THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT ASHEVILLE FACULTY SENATE Senate Document Number 3091S Date of Senate Approval 3/28/91 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Statement of Faculty Senate Action: APC Document #27: Social Science Requirement Option in Economics Effective Date: Fall 1991 Add: To page 94, new first course listed (1990-91 catalog) Econ 130 The Economic Way of Thinking (3) An introduction to economics emphasizing its methodology, historical development and interdisciplinary nature. Limited to freshmen and sophomores. Satisfies three hours of the social science general education requirement. This course does not count toward the major nor the minor in economics, nor may it substitute for either Econ 200 or 201. Environmental Impact Statement: Impact on major requirements: No change for students choosing traditional 200/201 introduction to economics; adds one course for students choosing to major in economics after receiving credit for Econ 130. Impact on minor requirements: No change for students choosing traditional 200/201 introduction to economics; adds one course for students choosing to minor in economics after receiving credit for Econ 130. Impact on University requirements: adds one course that can be used to satisfy the general education requirement. Impact on other departments: If Econ 201 retains general education status, no effect on other departments aside from 20% reduction in number of 201 sections (AY 1991- 92). If Econ 201 loses general education status and departments requiring Econ 201 of their majors continue to do so, students will no longer be able to satisfy both their University-imposed general education requirement and department-imposed major requirement with one course. The departments currently requiring Econ 201 are: Accounting and management; Environmental Studies (one of several options); History; Mathematics (one of several options); Political Science (Politics and Law, Political Economy tracks). Recommendation: retain Econ 201 general education status. Impact on Econ 201 Enrollment: Assumption: Econ 201's general education status retained. Short-term impact (first year): By offering a substitute, Econ 130 may reduce 201 enrollment 1 for 1. Long-term impact: If Econ 130 encourages some students to take additional economics courses, enrollment in 201 will fall by less than 1 for 1. Impact on economics department staffing requirements: Assumption: Econ 130 offerings determined by staff availability, not student demand. Econ 201 retains general education status. Short-term: The economics department is committed to offering one section of Econ 130 Fall and Spring semesters 1991-92. This change will be accommodated by dropping a corresponding number of Econ 201 sections. Thus there will be no change in the number of economics sections offered nor in the number of staff members required to teach them. Long-term: If overall economics enrollment rises, the total number of economics sections offered might be forced up. This change would require an increase in the number of economics staff members. Because the number of Econ 130 offerings will be limited the probable impact on economics staffing requirements is small. Impact on University: Increase in courses available to, and appropriate for, freshmen and sophomores. Short-term: 20% reduction in availability of Econ 201 offerings, a required course for management majors. Long-term: If overall economics enrollments increase, the number of economics faculty may increase (by no more than 1). Rationale: Economics 130: 1. Is a course appropriate for the average freshman and sophomore. It is department policy to discourage freshmen from taking Econ 200/201. This is not unusual. Many schools, including most of those at which current department members have taught in the past, discourage freshman from taking their introductory economics sequence. 2. Will provide a thorough introduction to a handful of the most important ideas in economics while at the same time demonstrating the breadth of the discipline. This will be accomplished by illustrating the core ideas with a diverse collection of applications. Because the Econ 200/201 sequence serves as a prerequisite to a wide variety of courses, and because its content is determined in part by what is covered in similar courses taught elsewhere, the scope of the Econ 200/201 sequence is wider and its depth is shallower than will be true of Econ 130. 3. Is consistent with the philosophy and educational purpose of general education courses. It will emphasize: the cultural and historical context of the economics discipline; the connections between economics, ethics, and the social and natural sciences; and the ways in which economics, as a social science, is distinct from other fields of inquiry. 4. Is consistent with UNCA's liberal arts mission. Content Outline: Topics (Economics): Opportunity cost, marginal reasoning, gains from trade, spontaneous coordination of the market, ceteris paribus, political economy, time value of money, role of government in a market economy. Topics (other disciplines -- relationship to core economic concepts in parentheses): Biology: feedback loops (spontaneous coordination of the market), optimizing models of animal behavior (marginal reasoning) Environmental studies: cost-benefit analysis (time value of money, marginal reasoning), environmental economics (spontaneous coordination of the market) History: historical context in which economic concepts developed Mathematics: algebra, graphing, statistics (ceteris paribus & multiple regression) Philosophy: ethics (spontaneous coordination of the market), methodology (marginal reasoning & logical positivism, etc.) Political science: political economy (gains from trade, role of government), public choice (role of government) Psychology: framing of choices (marginal reasoning) Sociology: income distribution, social change (spontaneous coordination of the market) Example of a learning unit: Introductory chapters and chapters on Adam Smith, Ricardo and Malthus from The Worldly Philosophers to set up lectures on the spontaneous coordination of the market. Laboratory experiments on economic markets and trading of pollution permits. Screening of the movie "Roger and Me" and an episode from the "Free to Choose" series. Small group discussions on the ethics of allocating essential goods on the basis of ability to pay, the process of social change in a market system, and the harnessing of self-interest to make an economic system work. Contrasting lectures on comparable worth from the neo-classical economic and sociological perspectives. Debate on comparable worth. Basic Text: Heilbroner's The Worldly Philosophers and a set of reserve readings assembled by the instructor. Sub-titled "The Lives, Times, and Ideas of the Great Economic Thinkers," The Worldly Philosophers is the most celebrated and popular account of the history of economics ever written.