Common Course Outline
Course discipline/number/title
ECON 1101: Introduction to Economics
Catalog Description
| Credits | 3 |
|---|---|
| Hours/Week | 3 |
| Prerequisites (Course discipline/number) | None |
| Other requirements | None |
| MnTC Goals (if any) | Goal 5/History and the Social and Behavioral Sciences, Goal 10/People and the Environment. |
Course Description
This course provides a general economics education for both non-major transfer students and for career students. Content includes the nature of product markets and resource markets; current issues such as price ceilings, price floors, unemployment and inflation; and public policy perspectives pertinent to national fiscal and monetary affairs, and trade with other countries. Because of its general nature, this course is not a substitute for in-depth ECON 2214 or ECON 2215.
Date Last Revised (Month, year)
March, 2023
Outline of Major Content Areas
- Opportunity cost and decision making
- Production possibilities model
- Market demand and supply
- Price elasticity of demand
- Production costs
- Perfect competition
- Monopoly
- Monopolistic competition and oligopoly
- Gross Domestic Product and economic growth
- Business cycles and unemployment
- Inflation
- Aggregate demand and aggregate supply model
- Fiscal policy
- Federal budget and National Debt
- Money and the Federal Reserve
- Monetary policy
- International trade
Learning Outcomes (General)
The student will be able to:
- Define common terms found in economics.
- Predict the effects that changes in supply and demand will have on market prices and quantities.
- Compare and contrast the characteristics and profit maximizing decision making of firms in perfect competition, monopoly, oligopoly, and monopolistic competitive markets.
- Describe how fiscal and monetary policy is implemented to influence the business cycle.
Learning Outcomes (MnTC)
- Goal 5/History and the Social and Behavioral Sciences
-
The student will be able to:
- Employ the methods and data that historians and social and behavioral scientists use to investigate the human condition.
- Examine social institutions and processes across a range of historical periods and cultures.
- Develop and communicate alternative explanations or solutions for contemporary social issues.
- Goal 10/People and the Environment.
-
The student will be able to:
- Discern patterns and interrelationships of biophysical and socio-cultural systems.
- Describe the basic institutional arrangements (social, legal, political, economic, religious) that are evolving to deal with environmental and natural resource challenges.
- Evaluate critically environmental and natural resource issues in light of understandings about interrelationships, ecosystems, and institutions.
- Propose and assess alternative solutions to environmental problems.
Methods for Evaluation of Student Learning
Methods may include but are not limited to:
- Exams and/or quizzes (i.e., closed book, closed notes)
- Homework or assigned problems
- Group or team projects
- Class participation
- Papers, essays, journals, reports, notebooks, or presentations
- Service learning projects
RCTC Core Outcome(s)
This course contributes to meeting the following RCTC Core Outcome(s):
- Critical Thinking
- Students will think systematically and explore information thoroughly before accepting or formulating a position or conclusion.
Special Information (if any)
None