Microeconomics, Group BBP and E
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 2023
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 andintroduce basic models of strategic interactions.
Class dates
Date | Time |
---|---|
Tuesday, 31.10.2023 | 08:00 - 11:15 |
Tuesday, 07.11.2023 | 08:00 - 11:15 |
Tuesday, 14.11.2023 | 08:00 - 11:15 |
Tuesday, 21.11.2023 | 08:00 - 11:15 |
Tuesday, 28.11.2023 | 08:00 - 11:15 |
Tuesday, 05.12.2023 | 08:00 - 11:15 |
Literature
This lecture is based on Varian, Hal R., 2014 (9th ed.), “Intermediate Microeconomics: A Modern Approach”, W. W. Norton & Company, ISBN: 9780393920772.
Learningmethods
Lecture
Exam
Final written exam of 90 minutes. Course counts towards module "Foundations of Economics".
Requirements
Math Prep Course, Mathematics I (BBA), Quantitative Methods for Psychology I (BBP)