Principles of Microeconomics

Course Description

ECO2023 – Principles of Microeconomics is a 3-credit lecture course in the Economics taxonomy of Florida's Statewide Course Numbering System (SCNS). The course introduces students to the standard conceptual tools of microeconomic analysis and applies these tools to investigate how prices are determined in markets, how individuals and firms make decisions under scarcity, why exchanges tend to be mutually beneficial, who bears the burden of taxes, when firms pollute or exercise market power, and what policies might improve the efficiency or equity of markets. ECO2023 is part of Florida's state-mandated General Education Core in Social Sciences, satisfying that requirement at every Florida public college and university.

The course is offered at 53 Florida public institutions and transfers as equivalent across the state. ECO2023 is required preparation for upper-division economics, business, and finance courses, and is a common admissions requirement for AACSB-accredited business programs (UF Warrington, FSU College of Business, USF Muma, UCF College of Business, FAU College of Business, FIU College of Business, FAMU School of Business, UNF Coggin, FGCU Lutgert). Together with ECO2013 (Principles of Macroeconomics), ECO2023 provides the foundational two-course sequence in introductory economics.

Learning Outcomes

Required Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Explain the fundamental economic problem of scarcity and apply opportunity cost reasoning to economic decisions.
• Apply the law of supply and the law of demand to analyze price determination, market equilibrium, and the effects of market shocks.
• Calculate and interpret price elasticity of demand and supply, including factors that influence elasticity and the relationship between elasticity and total revenue.
• Analyze consumer and producer surplus, deadweight loss, and the welfare effects of price controls (price floors and ceilings) and taxes.
• Apply concepts of marginal analysis (marginal cost, marginal benefit, marginal revenue) to firm and consumer decision-making.
• Distinguish between short-run and long-run production and cost analysis; analyze the relationships among total, average, and marginal costs.
• Compare the four major market structures — perfect competition, monopolistic competition, oligopoly, and monopoly — including profit-maximizing output decisions and welfare implications.
• Analyze factor markets (labor, capital, land), including wage determination and the role of factor productivity.
• Identify market failures (externalities, public goods, common resources, asymmetric information) and analyze potential government interventions to correct them.
• Apply economic reasoning to evaluate contemporary policy questions, including taxation, environmental regulation, healthcare, and trade policy.

Optional Outcomes

Depending on institutional emphasis, students may also:

• Apply game theory concepts (dominant strategies, Nash equilibrium, prisoner's dilemma) to analyze strategic interactions among firms.
• Analyze international trade using comparative advantage and discuss the welfare effects of tariffs and trade restrictions.
• Apply behavioral economics concepts to analyze deviations from standard rational-choice assumptions.
• Analyze income distribution and poverty using Gini coefficients, Lorenz curves, and policy alternatives.
• Apply indifference curve and budget constraint analysis to derive demand curves and analyze consumer choice.
• Conduct case study analyses of contemporary economic issues (housing affordability, climate policy, healthcare reform, technology platform regulation).

Major Topics

Required Topics

• Introduction to Economics: Scarcity and choice; opportunity cost; production possibilities frontier; positive vs. normative economics; the role of models in economics.
• Comparative Advantage and Trade: Absolute vs. comparative advantage; gains from specialization and trade.
• Supply and Demand: Determinants of demand and supply; law of demand and law of supply; market equilibrium; effects of shifts in demand and supply curves.
• Elasticity: Price elasticity of demand (calculation, classification, determinants, total-revenue test); price elasticity of supply; income elasticity; cross-price elasticity.
• Markets, Welfare, and Government Policy: Consumer and producer surplus; price ceilings and floors; tax incidence and deadweight loss; government policy effects on markets.
• Consumer Behavior: Utility theory; marginal utility and the law of diminishing marginal utility; consumer choice and the demand curve.
• Production and Costs: Short-run production with diminishing marginal returns; total, average, and marginal costs; long-run cost curves and economies/diseconomies of scale.
• Perfect Competition: Characteristics; firm's profit-maximizing output (MR = MC rule); short-run and long-run equilibrium; allocative and productive efficiency.
• Monopoly: Sources of monopoly; demand and marginal revenue; profit maximization; deadweight loss; price discrimination; antitrust regulation.
• Monopolistic Competition and Oligopoly: Product differentiation; advertising; concentrated industries; introduction to game theory and the prisoner's dilemma.
• Factor Markets: Labor demand and supply; wage determination; minimum wage; capital and land markets; income distribution.
• Market Failure and Externalities: Negative and positive externalities; Pigouvian taxes and subsidies; tradeable permits; public goods (non-rivalrous, non-excludable); common resources and the tragedy of the commons; asymmetric information.

Optional Topics

• Indifference Curve Analysis: Indifference curves and budget constraints; deriving demand curves; income and substitution effects.
• Game Theory (extended): Dominant strategies; Nash equilibrium; sequential games; repeated games; applications to oligopoly behavior.
• International Trade: Tariffs, quotas, and other trade restrictions; welfare effects of trade policy; balance of payments concepts.
• Behavioral Economics: Bounded rationality; loss aversion; framing effects; nudges and choice architecture.
• Public Choice and Political Economy: The economic analysis of voting, regulation, and policy-making.
• Contemporary Florida Issues: Property insurance markets; tourism economics; healthcare market structure; immigration economics.

Resources & Tools

• Standard Textbooks: Principles of Microeconomics by Mankiw (Cengage, most widely adopted nationally); Microeconomics by McConnell, Brue, and Flynn (McGraw-Hill); Microeconomics: Principles for a Changing World by Chiang (Macmillan/Worth); Microeconomics by Gwartney, Stroup, Sobel, and Macpherson (Cengage); OpenStax Principles of Microeconomics (free, openstax.org)
• Online Homework Platforms: Cengage MindTap (Mankiw); McGraw-Hill Connect; Macmillan Achieve (Chiang); Pearson MyLab Economics
• Florida-Specific Resources: UF Department of Economics syllabi (economics.clas.ufl.edu); FAU UUPC course descriptions (fau.edu/uupc)
• Free Online Resources: Marginal Revolution University (mru.org) — free video courses developed by GMU economists, widely used as supplemental material; Khan Academy Microeconomics; Federal Reserve Education (federalreserveeducation.org)
• Data Resources: Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED, fred.stlouisfed.org); U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (bls.gov); Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (floridajobs.org)
• Calculators: Scientific calculator (basic four-function plus exponential functions sufficient); some institutions allow graphing calculators on exams.

Career Pathways

ECO2023 is foundational preparation for business, finance, public policy, law, and graduate study in economics:

• Associate in Arts (A.A.) Transfer Pathway – Required Gen-Ed Social Sciences course satisfying the social-science core for transfer to all Florida public universities; common admission prerequisite for AACSB-accredited business programs.
• Business and Management Programs – Required preparation for accounting (ACG), finance (FIN), management (MAN), marketing (MAR), and international business (GEB) majors at all Florida public universities.
• Economics Major – First step in the economics major sequence (typically followed by ECO2013 Macroeconomics, intermediate microeconomics, and intermediate macroeconomics).
• Public Policy and Law – Foundation for public administration, government, urban planning, and pre-law programs; widely cited in legal reasoning around antitrust, regulation, and economic policy.
• Florida Industry Application – Microeconomic principles inform careers across Florida's diverse economy: tourism and hospitality (pricing, demand forecasting), real estate (housing markets), agriculture (commodity markets), banking and finance, healthcare (insurance markets, hospital economics), and technology.

Special Information

Gen-Ed Core Designation

ECO2023 is part of Florida's General Education Core Course Options in the Social Sciences discipline area, established by the Florida Department of Education and codified in Florida Statute 1007.25. All Florida public colleges and universities accept ECO2023 as fulfilling the Gen-Ed Social Sciences core requirement. Students must earn a grade of C or better for the course to satisfy degree requirements.

Course Sequence

ECO2023 (Principles of Microeconomics) and ECO2013 (Principles of Macroeconomics) together form the standard two-course introductory economics sequence. Most institutions allow either course to be taken first, although some sequence them with macro before micro. Both courses are required for business majors and economics majors at Florida public universities.

Honors Sections

Many Florida institutions offer Honors sections of ECO2023 (e.g., FAU Honors College ECO2023H) with smaller class sizes, more rigorous reading and writing assignments, and additional analytical depth. Honors completion is recognized on the transcript and supports honors college progression.

Workload and Time Expectations

Students should expect 6-9 hours of weekly out-of-class work, including textbook reading (typically 30-50 pages per week), online homework or problem sets, and 1-2 case-study or policy-analysis essays. Most courses include 2-3 mid-term examinations and a comprehensive or non-comprehensive final examination.

Quantitative Demands

While ECO2023 is not a calculus-based course, students should be comfortable with basic algebra, including reading graphs, interpreting slopes, calculating percentages, and simple equation manipulation. Students with weak quantitative backgrounds are encouraged to complete MAT 1033 (Intermediate Algebra) or MAC1105 (College Algebra) before or concurrently with ECO2023.