Economics 401: Intermediate Microeconomics, spring 2011
Instructor: Prof. Jeremy A. Sandford
Office hour: W 10-11am, 335L B&E, or by appointment
Lecture:
9:30-10:45 TH, BE 305
Midterm date:
Tuesday, March 8, in class
Final date: Tuesday, May 3
8:00am-10:00am
Required text: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, Microeconomics, Pearson/Prentice Hall
Homework 1,
answers
Homework 2, answers
Homework
3, answers
Homework
4, answers
Homework
5, answers
Homework 6 (with answers)
Final course grades sorted by overall score and letter grade (I am not supposed to post student ID numbers online, so to figure out which line is yours, you need to know your HW/midterm scores)
Schedule
Thursday, January 13: Intro, syllabus, supply and demand
review
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, Chapters 1-2
Tuesday, January 18: indivual preferences, indifference
curves, marginal rate of substitution
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 3
Thursday, January 20: indifference curves, utility
functions, budget lines, constrained maximization of utility
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 3
Tuesday, January 25: constrained maximization of utility,
interpretation of slopes of budget line adn indifference curves, perfect
substitutes
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 3
Thursday, January 27: Sample problem
worksheet
Tuesday, February 1: consumer demand, income/substitution
effects, network externalities
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 4
Thursday, February 3: uncertainty and risk attitudes
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 5
Tuesday, Feburary 8: measuring risk aversion, insurance
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 5
Thursday, February 10: firms and production
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 6
Tuesday, February 15: firm costs and profit maximization
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 7
Thursday, February 17: cost functions, variable, fixed, and
total costs, distinction between fixed and sunk costs
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 7
Tuesday, February 22: market structure: monopoly versus
competitive markets, "perfectly competitive" markets, barriers to entry
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 8
Thursday, February 24: perfectly competitive markets, entry
and exit
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 8
Tuesday, March 1: recap of perfect competition, practice problems
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 8
Thursday, March 3: Monopoly
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 10
Tuesday, March 8: Midterm exam, in class
Thursday, March 10: No class (Mark-Paul Gosselaar's birthday)
Tuesday, March 15: No class (spring break)
Thursday, March 17: No class (spring break)
Tuesday, March 22: Monopoly
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 10
Thursday, March 24: No class
Tuesday, March 29: Measuring and regulating monopoly,
natural monopoly
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 10
Thursday, March 31: Monopolist price discrimination
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 11
Tuesday, April 5: Second-degree price discrimination
extended example
reading: Notes on second-degree
price discrimination
Thursday, April 7: Game theory: introduction, vocabulary,
solving simultaneous-move games, dominant and dominated strategies
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 13
Tuesday, April 12: Game theory: Nash equilibrium, mixed
strategies
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 13
Thursday, April 14: Game theory: sequential games
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 13
Tuesday, April 19: 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)
Thursday, April 21: 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)
Tuesday, April 26: Moral hazard, efficiency wages
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, sections 17.3-17.6
Thursday, April 28: No class
Tuesday, May 3, 8-10am: Final exam
topics: everything from monopoly onward (post-midterm material)
the exam will be the same format as the midterm, just slightly longer.
You can use any books, notes, or calculators you want. No computers, phones,
tablets, or anything that can access the Internet.