Do you have questions on hardware, software, registration, the syllabus, how to
order text & study guide, and The Worldly Philosophers, or how to contact
your instructor Mr. Tom Meyer, Patrick Henry Community College, or technical
support?
Do you have questions about how to determine the weekly reading assignment, the
course objectives, the number, date, or weight of the exams, or the instructor policies
regarding attendance?
Will you cooperate by signing in before class, displaying a name tag, and
consulting a study partner should you be absent or tardy or to compare notes, and by
participating in the class review before exams?
2.
Course Objectives
Let's emphasize the first two course objectives from text page 1 today:
1. Define Economics
2. Explain the five big questions that economists seek to answer.
3.
Outline
I. A Definition of Economics
A. All economic questions arise from scarcity, the fact
that wants exceed the resources available to satisfy the wants.
B. Because resources are scarce, people must make choices.
C. Economics is defined as "the science of choice — the science
that explains the choices that we make and how those choices change as we cope with
scarcity."
II. Big Economic Questions
A. What? What goods and services are produced
and in what amounts?
B. How? How are goods and services produced?
C. When? When are goods and services produced?
D. Where? Where are goods and services produced?
E. Who? Who consumes the goods and services produced?
(The viewgraphs
provide assistance in mastering the course objectives.
Take your own notes.)
5.
Economics in Action Tutorial
Insert your CD-rom in your computer. To install Economics in Action (EIA):
1. Click on My Computer;
2. Click on the cd-rom drive containing EIA;
3. Look for the file setup.exe and click on it;
4. Follow the installation instructions on your
screen;
5. Re-boot your computer.
Once installed, you can run your EIA
tutorial by doing these steps:
1. Insert your CD-rom in your
computer.
2. Click Start.
3. Click Programs.
4. Find and click the EIA tutorial.
Take the tutorial on how
to use the tutorial called Using
EIA.
You'll use other portions of your Economics in Action CD during chapters
starting with The Economic Problem and throughout the remainder of the course during the following chapters:
Demand and Supply,
Aggregate Supply and Demand, and
Expenditure Multipliers.
6. Questions and Problems (study guide pages 3 - 5)
Note that the true/false and
multiple choice are arranged by course objective. Answers are provided after the
problems (see study guide pages 6-8.)
Try completing the odd-numbered
true-false, multiple choice, and problems today. What we do not accomplish in class
will become homework following this class meeting.
7. Homework
1. Review Key Concepts pages 1
- 2 in your study guide.
2. Complete the odd-numbered Questions from your study
guide pages 3 - 5 and check your answers on pages 6 - 8.
3. Compare your class notes and your understanding of the homework Questions with
your study partner.
4. Become comfortable with using your Economics in Action tutorial portion called Using EIA.
8. Summary
1. Economics is the science of choices made to resolve
problems about scarcity.
2. Scarcity exists because human wants far outstrip nature's
provision of natural and human resources.
3. There are different kinds of resources, arranged within
categories called land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship.
4. There are excellent personal and societal reasons why
everyone should study economics.
