MGT-621 / 4 crédits

Enseignant: Weber Thomas Alois

Langue: Anglais

Remark: September 12th - October 3rd


Summary

This course presents a first introduction to microeconomic theory and its applications. It lays the foundation for more advanced courses.

Content

The main objectives of the course are:

  • to provide a calculus-based introduction to models for the rational behavior of individual units of an economy and their interactions;
  • to give students an appreciation of how economic models can be used to develop an understanding of real-life phenomena;
  • to enable students to address a simple microeconomic problem by structuring it as a formal model, the analysis of which yields useful predictions and insights.

Topics to be covered include the theory of choice, the theory of the firm, partial and general equilibrium, market failure, regulation, and welfare economics.

Course Website
http://econspace.net/MGT-621.html

[login: 621student; password: TBA in class]

 

Assessment methods

Students need to complete a number of homework assignments (problem sets).

There will be a final exam as well as a team project.


The final examination covers the whole of the course. The course grade is computed as follows:
Grade = 0.2 (Problem Sets) + 0.4 (Exam) + 0.4 (Project).

Resources

Bibliography

The material in this course is largely contained in the following book. The references therein point to additional literature on the subject.

[PR] PINDYCK, R.S., RUBINFELD, D.L. (2012). Microeconomics (8th Edition), Pearson/Prentice Hall.

This course is taught at a level that is slightly above [PR] in terms of the mathematical tools used. However, PR is an excellent introductory text written by two outstanding economists. I had the pleasure using an earlier version of this book in the first economics graduate course that I took at MIT a while back.
In addition, I recommend that you take a look at the following survey paper on pricing: WEBER, T.A. (2012) “Price Theory in Economics,” in: Özer, Ö., Phillips, R. (Eds.) Oxford Handbook of Pricing Management, Oxford University Press, pp. 281—339. A pre-publication version of this chapter is available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1270297

The completed syllabus is available on the course website (username and password will be provided in class): http://econspace.net/MGT-621.html

 

Ressources en bibliothèque

Websites

Dans les plans d'études

  • Forme de l'examen: Ecrit (session libre)
  • Matière examinée: Microeconomics
  • Cours: 56 Heure(s)
  • Type: obligatoire

Semaine de référence

Cours connexes

Résultats de graphsearch.epfl.ch.