Principles of MicroEconomics 1B

Microeconomics

Common Course ID: ECON 201

 CSU Instructor Open Textbook Adoption Portrait

Abstract: This open textbook is being utilized in a microeconomics course for undergraduates students, largely business majors, by Professor Matt Holian, Ph.D., at San Jose State University.  The open textbook is written in a modular format that breaks down topics into manageable parts starting with a story to motivate the topic and ending with wrap-up and additional problems. A major motivation was to save students money but also to make the material easy to access. Students access the book as a PDF in the form of a course reader.

Reviews: The book has been reviewed by a CCC faculty member and a CSU faculty member from within the California higher education systems. There is also an Accessibility Evaluation.

About the Textbook

Principles of Microeconomics

Description: 

Recognizing that a course in economics may seem daunting to some students, the authors have tried to make the writing clear and engaging. Clarity comes in part from the intuitive presentation style, but also a number of pedagogical features are utilized that make learning economic concepts and principles easier and more enjoyable.

The chapters themselves are written using a “modular” format. In particular, chapters generally consist of three main content sections that break down a particular topic into manageable parts. Each content section contains not only an exposition of the material at hand but also learning objectives, summaries, examples, and problems. Each chapter is introduced with a story to motivate the material and each chapter ends with a wrap-up and additional problems. The goal is to encourage active learning by including many examples and many problems of different types.

Authors:

• Libby Rittenberg, Colorado College
• Tim Tregarthen, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs

Formats:  

This book is only available as a PDF. One can also purchase a print copy for $33.99.

Supplemental Resources:  

A test bank from the previous publisher was available to faculty who were original adopters of the open textbook.

Peer Reviews:  

The book has been reviewed by a CCC faculty member and a CSU faculty member from within the California higher education systems. There is also an Accessibility Evaluation.

Cost Savings:  

Students can experience significant savings depending on previous textbook selections. Other microeconomics textbooks can cost up to $200 new and $100 used. The print version of the openly licensed course reader is available for $10.

Accessibility and Diversity:  

The course reader has not yet been evaluated for accessibility by the University Accessible Education Center.

License: 

Except where otherwise noted, the Principles of Microeconomics is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms.

About the Course

Economics 1B: Principles of Microeconomics

Description: 

Allocation of resources and distribution of income as affected by the workings of the price system and by government policies. Notes: May be taken concurrently or prior to Econ 1A. Meets the general education requirement for social science – human behavior, Area D-1. 

Prerequisite: None

GE Credit: 4 units, degree applicable

Learning Outcomes:

 There are about 100 specific student learning objectives for my course which were developed by the textbook authors.  These are included in the syllabus. Some of the major outcomes are:

• Define economics.
• Define the three factors of production—labor, capital, and natural resources.
• Define the quantity demanded of a good or service and illustrate it using a demand schedule and a demand curve.
• Learn how to apply the model of demand and supply to explaining the behavior of equilibrium prices and quantities in a variety of markets.
• Explain the concept of price elasticity of demand and its calculation.
• Explain the maximization assumption that economists make in explaining the behavior of consumers and firms.
• Understand the terms associated with the short-run production function—total product, average product, and marginal product—and explain and illustrate how they are related to each other.
• Explain what economists mean by perfect competition.
• Define monopoly and the relationship between price setting and monopoly power.
• Explain the main characteristics of a monopolistically competitive industry, describing both its similarities and differences from the models of perfect competition and monopoly.
• Discuss and illustrate government responses to the market failures of public goods, external costs and benefits, and imperfect competition and how these responses have the potential to reduce deadweight loss.
• Define antitrust policies and tell when and why they were introduced in the United States.
• Differentiate between an absolute advantage in producing some good and a comparative advantage.
• Explain why pollution can be said to have benefits as well as costs and describe the nature of these benefits and costs.

Curricular Changes:

So far I have not modified the text although I have assembled my own course reader based on the original open textbook.  The original textbook contained more chapters than could reasonably be covered in a semester.  I have developed several spreadsheet assignments, and also a writing assignment. 

Teaching and Learning Impact:

Collaboration with other faculty: Two others adopted       
Use of teaching materials: Yes, always searching
Student learning improved:  Not assessed
Student retention improved: Not assessed
Any unexpected results: None

Two of my colleagues have adopted the same book and we are collaborating on creating resources.

Sample Assignment and Syllabus:

Econ 1B Writing Assignment
Students use the Case In Points from the textbook as inspiration to write three original ones of their own.

Syllabus

OER Adoption Process

A major motivation for me was certainly the desire to save students money.  However, I also want to make the material easy to access, i.e., by sending students PDF documents, or by copying and pasting sections of the text into emails and so on. It is not just that the books are free, but they are also easy to access.

Student Access:  

Students can access the textbook in a number of formats, including HTML, PDF or in print.  I encourage students to purchase the print version as it is low cost (around $10), because I think it will be easier for them to read.  However, some students prefer to use tablet or smartphone devices to access the material.  All of the resources I have created (spreadsheet files, syllabus, etc.) are available on my web page, and also through our campus’ Learning Management System

Student Feedback or Participation

We have not assessed the students' responses to using an OER textbook. Students should know the text is openly licensed as I refer to the Creative Commons license at various points throughout the course, sometimes because it relates to the material we're studying (patents and copyrights) and sometimes because it relates to their term papers. I use it to distinguish plagiarism from copyright infringement.

Textbook Adoption

Matthew J. Holian, Ph.D.

I am an Associate Professor of Economics at San Jose State University. I have taught Principles of Microeconomics, Cost Benefit Analysis, Economic Decision Making, and Industrial Organization since 2008.

As a teacher my job is to try hard to explain the material, and also to select and develop high-quality resources. In addition, I strongly believe students must take personal responsibility for their own learning by actively reading required texts, taking notes in class, etc.