Microeconomic theory Curriculum

List of topics

1 BASIC PRINCIPLES AND INSTRUMENTS OF MICROECONOMIC ANALYSIS
Economic Models. Markets classification and types. Development of the Economic Theory of Value. Some of the latest Developments.
2 CONSUMER PREFERENCES AND UTILITY
Utility. Cardinal utility theory. Ordinal utility theory. Indifference curves. Properties and mathematical explanation of indifference curves. Marginal rate of substitution. Utility functions.
3 CONSUMER CHOICE AND UTILITY OPTIMIZATION
Budget Constraint. Utility Maximization Problem. Revealed Preference. Kinked Budget Lines. Application of Lagrangian approach to Utility maximization.
4 SUBSTITUTION AND INCOME EFFECTS
Change in income. Change in price. Revealed Preference and the Substitution Effect. Demand Functions. Compensated (Hicksian and Slutsky) Demand Curves and Functions. Consumer surplus analysis.
5 INDIVIDUAL AND MARKET DEMAND
Demand Relationships among Goods. Substitutes and complements. Composite commodities. Demand elasticity. BANDWAGON, SNOB, AND VEBLEN EFFECT in the consumer demand theory. Market demand for private and public goods.
6 PRODUCTION FUNCTIONS AND TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS
Production function and method of production. Marginal and average productivity. Isoquants. Technical progress and production functions. Returns to scale. Elasticity of substitution. Isocosts. Producer optimum. Optimal path of development. Production possibilities curve of the firm.
7 COST FUNCTIONS
Firm costs. Type of costs. Costs in the short and long-run. Profit Maximization and Cost Minimization relation. Economies to scale and costs. Lagrangian approach to cost-minimization.
8 COMPETITIVE MARKETS
Partial and General Equilibrium. Features of Perfectly Competitive Markets. Profit Maximization Problem. Supply Curves. Short-Run Supply Curve. Market Equilibrium. General Equilibrium. Perfectly Competitive Price System.
9 MARKET POWER AND IMPERFECT COMPETITION
Measuring of market power. Product Differentiation. Barriers to entry. Monopoly. Profit Maximization. Regulation of Monopoly. Monopolistic competition. Oligopoly. Cournot, Bertrand, Stackelberg, Cartels and Collusion, Kinked-Demand curve models of imperfect competition.
10 PRICE DISCRIMINATION.
First-Degree Price Discrimination. Second-Degree Price Discrimination. Third-Degree Price Discrimination. Price discrimination and elasticity of demand.
11 GAME THEORY
Prisoner’s Dilemma. Nash Equilibrium. Strategies and decisions. Games of incomplete information. Auctions. Firs-price auctions. Second-price auctions.
12 INPUT MARKETS PRICING
Perfect competition demand for factors. Imperfect competition demand for factors. Demand and supply of labor. Monopsony and Labor Unions in the Labor Market. Capital and the Rate of Return. Time value of capital. Discounting and compound interest rates. Pricing of natural resources.
13 MARKET FAILURE
Asymmetric information. Moral Hazard. Adverse selection. Principal-Agent Model. Owner-Manager Relationship. Externalities and Public Goods. Positive and negative externalities in production and consumption. Solution to externalities Pricing of public goods.

References

А. BASIC

  1. Nicholson Walter and Christopher M. Snyder. Microeconomic Theory: Basic Principles and Extensions, 12th edition, Cengage Learning, 2016.
  2. Benerjee S., Intermediate Microeconomics. A Tool-Building Approach, 2nd Edition, Routledge, 2021
  3. Ana Espinola-Arredondo and Felix Munoz-Garcia. Intermediate Microeconomic Theory: Tools and Step-by-Step Examples, The MIT Press, 2020.
  4. Muñoz-Garcia F., Advanced Microeconomic Theory. An Intuitive Approach with Examples, 2017
  5. Varian H., Intermediate Microeconomics: A Modern Approach (Eighth Edition), 2020.
  6. Susheng Wang. Microeconomic Theory, Springer, Singapore, 2018.

B. Additional

  1. Banerjee S., Intermediate Microeconomics, 2015, http://www.albany.edu/~gs149266/Banerjee.pdf 
  2. Debertin David, Applied Microeconomics: Consumption, Production and Markets, 2012, http://www.uky.edu/~deberti/applied.pdf
  3. Jehle Geoffrey, Philip Reny, Advanced Microeconomic Theory, 2012
  4. Kreps David, A Course in Microeconomic Theory, 2014
  5. Kreps David, Microeconomic Foundations I: Choice and Competitive Markets, 2012
  6. Mas-Colell Andreu, M. Whinston, J. Green, Microeconomic Theory, 2015
  7. Mochrie Robert, Intermediate Microeconomics, 2015
  8. Nicholson, W., Chr. Snyder, Microeconomic Theory: Basic Principles and Extensions, 11th Edition, 2015
  9. Nicholson, W., Chr. Snyder, Intermediate Microeconomics and Its Application, 11th Edition, 2019
  10. Varian H., Microeconomic Analysis, Third Edition, 2015
  11. Varian H., Th. Bergstrom, Workouts in Intermediate Microeconomics: for Intermediate Microeconomics: A Modern Approach, Eighth Edition, 2018

Assesment

The final grade is formed as a result of a final written exam, midterm exam and also takes into consideration individual assignments during the course and the attendance registered.

FG = 0,5*WE + 0,25*ME+0.15*IA+0.1*CA,

където:

FG =             Final grade;

WE =            Written exam;

ME =            Midterm exam;

IA  =              Individual assignment;

CA =          Current assessment.

The final grade is based on a six-mark scale, where the minimum score for successful completion of the course is “Satisfactory /3/”. The comparability of the grade relative to European system of credit transfer is as follows:

Excellent /6/Very good /5/Good /4/Satisfactory /3/Poor mark /2/
ABCDEFXF
The credits are given in accordance to the curricula.Credits are not given.