Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS
PRINCIPLES OF MICROECONOMICS (ECON104) COURSE
OUTLINE
DURATION:
ONE SEMESTER
First Year (Semester 1)
COURSE ADMINISTRATION
Lecturers:
Mrs. E. Rwaveya(Room 212 commerce building)
email ejanhi@sociol.uz.ac.zw.
Mr. B. M. W. Zwizwai (Room 14 Economics Department)
email bmzwizwai@science.uz.ac.zw
Mr. T. Makova (Room 234 commerce building)
email tmakova@sociol.uz.ac.zw
45 Lecture Hours
15 Tutorial Hours
COURSE AIMS
The major aims of the course to ensure that on completion of this unit, students should have:
an understanding of the theoretical foundations of microeconomics;
acquired generic skills essential for progression to upper level units by applying rigorous
thinking and understanding to analytical geometric models; and
an appreciation of microeconomics as an evolutionary science and its ability to address, in a
microeconomic framework, the persistent social and economic problems confronted by
society.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of the course it is expected that the student will:
be able to understand and apply the basic tools of supply and demand;
know how to apply the basic theory of how consumers and firms respond to a range of problems;
be familiar with simple models of competitive behaviour and industrial organisation;
1
be able to recognise the limitations of markets and understand how governments can sometimes
improve on market allocations.
PREREQUISITES
The prerequisites for this course are 5 O’Levels (including Maths and English) and 3 A’levels.
Many students feel disadvantaged if they have not studied Economics previously at the secondary
level. This feeling is entirely unnecessary as the unit is commenced on the basis of no previous
knowledge. The only required prerequisites are a willingness to learn and, in particular, the
ability and motivation to read all material prescribed.
COURSE CONTENT
1.3.2 Costs of production: Costs in the short and long run including marginal, average, fixed,
and total costs
[Samuelson and Nordhaus chapter 6 and 7]
3. TEACHING
The course will be taught on the basis of 3 lectures and one tutorial per week. In general
lectures will concentrate on the application of the techniques being discussed, while tutorials
will focus on the techniques themselves. Tutorials will cover some material which has not
been covered in lectures.
Tutorials will focus on work covered in the preceding week’s lecture. For example, the
material covered in the lecture for Week 1, will be discussed in the tutorial in Week 2.
Tutorials will look at questions which are frequently posted on the Economics Dept notice
board and TSIME e-learning portal for each week as well as individual problems raised by
students.
4. COURSE ASSESSMENT
Each course has its own language, so students must write their assignments and tests like an
economist to succeed. Assessment of the course will be based on a 2 hour final examination
(75%) and a coursework mark (25%). The coursework mark will be derived from 3 tests
during the course. Details of the tests are in the course outline section.
N.B. if a student misses a test or fails to submit an assignment the mark allocated is zero.
3
If a student obtains below 49%, the student will repeat the course the following year and will
not progress to higher Economics courses.
5. Course Resources
Prescribed texts
Baumol, W.J. and. Blinder A. S (2007) Economics: Principles and Policy, Harcourt: San Diego.
Lipsey R.G (2009) An Introduction to Positive Economics, 7th Edition, Oxford University Press: Oxford
Lipsey R.G and Chrystal A. K., (2007), Economics, Oxford University Press, New York
Mankiw G.N. and Taylor M. P. (2006), Economics, Thomson Learning, London, UK.
McConnell C.R. and. Brue S.L. (2000) Economics, Principles, Problems and Policies, McGraw-Hill:
New York.
Samuelson P. A. and Nordhaus W.D. (2005) Economics, 18th Edition McGraw-Hill: New Delhi.
Sloman J. (2003) Essentials of Economics, Prentice Hall: London.
E-resources
a. TSIME E-learning Portal: //tsime.uz.ac.zw
b. E-books: http://www.uz.ac.zw/index.php/library.html
c. www.myeconlab.com
In addition to these textbooks, it is important that you read the business sections of the local newspapers
and other local financial journals so that you keep up with developments in the Zimbabwean economy. All
standard textbooks in microeconomics cover the same principles and ideas.