INTRODUCTION TO MICROECONOMICS

Course outline

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Period: 5-9 September 2011.

Timetable: 14:00 h - 17:00 h* (Definitive timetable to be announced).

Venue: TBA.

Contact hours: 15 hours.

Class size: 10-45.

Teaching language: English (*Portuguese if everybody in the class knows portuguese).

Pre-requisites: 12th grade Mathematics.

Academic staff

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Joana Pais (course leader)

Aims

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• To provide an introduction to Microeconomic theory designed to meet the needs of students in M.Sc. Programmes and in the Ph.D. Programme in Economics.

Syllabus

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1. Introduction: scarcity, opportunity costs and production possibilities, specialization and comparative advantage, efficiency and equity.
2. Consumer choice and consumer demand.
3. Producer behavior.
4. Markets and competition.
5. Market failure.
6. Introduction to non-cooperative game theory.

Main readings

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• Hal R. Varian, Intermediate Microeconomics: A Modern Approach, New York: W. W. Norton, 1999.

Additional readings

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• Gibbons, Robert, Game Theory for Applied Economists, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1992. (A great introductory reference for the game theory part of the class.)
• Simon, Carl P. and Lawrence Blume, Mathematics for Economists, New York: W.W. Norton, 1994.

Assessment

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Exam.

Links

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• Econometrics
• M.Sc. in Economics
• M.Sc. in Monetary and Financial Economics
• Ph.D. Programme in Economics
• Introduction to Econometrics
• Introduction to Mathematical Economics
• Introduction to Macroeconomics
• A Summer Study Guide for New Students of the M.Sc. in Economics and M.Sc. in Monetary and Financial Economics (available on Aquila)