37293 - Microeconomics

Academic Year 2018/2019

  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Forli
  • Corso: First cycle degree programme (L) in International relations and diplomatic affairs (cod. 8048)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student grasps the basic knowledge of microeconomic theory and he/she can take part to the public debate with sufficient precision and independent judgement. In particular the student knows the theory of decisions under certainty, uncertainty and strategic interaction; he/she understands the working of the markets and can provide an assessment in terms of efficiency; he/she understands the various forms of market failures and the possible solutions.

Course contents

Timetable for lectures, tutorials, and Intermediate Learning Assessments Students are requested to check this Google calendar for real-time updates.

Topics

Fundamental principles.

Demand and supply.

Meddling with markets.

Elasticity.

Consumer and producer surplus.

Taxation.

Making decisions.

Behind the supply curve: production factors and costs.

Perfect competition and the supply curve.

The rational consumer.

Preferences and consumer choice.

The markets for factors of production and income distribution.

Monopoly.

Oligopoly.

Monopolistic competition and product differentiation.

Basic concepts in game theory: the theory of rational choice; classification of games and their formal representation.

Simultaneous moves games with perfect information.

Solution concepts:

iterated deletion of strictly dominated strategies;

Nash equilibrium.

Games in extensive form: backward induction and subgame perfect equilibrium.

Students attending classes, students not attending classes, and students from previous years who still have to sit for the exam

The program written above is valid for students attending classes, for those that do not attend classes, and for students from previous years who still have to sit for the exam. There is no distinction between these categories of students in terms of program to be studied or exam format.

Readings/Bibliography

The textbook is: Krugman P., Wells R. (2018) Microeconomics, 5th edition, Macmillan Education. This is the Amazon link.

Other useful material can be found on the website of the CORE project: https://www.core-econ.org/

Assessment methods

The final mark of the exam is out of thirty. The final exam is written and is structured in the following way: 6 questions with multiple choice and 5 questions/exercises with an open answer.

During the term there will be 3 intermediate learning assessments. The final mark will be equal to the average of the three marks on each intermediate assessment. It is not possible to renege on the mark of a single intermediate assessment. Also marks below 18 on a given assessment are valid toward the computation of the final average, and they do not impede to take part in the subsequent intermediate assessment.

Those students who passed with a positive final mark (average equal or greater than 18) the three intermediate learning assessments and want to renege on their mark have to communicate this within a certain date that will be announced at due time through an e-mail to be sent to: ga.minerva@unibo.it. Students who renege on their mark in the intermediate learning assessments can sit for the written examination on the whole program. The student has the right to renege on the mark of the exam (either intermediate assessments or final exam) only once.

On top of the mark of the final exam or of the intermediate assessments, there is an extra bonus to be awarded to students (also those enrolled in previous years) that have attended at least 70% of classes.

Some old exams can be found here.

Office hours

See the website of Gaetano Alfredo Minerva