International LL.B.

Program in Business Law Course Syllabus

Faculty of Law EE210 (2/2021)
Thammasat University General Education Course

EE210 Introductory Economics

Semester/Academic Year: 2/2021

Section/ Credits: 016401 / 3 Credits

Course Description:
This course gives an account of the general principles of microeconomics and macroeconomics. In
microeconomics part, topics cover demand for and supply of goods, consumer behavior, production and
costs, structure and behavior of production units under perfectly and imperfectly competitive markets, the
concept of market failures and the role of government intervention. In macroeconomics part, topics cover
objectives and problems in macroeconomic, national income determination, money and banking system,
introduction to fiscal and monetary policies used for economic stabilization, the application of economic
indices to analyze the economic situation. In international economics part, topics cover importance of
international trade and finance, and disputes between free trade and market protection.

Course Objectives:
• To understand the basic concepts and tools of modern economics as well as the economic
way of thinking and use them applicably to the study of law.
• To realize the importance of other disciplines to the study and practice of law.
• To appreciate the growing multidisciplinary study of law and economics for the advancement
of legal studies.

Date and Time: Friday 13:30-16:30 hrs.

Instructors: Panit Wattanakoon

Room 446, Faculty of Economics, Thammasat University, Tha Prachan Campus
Email: panit@econ.tu.ac.th
Office hours: Friday, 11.00am-12.00pm or by appointment

Main Texts:
CORE Project. The Economy, available at https://www.core-econ.org/the-economy/ {C}

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 International LL.B. Program in Business Law Course Syllabus
Faculty of Law EE210 (2/2021)
Thammasat University General Education Course

Recommended Texts and Materials (Additional Reading):

Heyne, Paul, Boettke, Peter, & David Prychitko. (2014). The Economic Way of Thinking (13th
edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education [HB171.5.H46 2014/330—dc23] {HBP}
Mankiw, N. Gregory (2021). Principle of Economics (9th edition). Cengage Learning Custom
Publishing {M}
Butler, Henry N., Drahozal, Christopher R., & Joanna Shepherd. (2014). Economic Analysis
for Lawyers (3rd Edition). Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press. {BDS}
Cooter, Robert & Thomas Ulen. (2011). Law and Economics (6th Edition). Harlow, Essex: Pearson
Addison. {CU}
Ippolito, Richard A. (2005). Economics for Lawyers. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press
[K487.E3 I67 2005/330’.024’.34–dc22] {I}

Grading criteria:
1. Class Participation: 10%
2. Assignment and Quiz: 20%
3. Midterm Examination: 30%
4. Final Examination: 40%

Class Schedule:

Class Date Topics

1 14 January 1. The Capitalist Revolution
- How capitalism revolutionized the way we live, and how economics
attempts to understand this and other economic systems
- The big picture about how the global economy came to look as it does
today
Reading: C ch.1
2 21 January 2. Scarcity, Work and Choice
- How individuals do the best they can, and how they resolve the trade-off
between earnings and free time
- Working hours: Doing the best you can within a feasible set: indifference
curves, feasible frontier, MRS = MRT
Reading: C ch.3

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 International LL.B. Program in Business Law Course Syllabus
Faculty of Law EE210 (2/2021)
Thammasat University General Education Course

3 28 January 3. Social Interaction

- A combination of self-interest, a regard for the wellbeing of others, and
appropriate institutions can yield desirable social outcomes when people
interact
- Strategic interactions: Doing the best you can, given what others do: social
dilemmas, self-interest, social interest, altruism, public goods, external
effects
Reading: C. ch.4
4 4 February 4. Property and Power: Mutual Gains and Conflicts
- How institutions influence the balance of power in economic interactions,
and affect the fairness and efficiency of the allocations that result
- Bilateral trade: Doing the best you can, given what others do, and given
the rules of the game: institutions, bargaining power, Pareto efficiency,
fairness
Reading: C ch.5
5 11 February 5. The Firm: Owners, Managers and Employees
- How the interactions among the firm’s owners, managers, and employees
influence wages, work, and profits, and how this affects the entire economy
- Employment relationship: Doing the best you can, given what others do
and the rules of the game, when contracts are incomplete
Reading: C ch.6
6 18 February 6. The Firm and Its Customers
- How a profit-maximizing firm producing a differentiated product interacts
with its customers
- Firm producing a differentiated good, setting the price: Profit maximization
(demand plus isoprofit curves); costs, competition, market failure
Reading: C ch.7
7 25 February 7. Supply and Demand: Price-taking and Competitive Markets
- How markets operate when all buyers and sellers are price-takers

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 International LL.B. Program in Business Law Course Syllabus
Faculty of Law EE210 (2/2021)
Thammasat University General Education Course

- Prices as messages. Competitive equilibrium; price-taking firms and Pareto

efficiency.
Reading: C ch.8
Midterm Examination: 27 February – 6 March 2022
8 11 March 8. The Labor Market: Wages, Profits and Unemployment
- How the economy-wide market for labor determines wages, employment,
and the distribution of income
- From wage-setting (chapter 5) and price-setting (chapter 6) to the whole
economy
Reading: C ch.9
9 18 March 9. Banks, Money, and the Credit Market
- How credit, money, and banks expand opportunities for mutual gain, and
the factors that limit their capacity to accomplish this
- Consumption smoothing; borrowing and lending; incomplete contracts;
money and banks
Reading: C ch.10
10 25 March 10. Markets, Efficiency, and Public Policy
- When market-determined prices induce people to account for the full
effects of their actions on others, outcomes are efficient. When prices do
not capture significant effects, markets fail, and other remedies are needed
- Property rights, incomplete contracts, externalities
Reading: C ch.12
11 1 April 11. Economic Fluctuation and Unemployment
- How economies fluctuate between booms and recessions as they are
continuously hit by good and bad shocks
- Consumption-smoothing and its limits, investment volatility as a
coordination problem, measuring the aggregate economy
Reading: C ch.13

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 International LL.B. Program in Business Law Course Syllabus
Faculty of Law EE210 (2/2021)
Thammasat University General Education Course

12 8 April 12. Unemployment and Fiscal Policy

- How governments can moderate costly fluctuations in employment and
income
- Components of aggregate demand, multiplier, demand shocks,
government finance, fiscal policy
Reading: C ch.14
13 22 April 13. Inflation, Unemployment, and Monetary Policy
- How the rate of unemployment and the level of output in the economy
affect inflation, the challenges this poses to policymakers, and how this
knowledge can support effective policies to stabilize employment and
incomes
- Phillips curve, expectations and supply shocks, inflation targeting,
transmission mechanisms, including exchange rate
Reading: C ch.15
14 29 April 14. International Trade and International Finance
- International trade: Why people trade across border, comparative
advantage and gain from trade impediments, trade and WTO
- International finance: The Balance of Payments (BP), the market for
foreign exchanges, meaning and importance of foreign exchange rate,
demand and supply for foreign exchange rate, exchange rate system
Reading: M ch.3, 31, 32
15 3 May 15. Introduction to Law and Economics as an interdisciplinary study
What is Law and Economics?
How would law and economics improve our understanding of law and
legal studies
Reading: CU ch.1
Final Examination: 9 – 25 May 2022

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 International LL.B. Program in Business Law Course Syllabus
Faculty of Law EE210 (2/2021)
Thammasat University General Education Course

Academic Timetable for Semester 2/2021:

Description Date
Semester Start 10 January 2022
Period of Course Add/Drop WITHOUT “W” Record 17 – 20 January 2022
Period of Midterm Examination 27 February – 6 March 2022
Period of Course Withdrawal with “W” Record 14 March – 25 April 2022
Last Day of Class 7 May 2022
Period of Final Examination 9 – 25 May 2022

List of Public Holidays:

Makha Bucha Day 16 February 2022
Chakri Day 6 April 2022
Songkran Festival 11 – 17 April 2022
Coronation of King Vajiralongkorn 4 May 2022

Important Notes to Students Regarding Class Attendance

Announced by the LL.B. Program in Business Law (International Program)
A. Students who miss more than 13 hours (or 18 hours for 4-credit courses) of class but less
than 22 hours must seek the instructor's approval for eligibility to take the final exams and approval
by the Program Director. The Program Director's decision is considered final.
B. Students who miss more than 22 hours ( or 30 hours for 4-credit courses) of the class are
NOT eligible to take the final exams, and this will result in course failure.
Please note that forging other students’ signatures or failure to attend class after signing in
results in different levels of the penalty imposed.
Level 1 penalty: First- time rule breakers will be considered as 'Absent' for that class. And
a warning letter issued to first-time rule breakers.
Level 2 penalty: Second- time rule breakers receive an 'F' for the course and will not be
considered for LL.B. scholarships, exchange student programs, and other awards.
Level 3 penalty: Third-time rule breakers are given a one-semester class suspension.
Cheating in any form of the class exam or quiz, or plagiarism, is subject to penalties
based on Thammasat University's student compliance acts.

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