Microeconomics, Group B
Economics in general, and microeconomics in particular, are about the allocation of scarce ressources. We investigate, how consumers optimally decide about consumption given a limited budget, and how profit maximizing firms decide on production, given a certain production technology. From this we derive market demand and market supply and determine a market equilibrium. Students shall become acquaintant with basics of decision theory, and will be introduced to welfare economics, i.e. will be enabled to normatively analyze market outcomes in the partial equilibrium framework. Decision theory and partial equilibrium analysis are the basics not only for microeconomics and its applications (industrial organization, economic policy, macroeconomics, competition policy, market regulation...) but also for finance and managerial economics.
Course code
ECON102
Course type
BSc Course
Weekly Hours
2,0
ECTS
3.0
Term
HS 2020
Language
Englisch
Lecturers
Juniorprof. Dr. Elena Shvartsman
Please note that exchange students obtain a higher number of credits in the BSc-program at WHU than listed here. For further information please contact directly the International Relations Office.
Course content
The main goal of this course is to familiarize with the principles of microeconomic analysis. In specific, the aim of this course is to provide a basic understanding of how market participants, i.e., households and firms formulate goals and behave under constraints. We will also examine how these parties interact.
In this course, we will familiarize with the household demand and the firms’ supply functions. Furthermore, we will address extensions of the monopolistic markets. Finally, we will introduce the basic models of strategic interactions, i.e., game theory.
Class dates
Date | Time |
---|---|
Thursday, 29.10.2020 | 11:30 - 15:15 |
Literature
This lecture is based on Varian, Hal R., 2014 (9th ed.), “Intermediate Microeconomics: A Modern Approach”, W. W. Norton & Company, ISBN: 9780393920772. The respective chapters are indicated in the lecture outline. Note that my lecture notes are based on the instructors’ resources for this edition as well as Perloff, Jeffrey M., 2015 (7th ed.), “Microeconomics”, Pearson. Lecture notes will be provided via Moodle a few days before each session. It is prohibited to share these lecture notes beyond class.
Learningmethods
Lecture
Exam
This course comprises a 90 minutes exam, which counts towards the module Foundations of Economics. During the exam, you will be requested to answer open and multiple choice questions on topics covered in class.
Requirements
Mathematics I