Corporate Economics 752 – 2017
Syllabus
SHELDON B. LUBAR SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
Executive MBA Program – 3 credits
Block 4, July 28 to October 7, 2017
INSTRUCTOR: Richard D. Marcus, Ph.D.is an Associate Professor of Business and the Chair of the LSB Executive Committee
OFFICE: S430F in Lubar Hall. My mailbox is also on the fourth floor of Lubar Hall
OFFICE HOURS: Fridays 3-4 pm in Lubar Hall S430F on weeks when there are classes and by appointment.
TELEPHONE: 414-229-4103 (office) or 414-228-7731 (home) or 414-510-7731 (cell)
E-mail: marcus@uwm.edu
HOMEPAGE: https://sites.uwm.edu/marcus/
BUSINESS ECONOMICS 752: Economic analysis of problems in business and public policy issues so that an MBA graduate will be able to think and speak like an economist. The topics include traditional issues of price elasticities, cost and production functions, and pricing issues in the market. Marketing and behavioral applications of economic concepts will be highlighted as well as issues involved in financial markets. A portion of each class period will be set aside to discuss economic or political issues occurring in the world or things that seem puzzling. After all, one of the leading journals in economics is called the Journal of Political Economy, and your teacher thinks of himself as both a political economist and a finance professor.
TEXTBOOK and two TRADE BOOKS: Economics for Managers, Third Edition, by Paul G. Farnham, 2014, Pearson (Chapters 3-10 and 16); most chapters from The Disruptors’ Feast: How to Avoid Being Devoured in Today’s Rapidly Changing Global Economy by Frits van Paasschen, 2016, and portions of Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Richard H.Thaler and Cass Sunstein, Yale University Press, 2008.
FINAL EXAM: There is no “final exam” as such. But there will be both a short-essay style take-home exam due on October 6, 2017, the time I am scheduled to teach primarily on finding behavioral economic examples in your own life or work. There will also be on Friday, October 6, a group impromptu presentation after a break-out period, based on different questions posed to each group on the integrative case on McDonald’s from Chapter 16 in Farnham.
GRADES: Grades will be based on the total points earned on the in-class quizzes, group integrative presentation on October 7, and the take-home behavioral economics essay on examples you’ve discovered in your life. There are no “extra credit” points available. If a student is ill or otherwise unable to attend, an in-class quiz can be emailed to the student to be returned the following class session. Scores will be posted on Desire2Learn at: http://d2l.uwm.edu/.
TIME EXPECTATIONS: In a regular semester, for each hour of lecture there are two hours preparation. For extended 4 hour classes, that means about 8 hours of reading per class in preparation for daily quizzes, and more time preparing for the final.
CLASSROOM POLICIES: UWM has long-standing policies on academic misconduct, sexual harassment, discrimination, adding, dropping, withdrawal, repeating classes, and changes of grade. These policies are available at: https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/marcus/www/policies.html.
Class Schedule for EMBA Corporate Economics 752
Saturday, July 29 at 12:45-2:45pm – Demand elasticities including price, income, cross-price elasticities (Chapter 3, Farnham) and The Great Acceleration and Volatility in a Connected World (Chapters 1 & 10, van Paasschen).
Also on Saturday, July 29 at 2:45-4:45pm – Techniques for Understanding Consumer Demand and Behavior (Chapter 4, Farnham); Biases and Blunders (Chapter 1, Thaler & Sunstein) as an intro into the behavioral errors people tend to make; and in-class quiz 1 in groups of two.
Saturday, August 26 at 8-10am – Production and Cost Analysis in the Short Run (Chapter 5, Farnham); and Save More Tomorrow (Chapter 6, Thaler & Sunstein); and we must Define Reality (Chapter 2, van Paasschen).
Also Saturday, August 26 at 10-noon– Digital Technology and the Disruptors’ Feast (Chapters 3 and 4, van Paasschen); Production and Cost Analysis in the Long Run (Chapter 6, Farham) and an in-class quiz 2 on Farnham and Thaler & Sunstein in different groups of two.
Saturday, September 9 at 12:45-2:45pm – Isoquant Analysis (Appendix 6A, Farnham); and Resisting Temptation (Chapter 2, Thaler & Sunstein); and the Era of Personalization (Chapter 5, van Paasschen).
Also Saturday, September 9 at 12:45-2:45pm – Perfect Competition (Chapter 7, Farnham); Industry Supply (Appendix 7A, Farnham); and the Global Growth Trend Line (Chapter 6, van Paasschen) and and an in-class quiz 3 on Farnham and Thaler & Sunstein in different groups of two.
Saturday, September 23, at 8-10am – Monopoly and Monopolistic Competition (Chapter 8, Farnham); Following the Herd & When Do We Need a Nudge (Chapters 3 and 4, Thaler & Sunstein) where you may want to read the Silverstein poem “Smart” at: http://busyteacherscafe.com/worksheets/smart.pdf.
Also Saturday, September 23, at 10-noon – Oligopoly (Chapter 9, Farnham); and van Paasschen’s 4 Lessons (Chapter 8, van Paasschen); and an in-class quiz 4 in different groups of 2 on Chapters 8 & 9.
Friday, October 6 – hand in your behavioral economics essay on your life and times at 4PM.
Friday, October 6at 4-6pm – Price Discrimination (Chapter 10, Farnham); Urbanization as a Trend Line and Barriers to Change (Chapters 9 and 11, van Paasschen).
Friday, October 7 at 6:30-8:30pm – Managerial Decision Making: The Case of Strong Headwinds for McDonald’s – Integrative Economic Exercise (Chapter 16, Farnham) with 4 established group presentations based on questions posed.
Scores and grades will be posted on D2L at http://d2l.uwm.edu/.