Intermediate Microeconomics

Course Description

This course focuses on the following topics: basic theory of consumer behavior; production and costs; partial equilibrium analysis of pricing in competitive and monopolistic markets; general equilibrium; welfare; and externalities. It is recommended for students planning to apply to graduate school in economics, accounting, or finance. Intermediate Microeconomics is a core economic theory course that will further a student’s ability to apply models to explain economic decision-making by individuals and firms, how markets allocate resources, how the structure of markets affects choices and social welfare, and the ways that government intervention can improve or impair the functioning of markets. The student will be given the opportunity to apply these models to describe real world current events.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the course, the student should:

• Apply microeconomic models to explain economic decision making by firms and consumers;
  
• Explain how resources are allocated efficiently and how the structure of markets may have an effect on this allocation;
  
• Show how government intervention can improve or impair the functioning of markets;
  
• Solve economic problems where agents are strategically interdependent on one another;
  
• Apply these tools to real-world examples in a correct and proficient manner.

Course Content

• Introduction and preview
  
•  Consumer Theory
  
• Producer theory
  
• Markets
  
• Markets Failure
  
• Asymmetric Information
  

 Compulsory Reading Materials

•  Varian, Hal R. Intermediate Microeconomics: A Modern Approach. 7th ed. New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 2005. ISBN: 9780393927023. The 6th edition may also be used.
  

Optional Reading Materials

•  Jehle, Geoffrey A., and Philip J. Reny. Advanced Microeconomic Theory. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1997. ISBN: 9780321014368.
  
• Mas-Colell, Andreu, Michael D. Whinston, and Jerry R. Green. Microeconomic Theory. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1995. ISBN: 9780195073409.
  
• Varian, Hal R. Microeconomic Analysis. 3rd ed. New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 1992. ISBN: 9780393957358.
  
•  Osborne, Martin J. An Introduction to Game Theory. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN: 9780195128956.
  
•  Krishna, Vijay. Auction Theory. Burlington, MA: Academic Press, 2002. ISBN: 9780124262973.
  
•   Klemperer, Paul. Auctions: Theory and Practice. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004. ISBN: 9780691119250.