Economics 401: Intermediate Microeconomics, fall 2010
Instructor: Prof. Jeremy A. Sandford
Office hour: W 10-11am, 335L B&E, or by appointment
Lecture: 2:00-3:15
MW, BE 305 and 3:30-4:45 MW, BE 305
Midterm date:
Wednesday, October 13, in class
Final date: Monday, December 13
1:00pm-3:00pm, 3:30 lecture; Wednesday, December 15 1:00pm-3:00pm, 2pm
lecture
Required text: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, Microeconomics, Pearson/Prentice Hall
Readings to date: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapters 1-6,8.1-8.7, 10-13, 17.1
Homework
1, answers
Homework 2,
answers
Homework 3,
answers
Homework 4,
answers
Homework 5,
answers
Homework 6 (with
answers)
Schedule
Wednesday, August 25: Intro, syllabus, supply and demand
review
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, Chapters 1-2
Monday, August 30: elasticities (price, income, and cross-price), estimating supply and demand curves from elasticity, time horizon
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 2
Uwe Reinhardt on efficiency
criteria commonly taught in economics classes
Wednesday, September 1: Consumer maximization, indifference
curves
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 3
Monday, September 6: Labor day, no class
Wednesday, September 8: utility functions, budget lines,
constrained maximization
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 3
note: section 3.6 on cost-of-living indices will not be taught nor
tested.
Monday, September 13: constrained maximization, marginal
utility
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 3
Wednesday, September 15: Individual and market demand
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 4 (sections 4.2, 4.4, and
appendix are less important)
Monday, September 20: Uncertainty and risk preference
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 5
Wednesday, September 22: certainty equivalent, insurance
markets
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 5
Monday, September 27: firms, production functions, isoquants
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 6
Wednesday, September 29: firm supply in competitive markets
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, sections 8.1-8.6
Monday, October 4: competitive markets, entry, exit,
long-run equilibrium
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, sections 8.1-8.7
Wednesday, October 6: entry and exit in competitive
markets, lond-run equilibrium
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, sections 8.1-8.7
Monday, October 11: no class
extra office hours: 10/11 & 10/12: 10am-11am
Wednesday, October 13: midterm exam
Monday, October 18: Monopolist profit maximization
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 10 (10.5-10.6 optional)
Wednesday, October 20: Monopoly pricing, measuring monopoly
power
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 10 (10.5-10.6 optional)
Monday, October 25: Price discrimination
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 11
Wednesday, October 27: Price discrimination; extended
example of second-degree price discrimination
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 11, Notes on second-degree price discrimination
Monday, November 1: Monopolistic competition, oligopoly
(Cournot model)
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 12
Wednesday, November 3: oligopoly (Stackelberg and Bertrand
models), collusion
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 12
Monday, November 8: Games, dominant and dominated
strategies, Nash equilibrium
reading: Pindyck and Rubifeld, chapter 13
Wednesday, November 10: mixed-strategy Nash equilibrium,
games with many players/strategies
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 13
Monday, November 15: Sequential games, subgame perfect
equilibrium
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 13
Wednesday, November 17: The market for lemons: adverse
selection
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, section 17.1
The
market for "Lemons" by George Akerlof (link may require you to be on
campus)
Monday, November 22: Education as a signal
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, section 17.2
Job market
signaling, by Michael Spence (link may require you to be on campus)
Wednesday, November 24: No class (Lucky Luciano's birthday)
Monday, November 29: Moral hazard, efficiency wages
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, sections 17.3-17.6
Wednesday, December 1: Auctions
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, section 13.8
Monday, December 13: Final exam (3:30pm lecture)
(Grading note: students taking the 12/13 final had 1.8 points added
to their scores so that the 12/13 and 12/15 finals had the same mean)
Wednesday, December 15: Final exam (2pm lecture)