By the end of this section, you will be able to:

Analyze arguments against economic approaches to decision-making
Interpret a tradeoff diagram
Contrast normative statements and positive statements

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

Discuss the importance of studying economics
Explain the relationship between production and division of labor
Evaluate the significance of scarcity

Recognizing that a course in economics may seem daunting to some students, we have tried to make the writing clear and engaging. Clarity comes in part from the intuitive presentation style, but we have also integrated a number of pedagogical features that we believe make learning economic concepts and principles easier and more fun. These features are very student-focused. The chapters themselves are written using a “modular” format. In particular, chapters generally consist of three main content sections that break down a particular topic into manageable parts. Each content section contains not only an exposition of the material at hand but also learning objectives, summaries, examples, and problems. Each chapter is introduced with a story to motivate the material and each chapter ends with a wrap-up and additional problems. Our goal is to encourage active learning by including many examples and many problems of different types.

This is a Principles of Macroeconomics Course developed through the Ohio Department of Higher Education OER Innovation Grant. This work was completed and the course was posted in January 2019. The course is part of the Ohio Transfer Assurance Guides (TAGs) as OSS 005. For more information about credit transfer between Ohio colleges and universities, please visit: www.ohiohighered.org/transfer.Team LeadAmyaz Moledina                                  College of WoosterContent ContributorsRosemarie Emanuele                          Ursuline CollegeKenneth Fah                                        Ohio Dominican UniversityDarcy Hartman                                    Ohio State University – NewarkLibrarianNathan Wolfe                                       Kenyon CollegeReview TeamSeth Kim                                              Central Ohio Technical CollegeJoe Nowakowski                                  Muskingum University 

This topic is considered optional as it would primarily be part of a principles of microeconomics course. If microeconomics is a prerequisite for macroeconomics, this topic can either be skipped entirely, or could be reviewed briefly. In some macroeconomics principles courses, this may need to be presented as new information. Learning objectives of particular interest for a macro course are 1, 2, 7, and 8. Please note that some of the learning objectives contained in this section may overlap with the International Trade unit.

The Principles of Microeconomics course was developed through the Ohio Department of Higher Education OER Innovation Grant. This work was completed and the course was posted in December 2019. The course is part of the Ohio Transfer Assurance Guides and is also named OSS004. For more information about credit transfer between Ohio colleges and universities, please visit: www.ohiohighered.org/transfer.Content ContributorsKen Fah                                             Ohio Dominican UniversityJohn Fiske                                         Ohio Dominican UniversityJoe Nowakowski                                Muskingum UniversityLibrarianNathan Wolfe                                     Kenyon CollegeReview TeamMolly Cooper                                     Ohio State University Subbu Kumarappan                          Ohio State University ATI 

This topic introduces key concepts that form the foundation of much of microeconomic analysis. The material ranges from a discussion of model-building as a way to simplify complex relationships among economic variables to definitions and descriptions of key concepts such as scarcity, efficiency and inefficiency, opportunity cost, comparative advantage and the gains from trade.