Кто читает:: Департамент теоретической экономики

Статус:: Курс по выбору

Когда читается:: 1-й курс, 1, 2 модуль

Преподаватели

Автономов Юрий Владимирович

Карпов Александр Викторович

Full Syllabus

Abstract

This course examines how economic decisions are made by households and firms, and how they interact to determine the quantities and prices of goods and the allocation of resources under different market structures. It also studies the equilibrium in presence of externalities/public goods and information asymmetry. The course examines microeconomic policy and the role of government in allocating resources.

Learning Objectives

to provide students with the knowledge of core concepts and models in the field of microeconomics;
to provide students with the knowledge of basic microeconomic models' assumptions, internal logic and predictions, grounding the explanations on intuitive, graphical and analytical approaches;
to develop students' ability to apply the knowledge acquired to the analysis of specific economic cases, recognizing proper framework of analysis and constructing and analyzing adequate economic model within this framework.

Expected Learning Outcomes

analyze collusion in a Bertrand game
analyze collusion in a Cournot game
analyze demand for insurance and show the relationship between demand for insurance and probability of loss/size of insurance premium
analyze demand for risky asset for an investor with quadratic preferences
analyze demand for risky asset in a model with two assets
analyze remedial policies based on Pigovian taxes/subsidies
analyze separating and pooling equilibria in the signalling model of education
analyze simultaneous-move games using dominant strategies or by eliminating dominated strategies either once or in an iterative fashion
analyze Stackelberg leadership
analyze the choice of savers/borrowers using the consumer choice model
analyze the decision to supply labor
analyze the effect of price and income changes on demand
analyze the entry and exit decisions of firms and their impact on industry supply
analyze the infinitely-repeated Prisoners' Dilemma game with discounting and analyze collusive equilibria using trigger strategies
analyze the problem of adverse selection in the market for lemons
analyze the problem of price discrimination by a monopolist under adverse selection
analyze the profit-maximizing choice by the monopolist and the associated social losses from market power
calculate Nash equilibria in pure strategies in sequential-move games
calculate Nash equilibria in pure strategies in simultaneous-move games
calculate subgame-perfect Nash equilibria in pure strategies in sequential-move games
calculate the Arrow-Pratt absolute/relative measure of risk aversion for different specifications of the von Neumann-Morgenstern expected utility function
calculate the expected value of a lottery
calculate the market equilibrium price and quantity given supply and demand curves
calculate the parameters of LR market equilibrium (price, quantity, output of a single firm) given information about demand and firms’ LR costs
compare and comment on the differences between SR and LR consequences of government interventions in a perfectly competitive market
compute and illustrate the social losses from the free rider problem
compute social losses from market power in various oligopolistic equilibria
construct an Edgeworth box and depict the contract curve
construct market demand function from individual demand functions
define and explain the reasons behind the law of diminishing marginal returns
define the concept of economies/diseconomies of scale, describe its possible causes
derive the firm’s short-run and long-run profit-maximizing output level
derive the firm’s short-run and long-run supply function
derive the optimal input purchasing decision of a firm in the short run
derive the short- and long run cost function of a firm
describe the assumptions on the consumer's preferences and explain their implications
describe the concept of modelling preferences using a utility function
describe the concepts of substitution effect, income effect and endowment effect of a price change, characterize their influence on consumer choice
draw budget lines for different prices and values of monetary/in-kind income
draw indifference curve diagrams starting from verbal descriptions of their preferences or the utility function of a consumer
explain and visualize the interrelations between short- and long-run marginal, average variable and average cost curves
explain the concept of elasticity of substitution and its implications for a firm’s reaction to changes in input prices
explain the concept of isoquants and marginal rate of technical substitution
explain the concept of returns to scale
explain the concepts of average and marginal product and their relationship
explain the concepts of marginal cost, average cost, fixed/quasi-fixed cost, sunk cost and variable cost
explain the notions of own-price/cross-price/income elasticities of demand and the implications of different values of these elasticities for consumer behavior
explain the short- and long-run shutdown decision of a firm; identify its SR and LR shutdown price
identify the type of returns to scale for a given production function
illustrate the direction and magnitude of substitution/income/endowment effects of a price change; compute their numeric values
solve for the cost-minimizing allocation of output between multiple plants
solve the consumer's utility maximization problem and derive the demand for a consumer with a given utility function and budget constraint
visualize a firm’s short- and long-run cost minimization problem using the isoquant/isocost map

Course Contents

<MScF> consumer choice
<MScF> Uncertainty
<MScF> producer theory
<MScF> General equilibrium and welfare.
<MScF> Market structures: perfect competition
<MScF> Market structures: monopoly. Price discrimination.
<MScF> Market structures: oligopoly. Elements of game theory.
<MScF> Market failures: externalities and public goods.
<MScF> Market failures: asymmetric information.

Assessment Elements

Midterm test
Final exam

Interim Assessment

2022/2023 2nd module
0.6 * Final exam + 0.4 * Midterm test

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

Intermediate microeconomics : a modern approach, Varian, H. R., 2014
Microeconomics, Pindyck, R. S., 2018
Theory and application of intermediate microeconomics, Nicholson, W., 2010

Recommended Additional Bibliography

Microeconomic theory, Mas-Colell, A., 1995

Authors

AVTONOMOV YURIY VLADIMIROVICH

Магистерская программа «Стратегическое управление финансами фирмы»

Microeconomics for Financial Economists