Courses
Undergraduate
level:
· at GVSU: Eco211 – Introductory
Microeconomics, Fall 2005, Winter 2006, Fall 2006, Fall2007, Winter2009.
(current textbook:
Microeconomics, by Hubbard and O’Brien 2007)
· at GVSU: Eco435 – Urban
Economics, Fall, 2005, Fall2006, Fall2007, Fall 2008, at GVSU
(current textbook: Urban
Economics, by O’Sullivan 2009)
· at GVSU: Eco312 – Applied
Intermediate Microeconomics, Summer 2006, Winter 2007, Summer 2007, Winter
2008, Fall2008.
(current textbook:
Microeconomics, by Besanko and Braeutigan
2008)
· at GVSU: Eco436 – Real Estate
Economics, Winter 2006, Winter 2007, Winter 2008, Winter2009.
(current textbook: Real
Estate Markets and Urban Economics, by DiPasquale and
Wheaton 1996)
Course organization – overview
· Classroom activities: there
is no lecturing in the strict sense as classroom time is used for
problem-solving based on course material; difficult concepts and side questions
are also discussed; simple concepts and analysis well presented in the textbook
are left as reading assignment.
· Online homework assignments:
weekly assignments assess basic understanding and whether students are studying
the material over the semester.
· Exams: three or four exams
assess understanding and knowledge developed during the course. Weighing of exam
scores reward best efforts (i.e., for each student, a high score in one of the
exams gets higher weight than a low score in another exam).
· Paper: a written assignment
asks students to use economic data to analyze a specific issue related to the
course material.
Amazon.com lists of undergraduate textbooks
Best (anonymous) comments received from students
· “Excellent course. The prof has renewed my interests and understanding of
Economics I have not had for several years being an Econ major.”
· “Professor Ogura I felt was
the only professor I actually got my moneys worth. Lots of work but learned a
lot. He explains things good and is very
knowledgeable. Great guy. I would definitely recommend and take another class
with him.”