Corporate Economics 752
Syllabus
SHELDON B. LUBAR SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
Executive MBA Program – 3 credits
Block 4 – Summer 2019
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: Tuesdays at 10-11:30am and Fridays 3-4 pm in Lubar Hall S430F on weeks when there are classes and by appointment.
TELEPHONE: 414-229-4103 (office) 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, Pearson (Chapters 3-10 and 16); Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Richard H.Thaler and Cass Sunstein, Yale University Press; and most chapters from The Disruptors’ Feast: How to Avoid Being Devoured in Today’s Rapidly Changing Global Economy by Frits van Paasschen.
FINAL EXAM: There is no “final exam” as such. But there will be both a short-essay style take-home exam on a behavioral economic observation from your life due on Friday, August 9, 2019, 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, August 9, a group 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 August 9, 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 Canvas.
TIME EXPECTATIONS: In a regular semester, for each hour of lecture there are typically two hours or preparation. For our 3 hour classes, that means ideally about 6 hours of preparation for daily quizzes, reading the assigned reading, 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://sites.uwm.edu/marcus/policies/
SPECIAL NEEDS: If anyone has a need for note-taking or test assistance, please fell free to discuss this with me early in our block. Slide presentation are available in a notebook or weekly and will also be available on D2L.
SOCIAL CONNECTIVITY: Economic and financial announcements are frequent. Some will be highlighted for your special attention. These appear on Facebook that can be accessed without being a member on D2L or you may like the page UWMFinance350 and LinkedIn. Links are located on the navigation lines in Canvas, at least that is my intent as I am not that familiar yet with Canvas. While it doesn’t say UWM-EMBA752, it is just easier for me to keep one page going.
Class Schedule for EMBA Corporate Economics 752
Friday, May 31 at 5:30-8:30pm– Demand elasticities including price, income, cross-price elasticities (Chapter 3, Farnham). We will learn when to say “Raise the Price,” and when to suggest a discount. We examine The Great Acceleration and Volatility in a Connected World (Chapters 1 & 10, van Paasschen). Also, Biases and Blunders (Chapter 1, Thaler & Sunstein) as an intro into the behavioral errors people tend to make; and in-class and in-class quiz 1 in assigned groups.
Saturday, June 15 at 8-11am – Begins with Techniques for Understanding Consumer Demand and Behavior (Chapter 4, Farnham); This shows us that we too can find our service or product’s price elasticity. We go back to Behaviorial Economics to examine Save More Tomorrow (Chapter 6, Thaler & Sunstein); and we continue with Production and Cost Analysis in the Short Run (Chapter 5, Farnham); and an in-class quiz 2 on these topics in differently assigned groups.
Saturday, June 29 at 8-11am – What start with a discussion of Receny Bias? See My Short LinkedIn Article. We explore Define Reality; Digital Technology; and The Disruptors’ Feast (Chapters 2, 3, and 4, van Paasschen); then we do Production and Cost Analysis in the Long Run (Chapter 6, Farham) and we go deep into Econ with Isoquant Analysis (Appendix 6A, Farnham), these are to give us a foundation in Economies of Scale and Scope; finally, we do an in-class quiz 3 in different assigned groups.
Friday July 12 at 5:30-8:30pm – Perfect Competition (Chapter 7, Farnham); Industry Supply (Appendix 7A, Farnham); Resisting Temptation (Chapter 2, Thaler & Sunstein) to work more on Behavioral Econ; and then let’s look at the Era of Personalization (Chapter 5, van Paasschen). We also do an in-class quiz 4 in different assigned groups.
Saturday, July 13 at 8-10am – How lucky are you, to have me two days in row? I’m giddy. Monopoly (Chapter 8, Farnham); What is a Natural Monopoly? also Following the Herd & When Do We Need a Nudge (Chapters 3 and 4, Thaler & Sunstein). and Global Growth Trend Line (Chapter 6, van Paasschen). Also read the poem “Smart” by Silverstein below:
http://busyteacherscafe.com/worksheets/smart.pdf.
We also do an in-class quiz 5 in different assigned groups.
Saturday, July 27 at 11:15-2:15pm with a Lunch Break sometime in the middle – Oligopoly (Chapter 9, Farnham); We will explore GAME THEORY as a way to see oligopoly; What is the Prisoner’s Dilemma?; and van Paasschen’s 4 Lessons (Chapter 8, van Paasschen); and an in-class quiz 6 in different assigned groups.
Friday, August 9 at 5:30-8:30pm – I will be returning from China on a trip visiting my daughter there from July 28 to August 7, so I hope I’m not as sick as a dog on my return. It should be 100 degrees and very humid in Nanjing. But at any rate, hand in your behavioral economics essay on your life and times at 5:30pm. I want to talk for a little bit about Price Discrimination and Pricing Strategies in the Firm (Chapter 10, Farnham) for a bit and then talk about McDonald’s (Chapter 16). We then break up into groups to prepare group presentations for our Integrative Econ Exercise your established groups. Questions assigned to groups by drawing numbers out of a hat. Yeah, very high tech.
Scores and grades will be posted on Canvas, assuming I’ve mastered this newfangled thing. Honestly, I am sounding like my dad, more and more. Beware, it will happen to you too, if not already.