Corrected version January 18, 2000. Corrections in red.

The date for attending play is not yet selected, nor is the place of meeting the night of the play (most likely WFA 214).

 

Michael J. O'Hara Office Hours: by appointment,

CBA 502 UNO Omaha NE 68182 Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday

(402) 554-2823 (with voice mail) before class, 5:30 - 6:00 PM

mohara@unomaha.edu and after class, 8:40 - 9:30 PM (301 on W)

fax (402) 554-2680 (after class office hours often are in the classroom)

http://cba.unomaha.edu/faculty/mohara/web/ohara.htm

Managerial Economics

Spring 2000

BSAD 8100-001 # 00382 & ECON 8210-001 # 00844 Thursday 6:00 - 8:40 PM CBA 218

BSAD 8100-002 # 03250 & ECON 8210-002 # 03246 Tuesday 6:00 - 8:40 PM CBA 218

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

3 credit hours. "This course will offer students the tools of analysis drawn from consumer theory and the theory of the firm in order to improve the understanding of human behavior as it is constrained in the context of business decision-making. This course is intended for students who are seeking the degree of Master of Science in Economics or the degree of Master of Business Administration. Prereq.: ECON 2200 and 2220 or BSAD 8180 and 8060. Students with an undergraduate major or a graduate degree in economics may not include this course in their plan of study for the MBA degree. (Same as ECON 8210.)"

GRADED EVENTS:

A course letter grade of "A" is earned with a total course percentage of 90.0% or more; a "B+" is earned with 85.0% or more; a "B" is earned with 80.0% or more; etc.

75% EXAMS all exam questions will come from the textbook

15% ECONOMIC ANALYSIS PAPER

10% CLASS PARTICIPATION

EXTRA CREDIT

TEXT:

  1. Mansfield, Edwin. Managerial Economics: Theory, Application, and Cases. Fourth Edition. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1999.

2. Christie, Dick and Ruprecht, David. Charlie's Wake.

(NO COPY AVAILABLE SINCE AUTHOR IN RESIDENCE AT UNO AND IS RE-WRITING FROM THE SCREEN PLAY).

EXAMS:

There are three (3) exams worth 75% of the course grade: a First Exam, a Midterm Exam, and a Comprehensive Final Exam. All exam questions will come from the textbook.

The First Exam is worth 15% of the course grade and is on January 25/27. The Midterm Exam is worth 30% of the course grade, and is on March 7/9. The Comprehensive Final Exam is at the Regent's scheduled final exam time of May 2/4 and are worth 30% of the course grade.

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS PAPER:

For a total of 15% of the course grade, there is an Economic Analysis Paper (with two drafts). See TYPING REQUIREMENTS. Always bring two copies of your First Draft and Second Draft: one for the instructor and one for your in class use.

This paper will analyze the play Charlie's Wake by Dick Christie and David Ruprecht for agency problems, including discounted present value issues. All students shall attend a live performance of the play. The play will be staged at UNOmaha March 2 - 4 and March 8 - 11. Performances are staged in the Weber Fine Arts Building: between and south of the UNO Library and the Durham Science Center. Performances start promptly at 8:00 p.m. and generally are over about 10:30 PM.

On January 18/20 the classes will vote by secret ballot to pick the performance that the instructor will attend and discuss the play with students present. The class will vote to select a Friday or a Saturday performance, that is, select from March 3, 4, 10, and 11. You are encouraged to meet in _____(most likely WFA 214)_________ at 7:15 PM to discuss the Economic Analysis Paper assignment. The instructor also will be available after the play to discuss the assignment. Family members and guests are most welcome to attend that discussion and/or the play. Tickets for students cost $5 and reservations may be made through the UNO Theatre Box Office at 554-2335 (with voice mail). Tickets for reservations must be picked up no later than 5:00 PM the night of the show. The Theatre Box Office and theatre entrances are near the south door of Weber FAB.

You may elect to attend any performance of the play. However, those that attend on the selected night need only check in with O'Hara; while those that attend on another night must attach their ticket stub to the First Draft. A person who does not attend the play, but does author an otherwise "Pass" First Draft will earn a 50% for the Economic Analysis Paper First Draft: be sure to "check-in" with Dr. O'Hara the night of the play or attach you ticket stub to your First Draft.

This assignment is to focus on agency problems including discounted present value. Differing definitions of profit maximization is inherent to the agency problems.

A First Draft is worth 5% of the course grade. The First Drafts of the Economic Analysis Paper is a one-page, single-spaced assignment. The instructor will grade First Drafts on a pass-fail basis. First Drafts will be graded as a "pass" and earn 100% if the First Draft objectively is a good faith effort at a final draft; if graded as a "fail," then the First Draft will earn a 0%. First Drafts also will be evaluated by other student authors who will provide feedback. You must staple you ticket stub to your First Draft or you will suffer an automatic 5% deduction from your earned grade. (Earn a 50% loss if [1] do not attend play, or [2] attend play, but [2a] do not check in or [2b] do not provide a ticket stub. Earn a 5% loss if attend without checking in, but ticket stub is not stapled to paper.)

A Second Draft is worth 10% of the course grade. The Second Draft of the Economic Analysis Paper is a two-page, double-spaced assignment. Second Drafts will be graded on the truncated scale of:

If past classes are a good indicator of the future, then suspect quality papers will be more numerous than clearly excellent papers. To be clearly excellent a student's paper needs to deftly handle interrelated issues with minimal verbiage. Mere recitation of streams of jargon, especially in a definitional context, is rudimentary. Thus, is no more than expected quality, and if such streaming precludes analysis, it is no more than suspect quality. Adroit use of jargon to efficiently convey complex concepts is clearly excellent. Second Drafts which are no more than First Drafts printed in double-space often are evaluated as suspect quality. Some students will be called upon to present their Second Draft to the class as part of their Class Participation grade. (Not for Thursday night students, see below.)

If you must miss a class when an Economic Analysis Paper is due, then you may
fax (402) 554-2680 or email to mohara@unomaha.edu your Economic Analysis Paper assignment prior to the start of class. It will not be an adequate excuse that my fax machine was busy with other student's faxes that started transmission prior to your attempted transmission.

The First Draft of the Economic Analysis Paper is due on March 21/23. The Second Draft of the Economic Analysis Paper is due on March 28/30. (NOTE: no class on March 30, therefore the Thursday night class' assignment is due on March 28. Assignments may be surfaced mailed [postmarked the 28th], emailed, or faxed to the professor. Fax, due to image quality degradation, is least preferred.)

TYPING REQUIREMENTS:

Whether the assignment may be single-spaced or double-spaced is specified in the assignment as is the page length. All typed assignments shall be in a #12 font typeface, shall use one-inch margins on all four sides of a page, and shall be typed on 8 1/2" x 11" white paper. DO NOT USE A COVER SHEET, instead use a single line header (e.g., see top of this page) on each page identifying, from left to right: (1) the student author; (2) the assignment; (3) the date submitted [e.g., BillyJoe DonBob Baleu; First Draft, Economic Analysis Paper; March 21, 2000. For two page assignments you have two options: either you may print on both sides of one sheet of paper (the preferred method) or you may staple two sheets together. (NOTE: Because the computer labs' printers are networked, the computer labs will not let you print front-to-back. For you to print front-to-back you need to have control of the print queue, which is an inappropriate breach of security for the computer lab's networked printers.)

You have been changed a $5 per credit hour technology fee for the ENRON Computer Lab in CBA 403 and the campus computing rooms in CBA 007, EAB 009, and DSC 104 all of which have word processing software and provide computer support for you. Grammar, punctuation, and spelling do influence your grade. For page limits and other assignment specific typing requirements, see the specific assignment. EACH FAILURE to comply with the typing requirements (e.g., incorrect header or no staple) will cause an AUTOMATIC LOSS OF 5% from your earned assignment grade.

CLASS PARTICIPATION:

There is NO MAKE-UP WORK for Class Participation. However, each student may exclude one absence from the calculation of his or her Class Participation grade. Your Class Participation grade is earned based on your ability to answer questions about previously assigned readings and your objectively demonstrated familiarity with that day's assigned readings. Class participation will be conducted at the beginning of the class. Students who are late for the start of Class Participation will earn a failing grade on that day's Class Participation. During Class Participation students will be called on randomly and will be called on in groups of four, but will be graded individually. Over the course of the semester, you personally will be randomly called upon at least three times. Each Class Participation effort typically earn a grade of 80% and each Class Participation effort will be graded on the truncated scale of:

The expected quality for previously assigned readings is much higher than the expected quality for that day's assigned readings. Students may be called upon to do problems on the board as part of Class Participation.

 

 

EXTRA CREDIT:

The MBA graduation requirements include attending three (3) Leadership Series presentations prior to graduation. The presentations start at 5:30 PM and run until 7:00 PM in the CBA Auditorium's main room, Pod A. During Spring 2000 the presentations will be on (Tuesday) February 1 and on (Wednesday) March 1. On February 1 class will start at 5:30 in the CBA Auditorium. You may earn 1% on each presentation.

To earn 1% Extra Credit you need to do two things. First, attend a Leadership Series presentation from start to finish, including "checking-in" with the MBA Advisor Lex Kaczmarek. Second, submit a one-page, double-spaced summary of the presentation, including your comments on how the presentation relates to the agency problem. The Extra Credit assignments will be graded in the same fashion as First Drafts. The Extra Credit due date for the February 1 presentation is February 8/10 The Extra Credit due for the March 1 presentation is March 7/9

MAKE-UP WORK:

Make-up work is strongly discouraged. There is no make-up work for Class Participation. There are two prerequisites for make-up work.

ACADEMIC DISHONESTY:

Any form of academic dishonesty (e.g., a student who is to take an exam on Thursday discussing the exam content with a student who took the exam on Tuesday) will be grounds for a course grade of "F."