Corporate Economics 752
Syllabus
SHELDON B. LUBAR COLLEGE OF BUSINESS
Executive MBA Program – 3 credits
Block 3 – Summer 2022
Unslash photo by Annie Spratt – Used for our Canvas Site
INSTRUCTOR: Richard D. Marcus, Ph.D.is an Associate Professor of Business and the Chair of the LSB Executive Committee. I prefer Dick to Richard. Pronouns: he, him, his.
OFFICE: In person at S430F, or Teams meet ups, or I like phone calls – yay, I’m old school.
OFFICE HOURS: Most anytime.
TELEPHONE: 414-510-7731 (my cell is best) or less well-used is my Teams phone, which is 414-251-6533
E-MAIL: marcus@uwm.edu
HOMEPAGE: https://sites.uwm.edu/marcus/
CORPORATE 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. With major macroeconomic gyrations in the economy going on, we will look at macroeconomics first. Then, we move to issues of price elasticities, cost and production functions, and pricing issues in the market, typically topics found in microeconomics.
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.
There are two TEXTBOOKS: Macroeconomics by Baumol, Blinder, & Solow; and Microeconomics by Hubbard and O’Brien.
FINAL EXAM: There is no “final exam” as such. But there will be seven short-essay style take questions each week we meet, due in 5 days from the class.
MISSION and VISION: As our mission includes impactful teaching that is both innovative and analytical, we we see how the tools of price elasticity informs pricing decisions to raise or lower price, how the Federal Reserve impacts interest rates and inflation, and how economic concepts of scarcity empowers almost all innovation.
GRADES: Grades will be based on the total points earned on the seven take home short essay questions. If your established teams meet up, you can discuss these questions within your groups.
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 on Canvas each week.
SOCIAL CONNECTIVITY: Economic and financial announcements are frequent. Some will be highlighted for your special attention on Canvas or by email. I am also a relatively frequent contributor on economics and financial issues on LinkedIn. Links are located on the navigation lines in Canvas. For example, last week the market was continuing its slide, so I wrote on May 5, 2022: Don’t Puke!
Class Schedule for EMBA Corporate Economics 752
Friday, June 3 at 5:30 – 8:30 pm – As I will be leading a group of students to Vermont to Milton Friedman’s lodge for a week of study (May 28 – June 3), I will have to record 3 1-hour talks for you in advance. These will be on Chapter 1-6 in Macroeconomics, which I will call “Taking The Temperature of the Economy.” I will put some short answer questions on Canvas for you to do, with a due date of June 10.
Friday, June 17 at 5:30 – 8:30 pm – We will be “live” and online on Microsoft Teams for the rest of the summer. We will continue with Chapters 7-13 in Macroeconomics. I will call this, “How our Fiscal Policy and Monetary Policy Collided.” What is fiscal policy? What is monetary policy? I will put some short answer questions on Canvas to work on due on Thursday, June 23, our second assignment.
Friday, June 24 at 5:30 – 8:30 pm – What went on in the past is often a clue to what will occur in the future. What happend in times of inflation? What happened in times of deflation? We finish our macroeconomics section with Chapters 14-17, which I call, “Does the Phillips Curve Matter Anymore?” What are “Lags” in policy? What are “Rules versus Discretion” in monetary policy? Our third set of short answer questions will be on Canvas and will be due on Wednesday, July 5.
Friday, July 8 at 5:30 – 8:30 pm – Now, we switch to Microeconomics. “Economists play with models.” We read chapters 1 – 5 on Demand and Supply concepts are just models. So is Market Equilibrium, Intervention in the Market with Price Ceilings and Price Floors, Taxes, Pollution as an Externality, and even the Coase Theorem – they are all models. Can I apply any of this my industry or business? Yes. Our fourth set of short answer questions will be on Canvas and will be due on July 15.
Friday, July 22 at 5:30 – 8:30 pm – “What’s your price elasticity?” We move to Chapters 6-10. Is your product or service elastic or inelastic? I may have you shout in our Teams meeting to “Raise the Price!” We explore how we often make economic mistakes in Chapter 10, called “behavioral economics.” See for example my Linked comments on Recency Bias . Our fifth set of short answer questions will be on Canvas and will be due on August 1.
Friday, August 5 at 5:30 – 8:30 pm – Next are chapters 11 – 15 in Microeconomics. “What type of market structure does my firm or organization face?” Is it Competition, Monopoly, Monopolistic Competition, or Oligopoly? How can I make it less competitive? These are vital questions, even for non-for-profits as competition for dollars is all around us. Our sixth short answer set of questions will be on Canvas. They are due on August 12.
Friday, August 19 at 5:30 – 8:30 pm – The last section on Microeconomics will be Chapter 14 (again on Game Theory) as well as Chapter 16-17, as we explore labor markets, and, “How Much Should I Make?” Our seventh and last set of short answer questions will be on Canvas. They are due August 22.
Scores and grades will be posted on Canvas.