The purpose of this course is to develop a sound understanding of the basic tools of microeconomic analysis. We progress from the study of the optimising behaviour of individual actors (both consumers and producers) in an economic setting, to a study of the interaction of these agents in one market (partial equilibrium analysis) through to a study of the determination of prices and the allocations of resources and goods in the economy as a whole (general equilibrium analysis). As well as covering the main elements of the standard price theory for (perfectly) competitive markets, along the way, we shall also consider situations where there are only a small number of competitors on one or both sides of a market. Such imperfectly competitive markets are better modelled as situations where agents interact strategically. Their treatment in this course shall involve an introduction both to the theory of games as well as topics in information economics (which some of you will study heavily in second semester in ECON8021, Topics in Microeconomic Theory).

By the end of the course, students will have developed a sound understanding of the basic tools of microeconomic analysis described above.

The assessment in this unit will be comprised of (almost) weekly problem sets, a mid-semester examination and a three-hour final examination.

Three lectures plus tutorial per week throughout the semester.

See Course Website