Office Hours: TBA and by Appointment

Economics 301

Microeconomics

Summer 2005

I.  Instructor

Kanlaya Jintanakul

E-mail:

Office hours: TBA and by appointment

II.  Time and Locations

MTWRF 9:50-10:50, Agron 2020

III.  TA

Erik

E-mail:

Office hours: TBA

IV.  Pre-requisites

Microeconomics principles, Calculus

V.  Required Text

Jeffrey M. Perloff, Microeconomics, 3rd ed., (Addison Wesley Longman), 2004.

VI.  Grading

Course grade will be based on the following items and weights:

(Note: tentative exam dates are in parenthesis)

(10) assignments 30%

First midterm (F, July 1) 20%

Second midterm (W, July 20) 20%

Final exam (F, Aug. 5) 30%

If you cannot take the exam during its regularly schedule time, make advance arrangements with the instructor for taking a makeup exam. Once an exam has been given, no arrangements will be made for a makeup. In the case that you cannot take an exam (without prior awareness) and have a well-documented, university-approved excuse (such as a severe illness), the grade weights for the final exam will be scaled up appropriately. The final exam will be comprehensive and all students must take the final exam to be assigned a grade.

VII.  Course objectives

1.  To increase students understanding of how consumers and firms make consumption and production decisions through the economic approach.

2.  To prepare students for more advanced economic courses.

VIII.  Assignments

There will be no more than two assignments each week and up to the total of 10 assignments. On the due date, each assignment must be turned in before class starts. Late assignments will not be accepted for any reasons.

Note: The basic calculus will be essential for this course. Please do not hesitate to let me know if you are feeling uncomfortable with mathematical materials covered in class. Additional math sections may be provided during the semester.

Tentative topics

Week 1: Mathematical review

Introduction to Microeconomics (Ch.1)

Unit 1: Supply & Demand (Ch.2)

Elasticities (Ch.3)

Week 2: Unit 2: Consumer Theory (Ch.4)

Applying Consumer Theory (Ch.5)

Week 3: Unit 3: Theory of firm

- Production (Ch.6)

- Costs (Ch.7)

======Midterm 1 ======

Week 4: Unit 4: Perfect Competition

- Competitive Firms and Markets (Ch.8)

- Consumer Welfare, Producer Welfare, Shift of Demand and Supply (Ch.9)

Week 5 - 6: Unit 5: Market Power and Market Structure

- Monopoly and Pricing (Ch.11-12)

======Midterm 2 ======

Week 7-8: Unit 6: Introduction to Game Theory, Oligopoly and Monopolistic Competition (Ch.13)

Unit 7: Uncertainty (Ch. 17)

Unit 8: Externalities and Public Good (Ch. 18)

======Final Exam======