Microeconomics I

Student Learning Outcomes, Goals, Objectives:

Students successfully completing this course will be able to:

Consumer Theory (Demand)

• solve utility maximization problems.

• derive individual demand functions from utility functions and aggregate the individual demand functions into market demand functions.

• derive and interpret the meaning of the own-price elasticity of demand, the cross-price elasticity of demand and the income elasticity of demand.

Producer Theory (Supply)

• find the cost-minimizing combinations of inputs to produce a given level of output.

• derive a firm’s long run cost function from the firm’s production function.

• find the profit maximizing output level for a price-taking firm.

Market Efficiency Theory (Demand + Supply)

• explain the concepts of consumer surplus and producer surplus and interpret the welfare effects of price changes.

• derive the market response of a competitive industry to either a change in demand or a change in supply.

• apply the concepts of Pareto efficiency and the efficiency of markets.

Course Grading Information:

Activity/Performance Measure	Percentage/Points
Comprehension Checks	15%
Problem Sets	15%
Group Projects	15%
Midterms (15% each)	30%
Comprehensive Final	25%

Course grades are assigned based on the following percentage of weighted total points:

Grading Scale

Percentage	Letter Grade
93% to 100%	A
90% to 93%	A-
86% to 90%	B+
83% to 86%	B
80% to 83%	B-
76% to 80%	C+
73% to 76%	C
70% to 73%	C-
66% to 70%	D+
63% to 66%	D
60% to 63%	D-
below 60%	F

Attendance/Participation:

Asynchronous online.

Required Materials:

No materials are required for purchase.