Microeconomics

Recommended Prerequisites

Microeconomic Principles and Mathematics for Economics and Business I

Teaching Methods

The lectures are organized in theoretical and practical classes. In the former, the objective is to motivate and explain the core concepts, stimulating the discussion of their importance and validity. In the latter, the objective is to apply the theoretical knowledge to solve (real and/or simulated) practical problems and to interpret economically their solutions

Learning Outcomes

Overall objectives

To give students a thorough understanding of the principles of economics that explain the behaviours of individual decision makers, within the economic system.

 

Specific objectives

• To understand the implications of economic concepts on the economic agent behaviour.

• To know and understand: how consumers and producers establish their decisions, identifying their impact on wellbeing; the role of markets in allocating scarce resources and price formation.

• To compare different market structures.

 

Competencies:

Students should developed the following competencies:

• Capacity of analysis and synthesis, of writing and speaking, about individual economic agents behaviour;

• Capacity to establish, critically and wisely, the relationship between the concepts and models presented and actual economic unit’s activity;

• Capacity to apply appropriate mathematical techniques to solve real and/or simulated problems

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

Introduction

1. Consumer theory

  1.1 Consumer preferences

  1.2 Utility function

  1.3 Budget constraint

  1.4 Optimal Choice. Ordinary (or Marshallian) demand function

  1.5 Income Offer Curve and Engel Curves. Price Offer Curves

  1.6 Substitution effect and income effect

2. Producer theory

  2.1 Technology constraints. Isoquants

  2.2 Production function. Total, average and marginal product. Returns to scale

  2.3 Profit maximization

  2.4 Cost minimization

  2.5 Cost Curves

3. Market Structures

  3.1 Pure Competition

  3.2 Monopoly

  3.3 Imperfect competition

4. General equilibrium and well-being

Head Lecturer(s)

Carlota Maria Miranda Quintal

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Periodic or by final exam as given in the course information: 100.0%

Bibliography

Varian, Hal R., Intermediate Microeconomics: A Modern Approach (Media Update). 9th Edition. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2019.

Cartwright, Edward; Frank, Robert H. (2020) Microeconomics And Behaviour, Third Edition, McGraw-Hill