Economics 100B

Intermediate Economic Theory

Welcome to the Economics 100B Website. Here you will find the course syllabus, a schedule of lessons, homework and examinations, and some bits of advice. Students in this class  will be expected to check this site regularly.  We will routinely use this site for posting announcements and answering questions.


 


Instructor:          Ted Bergstrom 

Office:  North Hall 2052 

Office Hours:   Th 11-12.  Also, after Classes (just outside classroom)  and by appointment.

Email: tedb@econ.ucsb.edu

Course Introduction

Click Here to Learn the Ground Rules for Econ 100B

How to Sign up for Aplia Online Study (Required!) See Ground Rules discussion for more about this.

Course Schedule

Click Here to See the Course Schedule
 

Announcements:

Grading of First Midterm:   I realize that there was some confusion about whether I would drop the lowest midterm score.  The confusion is my fault.  There was a paragraph in the syllabus left over from the last time I taught this course, when there was no homework and we had four quizzes.  At any rate, some of you may have been misled.
Accordingly, I will drop the first midterm for those who do better on the second midterm than on the first.  If your first midterm is better than your second, I will count your score as 20% homework, 25% on each midterm and 30% on the final.   If your second midterm is better than your first, your score will be counted as 28% on homework, 33% on second midterm, 40% on the final.  If you take only one midterm, your score will be 28% on homework, 33% on the midterm you took and 40% on the final.   If you take the second midterm and your score is worse than on your first midterm, I will not drop that score.  Your score will be based on 20% homework, 25% on each midterm and 30% on the final.

Update on Grading Scheme:  A student who got a B on the first midterm and has a very low score on the
homework pointed out that the scheme I outlined above would mean that she might get a worse score
for the course if her second midterm was better than her first than if her second midterm was just slightly
worse than her first.  This is so because if the second midterm  is better than the first, then a larger weight is put on the homework than if not.  To deal with this unintended consequence of my plan to drop the first midterm if it is worse than the second, I have revised the grading system as follows.
  I will calculate your grades as follows. If you take both midterms, your score will be the larger of Score I and Score II defined as follows. Score I is a weighted average of your scores with the following weights: 20% homework, 25% on each midterm and 30% on the final. Score II is a weighted average of your scores with the following weights: 28% on homework, 33% on second midterm, 40% on the final. If you take only one midterm, your score will be 28% on homework, 33% on the midterm you took and 40% on the final.


Second Midterm will be on Tuesday, May 11.  If you are registered in Doug Herman's 5 pm Wednesday session,
you should go to North Hall 2111 to take your exam.  (Note that this is not the room in Phelps you went to last time.) All other students should come to our regular classroom.

Homework Scores:  I have calculated your homework scores for the first 8 assignments.  For each assignment,  I found your score as a percentage of the total possible score on that assignment.  I added the
8 percentage scores obtained in this way and then subtracted each student's lowest score from that total.
The highest possible score you could have is 700.  (There is at least one student who has 700 points.)
About 20% of the class has scores higher than 660 and about 50% have scores higher than 620.  You can
find your score by clicking on the picture of Calvin, choosing HW and typing in your perm number.


Extra Office Hours Takuya Kawanishi will have extra office hours on Monday, May 10, from 11:30-1:00.

Scantron Sheets
For midterms  and the final, you need to bring  Parscore scantron sheets to class.   They are called Form F-1712 and are available at the bookstore and at the Arbor.   Do not get your scantron sheet crumpled and torn. Damaged sheets don't go through the machine properly and may cost you points on your quizzes.

Click here to see   Results of Oil auction experiment

Answers to Midterms and Grade Distribution

  Midterm 1
 Midterm 2
 
 
 
 
 
 

Your Score on Midterm and Homework

To find your score on your midterm and on your quizzes as of May 7,  click on the picture below,  then type your perm number in the space where it is requested and select midterm or  HW from the Test box.


 

Office Hours of  TAs and Instructor

Ted Bergstrom        North Hall  2052     Office hours:  Th 11-12 pm in my office and by appointment.  Also if you want to chat or ask a question, I will be available just after class  in the area outside the classroom, and I am happy to respond to email queries.
 

                                    Section Times               Office  Location        Office Hours
Dong Hun Cho             M 5pm, Tu 8am             North Hall 2048        M 1-3, Tu 11-12
Doug Herman               W 5pm, Th 8am             North Hall 2020        M 3-5,  F 11-12
Takuya Kawanishi                                              North Hall 2037         W 11:30-1:30

You can address an e-mail message to any of the above by clicking his name.

Lecture Slides

Some people have expressed the wish that they could see copies of the lecture notes because they weren't able to write everything down.  It is not important to write everything down.  What you should do is to pay attention to the class discussion and try to understand as much as you can during the discussion. I believe you will be better off reading the textbook carefully and working problems than trying to memorize the lecture notes.   But for those of you who really, really want lecture notes, here are some notes. These notes are similar to but by no means identical to the classroom lectures.

Chapter 16, Equilibrium
Chapter 17, Auctions
Chapter 18, Technology
Chapter 19, Profit Maximization
Chapter 20, Cost Minimization
Chapter 21, Cost Curves
Chapter 22, Firm Supply
Chapter 23, Industry Supply
Chapter 24, Monopoly
Chapter 25, Monopoly Behavior
Chapter 27, Oligopoly
Chapter 28, Game Theory
Chapter 33, Externalities
 

Study Aids and Features

Economics in Practice Interesting case studies related to your text, indexed by chapter.
Economics in Action   Articles from the Wall Street Journal dealing with topics specifically covered in class.
The Iowa Electronic Market. An actual contingent-commodity market in which the contingencies are outcomes in political elections or events in the business world.  If you want to speculate with some real money, the website explains how you can buy and sell contingent commodities in this market.
The UBC Election Stock  Market  A contingent-commodity market on political outcomes in the Great White North. (home of  the  McKenzie brothers, Wayne Gretzky,  and Professor Garratt)
Paul Krugman's Home Page Most  economic journalists don't know much economics and most economists can't write worth a damn.  Paul Krugman is a very competent professional economist who also writes about economics for the popular press.  His home page has links to many of his popular articles. Take a look.  I think you will find at least  some of them  both entertaining and instructive.
 

News Items

Varian's Book inspires UCSB grad's  Science Fiction
 

Need a Little Study Break?

Visit Calvin and Hobbes