To achieve the grade 12, students should meet the
following learning objectives with no or only minor mistakes or
errors:
- Fully explain the basic concepts, models, theories and tools
used in the principles of microeconomics and use them to analyze
economic decisions by individuals and by firms.
- Identify the foundational assumptions used in their own
economic analysis and in the economics analysis of others.
- Predict the effects of supply and demand changes on the
direction of market price and quantity. Use the tools of consumer
and producer surplus to identify the gains form exchange and the
gains from the ability to manipulate price or quantity (e.g., the
effects of barriers to entry, market power, monopolization, price
controls, taxes, subsidies, and quotas.)
- Articulate and explain the systematic nature of economic
analysis and address likely secondary effects of particular
policies and institutional frameworks.
- Analyze economic outcomes in terms of their contribution to
recognition of scarcity and efficiency.
- Communicate, discuss, and present sound logical conclusions
from their analysis of economic incentives.
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The Principles of Microeconomics is the primary foundation for
all other neoclassical economic theory including much of
macroeconomics. Microeconomic theory principles provide insights
into the behavior of both individual and collective actors (firms)
in markets. This course is the introductory course in any economics
curriculum. It will provide you with an insight into how
economists analyze practical problems which present themselves to
policy makers in the real world. The concepts are theoretical but
we will develop a "set of tools for analysis" which you
will be expected to apply. The materials in this course are used
extensively in economics, financial economics, and business.
Economics is ultimately about problem-solving through critical
thinking. We are asked to provide logical, well-argued, defensible
answers to complex questions. To do this we must strip problems
down to their essential assumptions, arguments, and then critically
analyze them. We do not expect you to master problem-solving or
critical thinking in this one course. We do expect that you will
greatly increase your proficiency at these skills.
The emphasize applications because economics conditions and
"answers" are constantly changing. What is transferable,
fundamental, and constant is the method of economic analysis which
we will develop. The ability to apply these tools to varying
situations and to make the results clear to others is what gives
value to economic analysis.
The primary focus of this course is on the development of
analytical prowess or "critical thinking." The discipline
of economics originated within philosophy, rhetoric, logic and
mathematics and transitioned through political economy in the 19th
century into modern economics. As a result, economics is a
very broad social science drawing upon the interconnectedness of
human action. We model human behaviors within particular
institutional arrangements.
This course focuses on the behaviors of individuals, firms, and
institutional actors. Students should be able to successfully apply
time-tested, empirical models of microeconomic behavior.
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Class
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Topic
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Class 1
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Chapter 1 - The Big Ideas
Chapter 2 - The Power of Trade and Comparative Advantage
Preliminary Assignment:
(1) Read the first two chapters of the textbook and prepare
questions to discuss in our first class meeting.
(2) Carefully read this article:
Radford,
R.A. 1945. “The Economic Organisation of a P.O.W. Camp.”
Economica, 12(48): 189-201. Be prepared to
participate in the discussion in the first class. Prepare written
answers to the study guide questions in
this Word Document and bring a draft typed copy to our first
class meeting. An edited and complete typed copy of these same
questions will be due by the beginning of Class Meeting
3
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Class 2
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Chapter 3 - Supply and Demand
Chapter 4 - Equilibrium: How Supply and Demand Determine
Prices
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Class 3
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Chapter 5 - Elasticity and Its Applications
Chapter 6 - Taxes and Subsidies
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Class 4
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Chapter 7 - The Price System: Signals, Speculation, and
Prediction
Chapter 8 - Price Ceilings and Floors
Hayek, F. A. 1945. “The Use of Knowledge in Society.” American
Economic Review, 35(4): 519–30.
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Class 5
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Chapter 9 - International Trade
Chapter 10 - Externalities: When Prices Send the Wrong Signals
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Class 6
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Chapter 11 - Costs and Profit Maximization Under Competition
Chapter 12 - Competition and the Invisible Hand
A feedback activity defined by the course instructor. Not
a part of the exam, but a voluntary activity.
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Class 7
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Chapter 13 - Monopoly
Chapter 14 - Price Discrimination
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Class 8
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Chapter 15 - Cartels, Oligopolies, and Monopolistic Competition
Chapter 16 - Competing for Monopoly: The Economics of Network
Goods
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Class 9
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Chapter 17 - Labor Markets
Chapter 18 - Public Goods and the Tragedy of the
Commons
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Class 10
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Chapter 19 - Political Economy and Public Choice
Chapter 20 - Economics, Ethics, and Public Policy
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Class 11
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Comprehensive
Review
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Preliminary Assignment: To help students get
maximum value from ISUP courses, instructors provide a reading or a
small number of readings or video clips to be read or viewed before
the start of classes with a related task scheduled for class 1 in
order to 'jump-start' the learning process.
Feedback Activity: A feedback activity defined
by the course instructor will take place approx. half-way through
the course.
Course timetable is available on
http://www.cbs.dk/uddannelse/summer-university-programme/courses.
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