Economics 301, Section 1: Microeconomic Analysis

Professor Christiaan Hogendorn
Spring 2013

Syllabus

Varian, Intermediate Microeconomics, 8th, 7th, 6th, and 5th editions are all official textbooks for this course. Save money, buy an earlier edition!

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Course Policies and Grading

I. Consumer Preferences and Demand
Jan. 28 M 1. Indifference Curves
V5678, Chapter 3 [probs 7-11], 4 [probs 1-7].
Jan. 30 W 2. Budget Constraint and Tangency Condition
V5678, Chapter 2 [probs 1-7], 5 (except appendix) [probs 1-5].
Feb. 4 M 3. Utility Maximization, Demand and Engel Curves
V5678, Chapter 5 appendix, Chapter 6 [probs 1-6]
  • Chai, A., & Moneta, A. (2010). "Retrospectives: Engel Curves." Journal of Economic Perspectives, 24(1), 225-240.
Feb. 6 W 4. The Lump Sum Principle
V5678, Chapter 5, Section 5.6 [prob 6]
V5678, Chapter 7, Sections 7.1, 7.8, 7.9 [prob 4]
Feb. 11 M NO CLASS, AFTERMATH OF BLIZZARD NEMO
Feb. 13 W 5. A Pure Exchange Economy
V78, Chapter 31 [probs 1-5] (V6, Chapter 30 [probs 1-5]) (V5, Chapter 29 [probs 1-5]).

II. The Goods Market
Feb. 18 M 6. Consumer Surplus, Market Demand, and Elasticity
V, Chapter 14 [probs 2-4, V5 1-3], 15 [probs 1-2]
Feb. 20 W 7. Market Equilibrium and Taxes
V, Chapter 16 [probs 1-5]
Feb. 25 M 8. Externalities and Public Goods
Skim V, Chapter 33 (V5, Chapter 32)
Read V, Chapter 35 [prob 3]
Feb. 27 W FIRST MIDTERM
Classes 1-5, Problem sets 1-3.
March 4 M 9. Reading
Dupor, Bill, and Wen-Fang Liu, "Jealousy and Equilibrium Overconsumption," American Economic Review, March 2003: 423-428. (Read carefully until 2nd to last paragraph beginning on pg. 427, then skim.) web link

III. Production
March 6 W 10. Production and Costs: The Short Run
Walter Nicholson, "Production Functions," Chapter 11 in Microeconomic Theory. (Will be e-mailed to you.)
  • Oberfield, E., & Raval, D. (2012). Micro Data and the Macro Elasticity of Substitution. US Census Bureau Center for Economic Studies Paper No. CES-WP-12-05.
SPRING BREAK
March 25 M 11. Production and Costs: The Long Run
V, Chapter 20 [probs 1-4], Chapter 21 [probs 1-3]
March 27 W 12. Firm Supply and Factor Demand
V5678, Chapter 22 [probs 1-11]

IV. Models of Firm Behavior
April 1 M 13. Long Run Perfect Competition
V5678, Chapter 23 [probs 1-5,7].
April 3 W 14. Monopoly and Monopolistic Competition
V5678, Chapter 24 (skip 24.3) [probs 1-9]
April 8 M 15. Monopoly Behavior
V5678, Chapter 25.
April 10 W 16. Game Theory: Sequential Games
V5678, Chapter 28 [probs 1-6].
April 15 M 17. Game Theory: Simultaneous Games
V5678, Chapter 28 [probs 1-6].

V. Factor Markets and General Equilibrium
April 17 W SECOND MIDTERM
Classes 6-14, Problem Sets 4-7
April 22 M 18. The Slutsky Equation
V5678, Chapter 8, including appendix. (Skip "voluntary real-time pricing" in V678) [probs 1-5]
April 24 W 19. The Labor Market
V5678, Chapter 9 [probs 1-4]
April 29 M 20. The Capital Market
V5678, Chapter 10, Sections 10.1-10.4 [probs. 1-5]
V5678 Chapter 11 [probs 1,2,4]
May 1 W 21. Imperfect Factor Markets
V5678, Chapter 26 [all probs]
May 6 M 22. TBA
May 8 W 23. Reading
Parry, Ian W.H. and Small, Kenneth A., "Does Britain or the United States Have the Right Gasoline Tax?" American Economic Review, 95(4) September 2005: 1276-1289. web link

TBA Review Session

May 14 T FINAL EXAM
2pm - 5pm