This course focuses on how the market system allocates goods and also addresses the limitations of the market system and the consequent role of the government in managing the economy.
Attention is paid to applications and philosophical issues.
The format is lecture-discussion. Attention is given not only to learning the basic tools of the economic trade, but also to making sense of the real world. Occasionally, other members of the Economics Department present guest lectures in their respective areas of expertise. Students take a mid-term and final examination and write a paper analyzing a current economic problem. Anne P. Villamil, Associate Professor of Economics, came to the U. of I. after earning her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1988.