Professor Christiaan Hogendorn
Spring 2015
V= Varian, Intermediate Microeconomics, 9th, 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 Information
| Jan. 22 Th | 1. Indifference Curves ● V Chapter titled "Preferences" [probs 7-11] ● V Chapter "Utility" [probs 1-7]. |
| Jan. 27 T | BLIZZARD |
| Jan. 29 Th | 2. Budget Constraint and Tangency Condition ● V Chapter "Budget Constraint" [probs 1-7] ● V Chapter titled "Choice" (except appendix) [probs 1-5]. |
| Feb. 3 T | 3. Utility Maximization, Demand and Engel Curves ● V Chapter "Choice," appendix ● V Chapter "Demand" [probs 1-6] ○ Chai, A., & Moneta, A. (2010). "Retrospectives: Engel Curves." Journal of Economic Perspectives, 24(1), 225-240. Problem Set 1 due. Answers. |
| Feb. 5 Th | 4. The Lump Sum Principle ● V Chapter "Choice", Section "Choosing Taxes" [prob 6] ● V Chapter "Revealed Prefernce," Sections 1, 8, 9 [prob 4] |
| Feb. 10 T | 5. Expected Utility ● V Chapter "Uncertainty" [probs 3-6] Problem Set 2 due. Answers. |
| Feb. 12 Th | 6. A Pure Exchange Economy ● V Chapter "Exchange" [probs 1-5]. |
| Feb. 17 T | 7. Consumer Surplus, Market Demand, and Elasticity ● V Chapter “Consumer’s Surplus” [probs 2-4, V5 1-3] ● V Chapter “Market Demand” [probs 1-2] Problem Set 3 due. Answers. |
| Feb. 19 Th | 8. Market Equilibrium and Taxes ● V Chapter “Equilibrium” [probs 1-5] |
| Feb. 24 T | FIRST MIDTERM Classes 1-6, Problem sets 1-3. Exam. Answers. |
| Feb. 26 Th | 9. Externalities ● Pindyck and Rubinfeld, "Externalities and Public Goods," Chapter 18 in Microeconomics. ● V Chapter titled “Information Technology” sections 4–7 |
| March 3 T | 10. Production and Costs: The Short Run ● Walter Nicholson, "Production Functions," Chapter 11 in Microeconomic Theory. ○ Oberfield, E., and Raval, D. (2012). Micro Data and the Macro Elasticity of Substitution. US Census Bureau Center for Economic Studies Paper No. CES-WP-12-05. Problem Set 4 due. Answers. |
| March 5 Th | 11. Production and Costs: The Long Run ● V Chapter "Cost Minimization" [probs 1-4] ● V Chapter "Cost Curves" [probs 1-3] |
| Spring Break | |
| March 24 T | 12. Firm Supply and Factor Demand ● V Chapter "Firm Supply" [probs 1-11] |
| March 26 Th | 13. Long Run Perfect Competition ● V Chapter titled "Industry Supply" [probs 1-5,7] Problem Set 5 due. Answers. |
| March 31 T | 14. Monopoly and Monopolistic Competition ● V Chapter titled "Monopoly" [probs 1-9] Problem Set 6 due. Answers. |
| April 2 Th | 15. Monopoly Behavior ● V Chapter titled "Monopoly Behavior" ● V Chapter titled "Factor Markets," section "Upstream and Downstream Monopolies" |
| April 7 T | 16. Game Theory: Sequential Games ● V Chapter "Game Theory" [probs 1-6] Problem Set 7 due. Answers. |
| April 9 Th | 17. Game Theory: Simultaneous Games ● V Chapter titled "Game Applications." |
| April 14 T | SECOND MIDTERM Classes 7-15, Problem Sets 4-7 Exam. Answers. |
| April 16 Th | 18. Oligopoly ● V Chapter "Oligopoly" |
| April 21 T | 19. The Slutsky Equation ● V Chapter "Slutsky Equation," including appendix. [probs 1-5] (Skip "voluntary real-time pricing") Problem Set 8 due. Answers. |
| April 23 Th | 20. The Labor Market ● V Chapter "Buying and Selling" [probs 1-4] |
| April 28 T | 21. The Capital Market ● V Chapter "Intertemporal Choice" up to section on "Inflation" [probs. 1-5] ● V Chapter titled "Asset Markets" [probs 1,2,4] Problem Set 9 due. Answers. |
| April 30 Th | 22. Factor Markets and Monopsony ● V Chapter titled "Factor Markets" [all probs] |
| May 5 T | 23. Imperfect Factor Markets ● Mathematica Notebook for class Problem Set 10. |
| May 11 M | Review Session 10:30am, Exley 139 (usual room) |
| May 13 W | Final Exam 2-5pm Take-Home Project |