Title: Microeconomics – A Calculus Approach – Semester 1
Instructors: Anna Bottasso, Beatrice Braut, Simone Robbiano, Claudio Piga claudio.piga@unige.it
Credit (CFU): 3
Lectures: 24 hours
Reading and Essay Writing:50 hours
Period Taught: November-January
Course Description and objectives
This course is the part of the Microeconomics sequence for the PhD program in Economics and EQM. The objective of the course is twofold. In terms of the material covered, the course delivers a brief but rigorous introduction of foundational topics in microeconomic theory, namely Consumer Theory and Theory of the Firm. Each topic is presented using both an intuitive graphical analysis with real world applications and a more formal approach based on calculus. On the methodological side, the aim is to enhance students’ understanding on the essential measures used by economists to assess markets’ efficiency.
Prerequisites
It is expected that students have prior knowledge of intermediate microeconomics methods and concepts.
Course Materials
Lecture slides will generally contain all the material students are expected to learn. In turn, the lectures will often refer to and closely follow the relevant chapters in:
- Nechyba, T. (2011), Microeconomics: an Intuitive Approach with Calculus, International Edition, 1st or 2nd Edition, Southwestern CEngage Learning
Lecture Schedule
Lecture | Module Convenor | Topic |
1 | Robbiano | Ch.2 and Ch. 4 – Consumer’s Budgets and Preferences |
2 | Robbiano | Ch. 5 and ch. 6 – Special Utility Functions and Optimality |
3.-4 | Braut | Ch. 7 – Income and Substitution Effect |
5. | Braut | Ch. 9 – Demand and Supply Functions |
6-7 | Piga | Ch. 10 – Consumer Welfare and Deadweight Loss |
8 | Robbiano | Ch. 11 Short Run Producer Model |
9.-10 | Bottasso | Ch.12 Production with Multiple Inputs and Duality |
11-12. | Bottasso | Ch. 13 – Production decisions in the short and long run |
Assessment
Students will be assessed in the final exam, which will consist in a written test containing short numerical problems and a multiple choice test. Questions will draw from material covered in all chapters presented.