Department of Humanities and Social Sciences

Indian Institute of Technology, Madras

HS3002: Principles of Economics

Instructor: Dr. Sabita Acharya (Section C)

Course Description
This course will provide an introduction to the subject matter of economics, which is highly relevant to understanding
the functioning of the economy and the world around us. The course will consider basic economic principles that
govern consumers and producers behavior. It will examine how markets work and how supply and demand interacts
to determine prices, characteristics and types of market, market failure and role of government in the economy, macro
economic issues and measurement, inflation and unemployment.

Course Content

Chapter Description
No.
Introduction
Chapter 1 Ten Principles of Economics
Chapter 2 Thinking Like an Economist
Chapter 3 Interdependence and the Gains from Trade
Supply and Demand I: How Markets Work
Chapter 4 The Market Forces of Supply and Demand
Chapter 5 Elasticity and Its Application
Chapter 6 Supply, Demand, and Government Policies
Supply and Demand II: Markets and Welfare
Chapter 7 Consumers, Producers, and the Efficiency of Markets
Chapter 8 Application: The Costs of Taxation
Chapter 9 Application: International Trade

Firm Behavior and the Organization of Industry

Chapter 13 The Costs of Production
Chapter 14 Firms in Competitive Markets
Chapter 15 Monopoly
Chapter 16 Oligopoly
Chapter 17 Monopolistic Competition
The Data of Macroeconomics
Chapter 23 Measuring a Nation’s Income
Chapter 24 Measuring the Cost of Living
The Real Economy in the Long Run
Chapter 25 Production and Growth
Money and Prices in the Long Run
Chapter 29 The Monetary System

Text Book:

N Gregory Mankiw(2012); “Principles of Economics”, 6th Edition, South Western Cengage Learning, ISBN-
13:978-0-538-45305-9 (hereafter, Mankiw, 2012, 6e).
Reference Book:

Karl E. Case and Ray C. Fair (2007), Principles of Economics, 8th edition, Pearson Education Inc., ISBN 81-
317-1587-6(hereafter Case & Fair, 2007, 8e).

Scheme of Evaluation

A grade for the course will be based upon class tests(10%) i.e.,surprise quizzes, best two out of three, one mid-
term exam(30%) and End semester examination(60%) (Mid-sem and End semester examinations are common to
all the sections).

Evaluation Component Weightage

Surprise Quiz(Best 2 from 3) 10%
Mid-term Test 30%
End Semester Exam 60%

Class Hour: F-slot

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