Transcription of Microeconomic Theory - Advanced Academic …
1 Dr. Frank D. Weiss AY 2014 2015. Program in Applied Economics Fall Semester Microeconomic Theory Course Outline This course is about human decision making in the face of scarcity. Topics include: choice and demand; production and cost; the firm and market structure; and market failure. Game Theory is introduced, as is uncertainty and asymmetric information. Course Requirements Problem sets, midterm exam, and final exam will each account for of the grade. Six problem sets will be handed out; each is due at the following class meeting. You are encouraged to work on the problem sets in groups of three. Each group need hand in only one neat and legible copy of the answers. Therefore, groups must remain stable, and late homework is not accepted. Class participation is welcome anytime. Contact Office: BOB, Rm 104-R on M, W afternoons by appointment. e-mail: Prerequisites Principles of microeconomics , and Math Methods, or equivalent.
2 Textbook, Readings Walter Nicholson, Christopher M. Snyder, Microeconomic Theory : Basic Principles and Extensions, 11th ed., South-Western College Publishers 2012, is the required text and is genuinely recommended for purchase. Any edition from the 10th may be used. The International Edition is cheapest. Buy used. For a less mathematical treatment, consult an Intermediate Micro Theory text, Michael L. Katz, Harvey S. Rosen, microeconomics , McGraw-Hill, any recent edition. Other readings are available on Weekly Topic Schedule Math Review: As needed from N & S: 2. 1. Introduction, Supply and Demand. N & S: 1. Eugene Silberberg, Wing Suen, The Structure of Economics A Mathematical Analysis, 3nd ed., McGraw-Hill, 2001, Chapter 1: Comparative Statics and the Paradigm of Economics , through p. 15 only. 2. Theory of the Consumer Preferences and Utility N & S: 3. Utility Maximization and Choice N & S: 4.
3 1. Silberberg, Suen, ibid., pp. 266 268. Interpretation of the Lagrange Multiplier. Homework I handed out. Due next class meeting. 3. Theory of the Consumer Income and Substitution Effects N & S: 5. Demand Relationships among Goods N&S: 6. Homework II handed out. Due next class meeting. 4. Theory of the Firm Production N & S: 9. Cost N & S: 10. Eugene Silberberg, The Viner-Wong Envelope Theorem, Journal of Economic Education, Winter 1999. Homework III handed out. Due next class meeting. 5. Theory of the Firm Profit Maximization N & S: 11. Perfect Competition N & S: 12. 6. Factor Markets Labor N & S: 16. Capital N & S: 17. 7. MIDTERM EXAM. 8. General Equilibrium and Welfare N & S: 13. Friederich Hayek, The Use of Knowledge in Society , American Economic Review, 35/4. (Sept. 1945), pp. 519-30. Homework IV handed out. Due next class meeting. 9. Monopoly N & S: 14. Steven Landsburg, The Armchair Economist: Economics and Everyday Life, The Free Press 1993, Why Popcorn Costs More at the Movies and Why the Obvious Answer is Wrong.
4 Homework V handed out. Due next class meeting. 10. Game Theory N & S: 8. Robert Axelrod, The Evolution of Cooperation, Basic Books 2006 (1985). Delightful, and genuinely recommended, but not required. Can be recycled as a birthday present. Oligopoly N&S: 15. Homework VI handed out. Due next class meeting . 11. Uncertainty N &S: 7. 12. Asymmetric Information N & S: 18. 2. Liran Einav, Amy Finkelstein, Selection in Insurance Markets: Theory and Empirics in Pictures , Journal of Economic Perspectives, 25/1 (Winter 2011). 13. Externalities and Public Goods N & S: 19. 14. FINAL EXAM. 3.
