within a society and the main characteristics of each system.
Demonstrate how the market price system acts as a resource allocation mechanism and analyze how prices react to changes in supply and/or demand in the economy.
Explain the concept of market failure and critically analyze the outcomes when market interventions are implemented.
Analyze critical economic statistics (GDP, Inflation, and Unemployment) and critique practical programs associated with their measurements.
Describe the forces that determine aggregate economic activity and explore the trade-offs between unemployment, inflation and economic growth.
Compare and contrast monetary policy with fiscal policy in terms of their implementation, outcomes, and consequences.
Describe the economic interdependencies of nations and analyze the benefits and consequences of globalization in the labor market.
Compare and contrast differing schools of economic thought.
Utilize the tools of supply and demand analysis to graphically analyze potential solutions to economic and social problems.
Distinguish between the national budget deficit and debt; discuss the implications of a growing national debt.

COURSE CONTENT: Topical areas of study include -

Science of choices

Basic principles of microeconomics

Opportunity cost

Historical development

Supply and demand

Basic principles of macroeconomics

Elasticity

Cost benefit analysis

Impact of inflation

Comparative advantage

Trade restrictions

Comparative economic systems

Aggregate supply

Fiscal policy and monetary policy

Keynesian analysis

Monetary theory