Course Objectives

This is a compulsory course for economics/business related majors.  The aim of this course should be teaching the basic concepts and theories in economics. Students are required to have basic understanding of the concepts and theories, building a foundation for further economics study.  After studying this course, students should also be able to relate the theories to some real life issues.

The biggest feature of this course is teaching economic concepts through case-studies.  Students will be given many small cases from the textbook or other reading materials before the lectures.  They will then be required to give short presentations on the cases; the rest of the class will be discussing the cases.  The teacher will give comments and lecture on the related concepts and theories.  Some of the cases might be given to students as assignments, they can complete individually or in groups.  The results can be discussed online or in class.

Course Requirements

1. This course is taught completely in English, which includes textbook, lecture, discussions, assignments and examinations.  It requires that the students have intermediary levels of listening, reading, comprehension and writing skills in English.  

2. This course requires that students conduct part of the study in groups outside of classroom.  Students should be prepared to be team players and possess the necessary skills of collecting and processing data, compiling information to conduct analysis, and make conclusion or criticism based on the theories in this course.

Course Contents

The key points for this course are market supply and demand theories, production theories, structure/organization of market, consumer preference, theory on factors, asymmetric information.

1. In the section of market theory, students will learn the interaction between forces of demand and supply and the efficient allocation of resources in a competitive market. The intervention of government and the effects are also discussed in this part.

2. The market structure theories discuss various forms of non-competitive markets and the subsequent allocation of resources.

3. In the section of production theory, costs of production and profit-maximization choices are studied and discussed in detail.  

4. Consumer theories include how consumers make decision by revealing preferences, facing budget constraint, taking prices, and making the most efficient choices.

5. The markets of factors of production are discussed in detail and the issues related to the labor market, for example, income distribution and discrimination are also discussed in the course.

6. Some more advanced topics such as information asymmetry and game theory are also taught in this course.

The difficult areas are cost of production, market organization structure, and consumer preference.

Credits: 3