30636 - MICROECONOMICS
Department of Economics
Course taught in English
Go to class group/s: 31
Course Director:
KSENIA SHAKHGILDYAN
KSENIA SHAKHGILDYAN
Suggested background knowledge
I encourage you to review the basics of high school calculus.
Mission & Content Summary
MISSION
The course aims to introduce the foundations of economic theory. The course studies the decision-making process of individuals and companies and their interactions in both competitive and imperfectly competitive markets. The course also looks at the effects of various business decisions and policy actions on the way firms compete. After the presentation of different topics, through exercises and discussions of actual cases, you will be able to understand various problems related to the functioning of markets.
CONTENT SUMMARY
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The Market Forces of Supply and Demand
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Elasticity and Its Application
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Government Policies
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The Costs of Production
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Firms in Competitive Markets
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Monopoly
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Monopolistic Competition
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Game Theory
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Oligopoly
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Collusion
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Mergers
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Antitrust Policies
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO)
KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
At the end of the course student will be able to...
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Explain the consumption decisions by individuals.
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Identify different market structures.
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Explain the production decisions by firms in markets with different degrees of competitiveness.
- Describe the role of antitrust interventions in oligopolistic markets and the principles of competition policy.
APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
At the end of the course student will be able to...
- Evaluate the effect of public policies on consumers' and firms' incentives.
- Apply game theory to the analysis of firms' market strategies.
- Design regulatory interventions to achieve desirable market outcomes.
Teaching methods
- Lectures
- Practical Exercises
- Individual works / Assignments
- Collaborative Works / Assignments
DETAILS
The learning experience of this course includes, in addition to face-to-face and online lectures, the solution of Problem Sets assigned to students throughout the course. Those exercises allow students to apply the analytical tools illustrated during the course. Moreover, students will partecipate, in group or inividually in case discussions.
Assessment methods
| Continuous assessment | Partial exams | General exam | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
x | x | |
|
x |
ATTENDING AND NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS
The exam is exclusively written. The questions are aimed at assessing students’ ability to:
- Conduct an economic reasoning
- Identify different market structures
- Distinguish different sources of economic inefficiency
- Apply the analytical tools illustrated during the course
- Understand the consumption decisions by individuals and the production decisions by firms in markets with different degrees of competitiveness.
- Evaluate the effect of policies on consumers' and firms' incentives.
%5 of the grade will be based on the Problem Sets completion. The rest 95% of the course performance could be evaluated in two different ways:
- A partial exam covering the first part of the course, followed by a final exam covering the second part of the course. Each exam lasts 1 hour. The grade in each exam is between 0 and 30. The course is passed if the grade in both exams is at least 18. In this case, the 95% of the final grade is the mean of the two, rounded upwards. Students who fail the exam can retake it, in the general exam format.
- A general exam which lasts 2 hours and covers the whole course. The grade in the general exam is between 0 and 30. The course is passed if the grade in the general exam is at least 18. Students who fail the exam can retake it, in the general exam format.
Teaching materials
ATTENDING AND NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS
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N. GREGORY MANKIW, Principles of Microeconomics (might be updated by November 2024)
- Problem Sets
- Additional readings are uploaded to Bboard platform of the course
Last change 27/05/2024 11:49