Eco 12
 
 

Introduction to
Microeconomics

Professor Tavis Barr
 

Syllabus






Textbook: Goodwin, Nelson, Ackerman, and Weisskopf, Microeconomics in Context, Preliminary Edition


  1. Course Introduction (GNA&W Ch. 1)

    • What Economists Study
    • The Three Coordination Questions
    • Goals of Economic Activity
    • Modelling vs. Storytelling
    • Course Outline and Requirements

  2. Economic Actors and Organizations (GNA&W Ch. 2)

    • Actors as Subjects with multiple roles
    • Motivations and Behavior
    • Motivations of different sectors: Household, Governmnent, Business
    • Motivation and Behavior in the Utilitarian Model

  3. Consumers (GNA&W Ch. 7)

    • Consumer Sovereignty and the Goals of Consumption
    • Modeling consumption: Marketing View, Utilitarianism
    • Results of Utility: Equal Marginal Principle, Demand Curve
    • Consumer Surplus
    • The Consumer Society
    • Consumption and Well-Being

  4. Distribution: Exchange and Transfer (GNA&W Ch. 6 & 8)
    • Exchange vs. Transfer
    • Costs and Benefits of Exchange
    • History and Institutions of Exchange
    • Costs and Benefits of Transfer
    • Measuring Inequality: Gini Coefficient, Lorenz Curve

  5. Production (GNA&W Ch. 4)

    • Production as a Transformation Process
    • The Production Possibilities Frontier
    • Social Organization of production: Households, firms, governments
    • The Production Function; Average and Marginal Product
    • The Cost Function; Average and Marginal Cost
    • Returns to Scale

  6. Production Decisions (GNA&W Ch. 5)
    • <>Firm Revenue; Total and Marginal Revenue
    • <>Cost-Benefit Analysis
    • <>Profit Maximization
    • <>When Marginal Thinking Doesn't Work: Lumpiness, Non-Concavity

  7. Markets I: Monopoly (GNA&W Ch. 11)

    • Monopolist's Output and Price Decision
    • Monopoly Profits
    • Output and Pareto Efficiency
    • Anti-Trust

  8. Markets II: Monopolistic Competition (GNA&W Ch. 11)
    • Monopolistic Competition in the Short Run
    • Monopolistic Competition in the Long Run
    • Perfect Competition in the Short Run
    • Perfect Competition in the Long Run
    • Efficiency Properties of Perfect Competition

  9. Markets III: Oligopoly (GNA&W Ch. 11)
    • Game Theory
    • Cournot Competition
    • Cartels
    • Dynamic Efficiency

  10. Supply and Demand (GNA&W Ch. 9)
    • Market Demand and its Shifters
    • Effects of Demand Shifts and Price Controls
      on Output and Consumer Surplus:
      • Perfect Competition
      • Monopoly
      • Monopolistic Competition
      • Oligopoly

  11. Labor Markets (GNA&W Ch. 12)

    • Labor as a Commodity
    • Labor in a Supply and Demand Framework
    • Explaning Wage Variation:
      • Human Capital
      • Market Power
      • Compensating Differentials
      • Worker Effort
      • Discrimination

  12. Households (GNA&W Ch. 14)

    • Overview of Household Activities
    • History of US Households and Current Issues
    • Modelling Household Behavior

  13. Government (GNA&W Ch. 16)

    • The Purpose of Public Provision
    • Government Production: Public Goods; Information Problem
    • Environmental Regulation
    • What motivates governments?