• 3 years of high school math
  

• Principles of Microeconomics  --  REQUIRED
  by Libby Rittenberg and Timothy Tregarthen  [copyright © April 2009]

1. go to http://flatworldknowledge.com
2. click on the students icon
   
3. in the "find my class" bar click on the letter J
   
4. in the Johnson State College row for Reed Fisher click on Principles of Microeconomics
   
5. click on the "buy this book" button
   
6. this opens an area where you can choose the book option that is best for you.

This course introduces the student to those principles essential to understand of the economics of the modern economy.   Topics include:  price theory at the firm and market level, the policy alternatives society utilizes to contend with problems of inefficiency and market failure, and understanding why consumers purchase the products they do. 

1. integrate classroom knowledge with guided work/internship experience,
2. demonstrate industry appropriate communication skills and the ability to work effectively with diverse groups in a team environment,
3. demonstrate the ability to adapt themselves to a changing business environment while encouraging others to do so as well,
4. demonstrate the ability to amass, evaluate, and interpret complex information to make effective business decisions, and
5. demonstrate the appropriate business norms and ethics, and mastery of the fundamental skills and knowledge required to successfully steward a business operation.

• Learning Outcome 4 -- The market affects business decisions everyday.  We will develop a series of techniques to help us explain a variety of economic questions.  For example: how consumers choose the products they do, why firms are focused on becoming monopolies, why wealth and income are not equally distributed across our population, and why firms choose to pollute.  Using mathematical and graphical analysis we will develop the tools to help us answer these and other questions businesses and society faces everyday.

• discuss the importance to society of scarcity and resource allocation,
• describe the four factors of production,
• describe the market mechanism continuum,
• discuss the global view of the U.S. economy,
• describe the factors of supply and demand,
• recognize when market failure occurs,
• compute and discuss price elasticity,
• read, develop, and interpret economic graphs,
• explain the determinants of price theory
• explain the costs of production,
• discuss the difference between economic and accounting profits,
• describe the market structure continuum,
• discuss the economic mechanisms of the competitive market,
• discuss the economic mechanisms of the monopolistic market,
• discuss the economic mechanisms of the oligopolistic market, and 
• describe options and costs of regulation.

• disruptive (side) conversations;
• leaving class to go to the bathroom (especially during guest speakers);
• disrespectful comments about fellow students;
• interrupting the instructor about issues that should be discussed after class (such as a grade or accepting late homework);
• using computers to surf the web, instant message or doing homework for another class;
• ringing cell phones  [please turn off your cell phones when in class].