Economics
201 Prof.
Alexander Karaivanov
Intermediate
Microeconomic Theory I Spring
2016
http://www.sfu.ca/~akaraiva/e201.html akaraiva@sfu.ca
SYLLABUS
Introduction
This course
is designed to provide an understanding of microeconomic theory at the
intermediate level. The goal is to equip you with the basic terminology,
analytical tools, and intuition to discuss and address microeconomic issues.
The topics covered include consumer theory and production theory in competitive
markets as well as an introduction to general equilibrium analysis.
Organization
The webpage
for the course is:
http://www.sfu.ca/~akaraiva/e201.html
All course
materials, assignments and announcements will be posted on the webpage in pdf or html format.
Assignments and Grading
There will
be three problem sets on which you may work in groups but each
student is required to submit his/her solutions separately. The problem sets
are take-home and will be posted about a week and a half before each of the
exams. They will be handed back to you before the exam date to help you prepare
better. Late submission of no more than 1 day will be penalized by
reducing your score by 50%. No exceptions will be made. There will be also two
midterms (see the schedule below for the dates) and a final exam. The
final exam is comprehensive, the midterms are not. The final course grade will
be based on your performance in the problem sets, the midterms, and the final
as follows:
- problem sets: 15% of
the final grade (5% each);
- midterm exams: 40%
of the final grade (20% each)
- final exam: 45% of
the final grade.
Barring really
exceptional circumstances no exam re-takes will be allowed. Students who do
not appear at an exam must provide a certified note (e.g., from a doctor,
preferably the SFU health service) stating the reason for their absence. If I
have a reason to believe that a student has cheated on one of the exams I will
give this student a grade of F for the course. In addition, such a student
would be subject to disciplinary punishment by the University.
The
textbook for the course is:
Varian,
H. Intermediate
Microeconomics with Calculus, 1st edition, W. W. Norton, 2014.
Exercises for the tutorials
will be assigned from:
Bergstrom,
T. and H. Varian, Workouts in Intermediate Microeconomics, 9th
edition, W.W. Norton, 2014.
Older editions of these
books are perfectly usable but please double-check if any page, exercise, or
chapter numbers have changed.
Course Schedule
The
relevant chapters from the textbook are given in brackets. You are encouraged
to read the whole chapters, however for examination purposes you will be only
responsible for material covered in the lectures or in the tutorials. If
material outside the textbook is covered in class I will post lecture notes on
the course webpage. Supplementary clarifying notes on some concepts will be
posted as well. The schedule below is for planning purposes only – deviations
from it may occur.
Week 1 (Jan
5, 7):
Course organization and introduction
Budget constraint (Varian ch.
2)
Week 2 (Jan
12, 14):
Budget constraint (Varian ch.
2)
Preferences (Varian ch.
3)
Week 3 (Jan
19, 21):
Utility (Varian ch.
4)
Choice (Varian ch.
5)
Week 4 (Jan
26, 28):
Choice (Varian ch.
5)
Demand (Varian ch.
6)
Week 5 (Feb
2, 4):
Income and Substitution Effects
(Varian ch. 8)
MIDTERM
I (Thursday, February 4)
READING BREAK (Feb. 8-12)
Week 6 (Feb
16, 18):
Income and Substitution Effects
(Varian ch. 8)
Market Demand (Varian ch. 15)
Week 7 (Feb
23, 25):
Equilibrium (Varian ch. 16)
Technology (Varian ch. 19)
Week 8 (Mar
1, 3):
Technology (Varian ch. 19)
Profit Maximization (Varian ch.
20)
Week 9 (Mar
8, 10):
Cost Minimization (Varian ch.
21)
MIDTERM II (Thursday,
March 10)
Week 10
(Mar 15, 17):
Cost Minimization (Varian ch. 21)
Cost Curves (Varian ch.
22)
Week 11
(Mar 22, 24):
Firm Supply (Varian ch. 23)
Industry Supply (Varian ch.
24)
Week 12
(Mar 29, 31):
Industry Supply (Varian ch. 24)
General Equilibrium (Varian ch. 32)
Week 13
(Apr 5, 7):
General Equilibrium (Varian ch. 32)