English   Danish

2017/2018  BA-BHAAI1068U  Microeconomics – Principles and Applications

English Title
Microeconomics – Principles and Applications

Course information
Language English
Course ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Elective
Level Bachelor
Duration Summer
Start time of the course Summer
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Max. participants 120
Study board
Study Board for BSc in Economics and Business Administration
Course coordinator
  • Course instructor - Rodrigo Zeidan, Associate Professor of Practice, New York University Shanghai and Affiliate Professor, Fundação Dom Cabral. http://rzeidan.com; rz.acc@cbs.dk
    Sven Bislev - Department of Management, Society and Communication (MSC)
In case of any academic questions related to the course, please contact the course instructor or the academic director, Sven Bislev at sb.msc@cbs.dk
Main academic disciplines
  • Managerial economics
  • International political economy
  • Economics
Last updated on 25/04/2018

Relevant links
Learning objectives
To achieve the grade 12, students should meet the following learning objectives with no or only minor mistakes or errors:
  • Develop critical perspectives on fundamental arguments about economic and social policies
  • Rethink critically economic policies such as government intervention, labor market restrictions, tariffs and quotas, among others
  • Understand how markets work and what are the effects of market frictions
  • Analyze decision-making by firms, rent-seeking and profit maximization behavior
  • Understand the microeconomic principles of macroeconomics
Course prerequisites
None
Examination
Microeconomics - Principles and Applications:
Exam ECTS 7.5
Examination form Written sit-in exam on CBS' computers
Individual or group exam Individual exam
Assignment type Written assignment
Duration 4 hours
Grading scale 7-step scale
Examiner(s) One internal examiner
Exam period Summer, Ordinary exam: 4 hour written exams: 31 July - 3 August 2018

Retake exam: September - October 2018

3rd attempt (2nd retake) exam: November - December 2018

Exam schedule is available on https:/​/​www.cbs.dk/​uddannelse/​international-summer-university-programme-isup/​courses-and-exams.
Aids Limited aids, see the list below:
The student is allowed to bring
  • Non-programmable, financial calculators: HP10bll+ or Texas BA II Plus
  • Language dictionaries in paper format
The student will have access to
  • Advanced IT application package
At all written sit-in exams the student has access to the basic IT application package (Microsoft Office (minus Excel), digital pen and paper, 7-zip file manager, Adobe Acrobat, Texlive, VLC player, Windows Media Player). PLEASE NOTE: Students are not allowed to communicate with others during the exam : Read more about exam aids and IT application packages here
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.
4 hour written sit-in exam, new exam question
Exam form for 3rd attempt (2nd retake): home project assignment, max. 15 pages.
Course content and structure

This course invites undergraduate students to delve into the principles of economics. The beginning of the 21st century marks a period of growth and challenge to both developing and developed economies, and in this course we begin to understand how to analyze economic phenomena. 
The main goal of the course is to present the main topics in microeconomics to a non-specialized audience. The focus will be on applications and policy implications, instead of formal demonstrations. Ideally, students will leave the course with a critical perspective on economic models and will be able to apply their knowledge to a plethora of different situations. There is a particular attention to  issues that are the forefront of contemporary life, such as the correct design of healthcare and education systems; the impact of big data on profit maximization; the link between trade disputes and income inequality; the economic effects of a carbon tax; the correct regulation of transportation markets and the Uber effect; the social welfare impact of privatization; and many more.  The course is also structured to be a first step for those students that want to pursue more specialized knowledge in Economics. Critical thinking will be as important as knowledge of the formal mechanisms of economic models.
The course is structured to provide students with a series of coherent modules, beginning with the main definitions and going through models in Industrial and International Economics. The first module introduces the basic concepts in economics. The second module analysis the behavior of markets and firms. The third module presents the main concepts in Industrial Economics; while the fourth brings Special Topics and applications to International Economics.

 

Preliminary assignment: 1-2 pager summary of an article on privatization: Why is the Royal Mail being privatised? The Economist, Oct 10th 2013.

Class 1. Market Mechanisms; Supply and Demand. Government Policy: Price Controls and Taxes.
Class 2. Elasticities of Supply and Demand; Societal Organization and Gains Through Trade. The Common Agricultural Policy. Unionization, market reforms and policy tradeoffs in labor markets.
Class 3. Policy applications: Tariffs, import quotas, agricultural subsidies, economics of regulation. Why are personal transport markets regulated?
Class 4. Theory of the Firm. Firm Equilibrium. Pricing and Costs. 
Class 5. Break-Even Point. Price Discrimination. Big data and economic analysis.
Class 6.Perfect Competition, Externalities and Public Goods. What should be privatized?

Feedback activity: based on the article “Market for Blood” by Slonim et al (2014). 

Class 7. Coase theorem and design of micro government policy. Welfare Economics. Should we have a carbon tax?
Class 8. A Primer on Game Theory. Competition and Cooperation.
Class 9. Market Power, Monopoly Pricing, Static Models of Oligopoly: Bertrand, Cournot, Stackelberg 
Class 10. Market Power, Monopoly Pricing, Static Models of Oligopoly: Bertrand, Cournot, Stackelberg 
Class 11. Review lecture.

 
Teaching methods
Classes usually begin with a short lecture and are followed by discussion to ensure that students take primary responsibility for interpreting and critiquing the readings. Students are free to pursue interesting topics, but should relate to the literature and the framework presented in the module overview.
Feedback during the teaching period
Feedback will be handwritten on preliminary and midterm assignments. Moreover, students will have the opportunity to solve 3-4 exam-like questions in class; answers will be provided and results discussed.
Student workload
Preliminary assignment 20 hours
Classroom attendance 33 hours
Preparation 126 hours
Feedback activity 7 hours
Examination 20 hours
Further Information

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.

 

Course timetable is available on https://www.cbs.dk/uddannelse/international-summer-university-programme-isup/courses-and-exams.

 

We reserve the right to cancel the course if we do not get enough applications. This will be communicated on https://www.cbs.dk/uddannelse/international-summer-university-programme-isup/courses-and-exams end February 2018 at the latest.
Expected literature

Mandatory readings:

 

Mankiw, G. Principles of Microeconomics (6th edition), 2012

 

Additional relevant readings:

 

Pyndick and Rubenfeld, Microeconomics (8th Edition), Prentice Hall, 2012; Gibbons, R. A Primer on Game Theory (2012); and Krugman and Obstfeld, International Economics, 2011. 
Last updated on 25/04/2018