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2015/2016  BA-BBLCO1225U  Microeconomics

English Title
Microeconomics

Course information

Language English
Course ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Mandatory
Level Bachelor
Duration One Semester
Start time of the course Autumn
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Study board
Study Board for BSc og MSc in Business, Language and Culture, BSc
Course coordinator
  • Christian Erik Kampmann - Department of Innovation and Organizational Economics (INO)
Main academic disciplines
  • Economics
Last updated on 16/11/2015
Learning objectives
To achieve the grade 12, students should meet the following learning objectives with no or only minor mistakes or errors: To receive the grade 12, the student should fulfil the following learning objectives with no significant shortcomings:
  • Account for the method, paradigm, and core principles of economics
  • Apply basic analytical tools such as demand and supply curves, comparative statics, elasticity calculation, and consumer and producer surplus to show how you can calculate the effects of changes in market conditions or public policy on prices and quantities, the efficiency of production, and the distribution of benefits and costs among participants in the economic system.
  • Explain the limitations of market systems in the face of externalities, public goods, resource depletion, climate change and other types of market failures, and assess the scope for overcoming these limitations through public policy.
  • Account for alternative industry structures (monopoly, competition, etc.), the conditions that can give rise to them, their implication for welfare and efficiency, and the scope for public policy to regulate them.
  • Explain the concepts of risk, choice under uncertainty, and value of information and how they relate to the workings of financial asset markets.
  • Perform simple calculations to provide a basis for rational choices between alternative risky prospects, and contrast this to how humans make decisions under uncertainty.
  • Explain at a basic level the concepts, tools, and insights from selected areas from “modern” microeconomics – e.g., transaction cost economics, principal-agent theory, game theory, adverse selection, and moral hazard –and analyze how they manifest in real-world situations.
Examination
Microeconomics:
Exam ECTS 7.5
Examination form Written sit-in exam
Individual or group exam Individual
Assignment type Written assignment
Duration 4 hours
Grading scale 7-step scale
Examiner(s) One internal examiner
Exam period Autumn
Aids allowed to bring to the exam Limited aids, see the list below:
  • Written sit-in-exam on CBS' computers
  • Books and compendia brought by the examinee
  • Allowed dictionaries
  • Allowed calculators
  • Notes in paper format brought by the examinee
  • Access to personal drive (S-drive) on CBS' network
  • USB key to upload your notes before the exam
  • Access to all information on CBSLearn
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
If the number of registered candidates for the make-up examination/re-take examination warrants that it may most appropriately be held as an oral examination, the programme office will inform the students that the make-up examination/re-take examination will be held as an oral examination instead.
Description of the exam procedure

Four-hour open-book PC exam on CBS computers.

You may supplement your answers with hand-written notes and diagrams.

Access to personal S:/drive and LEARN.

USB key with notes to upload before the exam is allowed.

Pocket calculator with solver function or plotting functionalities are allowed.

Own PC and printer is not allowed.
Internet access is not allowed.

Course content and structure

Microeconomics constitutes much of the theoretical foundation for many management fields, including strategy, marketing, finance, and international business.  This course provides an introduction to the methodology, perspective, analytical style, and main theoretical insights of economics as it applies to individual to organizations, industries, and markets.  Topics covered in the course include:
 

  • Market supply, demand, and equilibrium,
  • Elasticity of demand and supply,
  • Production and costs,
  • Optimal producer and consumer choices,
  • Competitive markets and monopolies,
  • Oligopoly, game theory and strategic behavior,
  • Decisions under risk and uncertainty,
  • Market failures and regulation,
  • Economics of information.
Teaching methods
Lectures and tutorial exercises. Lectures focus on presenting theory and insights. Tutorials focus on applying these to concrete exercises. Exercises are based on the MyEconLab platform supplied with the textbook.
Student workload
Attending lectures 40 hours
Attending tutorials 20 hours
Written exam 5 hours
Homework and reading 160 hours
Further Information

As an introduction to the basics of economics, the course provides the prerequisite for all the subsequent economics courses in the BLC program. The course is simultaneously offered to ASP students as the mandatory introduction to economics.

Expected literature
  • Jeffrey M Perloff (2012) Microeconomics, Global 6th Edition, Pearson, with online access.  ISBN: 9780273754688,.  
  • MyEconLab training software, supplied with the purchase of the textbook.  
  • Teaching notes and other material uploaded by the instructors
Last updated on 16/11/2015