COURSE DESCRIPTION

Presents a broad overview of economic theory, history, development, and application. Introduces terms, definitions, policies, and philosophies of market economies. Provides some comparison with other economic systems. Includes some degree of exposure to microeconomic and macroeconomic concepts. Lecture 2-3 hours.
 

GENERAL COURSE PURPOSE

The purpose of this course is to provide the student with an overview of the workings of the American economic system.
 

ENTRY LEVEL COMPETENCIES

No prerequisites are required. The student is assumed to be literate in English and competent in fundamental arithmetic computation.
 

COURSE OBJECTIVES

The student should be able to understand United States' economic issues and policies as related by the news media and become a discerning voter with respect to economic issues and policies.
 

MAJOR TOPICS TO BE INCLUDED

• Definition and scope of economics
• Demand and supply: the price system and how it operates
• Meaning of GDP
• Fundamentals of government spending and taxation
• Money and banking
• Causes and effects of inflation and recession
• Economics stabilization through fiscal and monetary policies
• Costs of production
• Market structures: competition through monopoly
• Labor markets and the distribution of income
• International trade and finance
• Topical issues, e.g., cities, poverty, health care, energy, agriculture, environment, industrial concentration and antitrust, labor unions, national debt, economic growth