COURSE INFORMATION Course Title: INTRODUCTION TO ECONOMICS I

Code	Course Type	Regular Semester	Theory	Practice	Lab	Credits	ECTS
ECO 101	B	1	3	0	0	3	5

Academic staff member responsible for the design of the course syllabus (name, surname, academic title/scientific degree, email address and signature)	NA
Main Course Lecturer (name, surname, academic title/scientific degree, email address and signature) and Office Hours:	M.Sc. Jonida Rada jballiu@epoka.edu.al , Wednesday 13:00 - 15:00
Second Course Lecturer(s) (name, surname, academic title/scientific degree, email address and signature) and Office Hours:	NA
Teaching Assistant(s) and Office Hours:	NA
Language:	English
Compulsory/Elective:	Compulsory
Study program: (the study for which this course is offered)	Bachelor in Political Science and International Relations (3 years)
Classroom and Meeting Time:	E/B33 Thursday 11:45
Code of Ethics:	Code of Ethics of EPOKA University Regulation of EPOKA University "On Student Discipline"
Attendance Requirement:	60%
Course Description:	Introduction to Economics I: This is an introductory microeconomics course. The aim of the course is to develop an understanding of elementary microeconomic analysis and its applications. By the end of the term, the student will have acquired a basic understanding of the main microeconomic topics, including analysis of the consumer, the firm, the economics of public sector and product markets. The material covered as part of this course will help students to organize their ideas about economics.
Course Objectives:	Learning economics at the introducing level. Why we are studying economics? Why do we need science of economics? Basic concepts of economics. Tools of economics. The logic of economics. Markets and government in a modern economy. Basic elements of supply and demand. Applications of supply and demand. Comprehending of economic life, analyzing of firm behaviors and deciding processes, analyzing of factor markets and firms deciding strategies in different markets, analyzing of firm behaviors in monopoly, monopoly competition and oligopoly markets and analyzing factor.

BASIC CONCEPTS OF THE COURSE

1	The Production Possibility Frontier (PPF)
2	Market Mechanism
3	Basic elements of Supply and Demand. Supply Curve & Demand Curve
4	Price Elasticity of Supply & Price Elasticity of Demand
5	Marginal Utility and Law of the Diminishing Marginal Utility
6	Theory of Production and Marginal Products
7	Total Costs: Fixed and Variable
8	Supply Behavior in Competitive Industries
9	Patterns of Imperfect Competition
10	Monopoly Behavior

COURSE OUTLINE

Week	Topics
1	Introduction and Syllabus Review: An introduction of each topic which will be lectured during the semester weeks, also the material needed and the requirements to succeed the course.
2	The Central Concepts of Economics & Markets and Government in a Modern Economy: In this week the topics explained are related to - Why Study Economics?, The Three Problems of Economic Organization, Society’s Technological Possibilities. Chapter 1 & Chapter 2 (page 3-44)
3	Demand, Supply and Market Equilibrium: This lecture is dedicated to the analysis of supply and demand which shows how a market mechanism solves the three problems of what, how, and for whom. A market blends together demands and supplies. Demand comes from consumers who are spreading their dollar votes among available goods and services, while businesses supply the goods and services with the goal of maximizing their profits. It includes the study of the Demand and Supply schedule including their equilibrium. (Chapter 3, page 45-65)
4	Practical Sessions: Sessions of exercises and case discussions, which face to the students the practical side of the lectures.
5	Price Elasticity of Demand and Supply: Supply and demand can often tell us whether certain forces increase or decrease quantities. But for these tools to be truly useful, we need to know how much supply and demand respond to changes in price. Theoretically and practically will the elasticity of Supply and Demand be studied. (Chapter 4, page 65-83)
6	Demand and Consumer Behavior: The results of these individual choices are what underlie the demand curves and price elasticities that we met in earlier chapters. This chapter explores the basic principles of consumer choice and behavior. We shall see how patterns of market demand can be explained by the process of individuals’ pursuing their most preferred bundle of consumption goods. We also will learn how to measure the benefits that each of us receives from participating in a market economy. (Chapter 5, page 84-100)
7	Production and Business Organization: We first explore the fundamentals of production theory, showing how firms transform inputs into desirable outputs. Production theory also helps us understand why productivity and living standards have risen over time and how firms manage their internal activities. (Chapter 6, page 107-125)
8	Practical Session: Sessions of exercises and case discussions, which face to the students the practical side of the lectures.
9	Midterm Exam
10	Analysis of Costs: This chapter is devoted to a thorough analysis of cost. First we consider the full array of economic costs, including the central notion of marginal costs. Then we examine how business accountants measure cost in practice. Finally, we look at the notion of opportunity cost, a broad concept that can be applied to a wide range of decisions. This comprehensive study of cost will lay the foundation for understanding the supply decisions of business firms. (Chapter 7, page 126-143)
11	Practical Session: Sessions of exercises and case discussions, which face to the students the practical side of the lectures.
12	Analysis of Perfectly Competitive Markets: This chapter on industrial organization analyzes the behavior of perfectly competitive markets; these are idealized markets in which firms and consumers are too small to affect the price. The first section shows how competitive firms behave, after which some special cases are examined. The chapter concludes by showing that a perfectly competitive industry will be efficient. (Chapter 8, page 149-168)
13	Imperfect Competition and Monopoly: We shall see that for a given technology, prices are higher and outputs are lower under imperfect competition than under perfect competition. But imperfect competitors have virtues along with these vices. Large firms exploit economies of large-scale pro- duction and are responsible for much of the innovation that propels long-term economic growth. If you understand how imperfectly competitive markets work, you will have a much deeper understanding of modern industrial economies. (Chapter 9, page 169-186)
14	Practical Session - Review before Final Exam: Sessions of exercises and case discussions, which face to the students the practical side of the lectures.

Prerequisite(s):	NA
Textbook(s):	Economics, P.A.Samuelson-W.D.Nordhaus , 20th ed., Mc Graw-Hill Ins.,2019 Economics, M. Parkin, Pearson; 12 edition (2015)
Additional Literature:	NA
Laboratory Work:	NA
Computer Usage:	NA
Others:	No

COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES

1	Learning of basic economic concepts and Learning of using tools of economics.
2	Learning of economic system and production possibilities analysis.
3	Analyzing of economic deciding processes of a rational consumer in ordinal and cardinal consumption theory.
4	Understanding logic of economics and Decision making in the market by consumers and producers.
5	Determination of market, demand, supply functions as mathematically and theoretically, Fixing of elasticity concerning these functions, Comprehending of state intervention on these functions. Decision making in the market by consumers and producers.
6	Learning of firm theory, production theory in short and long term, learning of rational deciding processes directed to profit maximization aim and revenue and cost functions.
7	Decision making in the market by consumers and producers.
8	Learning the differences and decision making process in different market structures.

COURSE CONTRIBUTION TO... PROGRAM COMPETENCIES (Blank : no contribution, 1: least contribution ... 5: highest contribution)

No	Program Competencies	Cont.
Bachelor in Political Science and International Relations (3 years) Program
1	Having and using advanced knowledge and comprehension supported by textbooks including actual knowledge in political sciences and international relations literature, materials and the other scientific resources.	2
2	Analyzing data, ideas and concepts of current political issues and international relations, determining complex events and topics, making discussions and developing new suggestions in accordance with researches.	4
3	Having knowledge and thought about actual topics and problems together with their historical, social and cultural aspects.	2
4	Introducing those who are interested in politics and international events with the topics of Political Science and IR and teaching clearly the problems and the types of solutions.	2
5	Improving skills of working together with the main social science disciplines and other disciplines which are related to Political Science and International Relations.	4
6	Improving critical thinking and skills in making research independently.	4
7	Developing solutions about the problems and conflicts which are common in national and international arena.	3
8	Improving skills for leadership and research and analyze capacity of those who is responsible with national and international ones.	3
9	Knowing any foreign language enough to communicate with colleagues and understand actual researches and articles.	1
10	Gaining IT skills to use computer and technology) in order to reach actual knowledge.	3
11	Gaining skills to follow societal, scientific and ethic values during collecting, interpreting, conducting of data related to social and political developments.	3
12	Having consciousness about human rights and environment.	2
13	Gaining the skills to follow actual developments and pursue long-life learning.	3

COURSE EVALUATION METHOD

Method	Quantity	Percentage
Midterm Exam(s)	1	30
Lab/Practical Exams(s)	4	5
Final Exam	1	50
	Total Percent:	100%

ECTS (ALLOCATED BASED ON STUDENT WORKLOAD)

Activities	Quantity	Duration(Hours)	Total Workload(Hours)
Course Duration (Including the exam week: 16x Total course hours)	16	3	48
Hours for off-the-classroom study (Pre-study, practice)	16	2	32
Mid-terms	1	15	15
Assignments	5	3	15
Final examination	1	15	15
Other			0
Total Work Load:			125
Total Work Load/25(h):			5
ECTS Credit of the Course:			5

CONCLUDING REMARKS BY THE COURSE LECTURER

NA