Economics 301, Section 2: Microeconomic Analysis

Professor Christiaan Hogendorn
Spring 2007
Prof. Hogendorn's Homepage Course Policies

Syllabus

V = Varian, Intermediate Microeconomics, 7th edition.
V6 = 6th edition, noted when different.
V5 = 5th edition, noted when different.

Items marked with # are not yet available.

I. Consumer Preferences and Demand
Jan. 25 Th 1. Indifference Curves
V, Chapter 3,4. Review: V, Chapter 3: 7-11, 4: 1-7.
Jan. 30 T 2. Budget Constraint and Tangency Condition
V, Chapter 2, 5 (except appendix).
 Review: V, Chapter 2: 1-7, 5: 1-5.
Feb. 1 Th 3. Using the Lagrangian to Find the Demand Curve
V, Chapter 5 appendix, Chapter 6.
 Review: V, Chapter 6: 1-6.
Feb. 6 T 4. The Lump Sum Principle
V, Chapter 5, Section 5.6
V, Chapter 7, Sections 7.1, 7.8, 7.9 		Problem Set 1 due. Answers.
Review: V, Chapter 5: 6, Chapter 7: 4.
Feb. 8 Th 5. A Pure Exchange Economy
V, Chapter 31
(V6, Chapter 30; V5, Chapter 29).
 Review: V, Chapter 31: 1-5
(V6, Chapter 30: 1-5)
(V5, Chapter 29: 1-5).

II. The Goods Market
Feb. 13 T 6. Consumer Surplus, Market Demand, and Elasticity
V, Chapter 14, 15 (except appendix) Problem Set 2 due. Answers.
Review: V, Chapter 14: 2-4 (V5 1-3), Chapter 15: 1-2.
Feb. 15 Th FIRST MIDTERM
Classes 1-5 Exam   Answers
Feb. 20 T 7. Market Equilibrium and Taxes
V, Chapter 16 Review: V, Chapter 16: 1-5.
Feb. 22 Th 8. Externalities
V, Chapter 34
(V6, Chapter 33; V5, Chapter 32)
V, Chapter 35
(V6/V5, Chapter 34) 		Review: V, Chapter 34: 1-4.
Feb. 27 T 9. Public Goods
V, Chapter 36
(V6/V5, Chapter 35) 		Problem Set 3 due. Answers.
Review: V, Chapter 35: 3.
March 1 Th 10. Reading
Dupor, Bill, and Wen-Fang Liu, "Jealousy and Equilibrium Overconsumption," American Economic Review, March 2003: 423-428. (Read carefully until 2nd to last paragraph beginning on pg. 427, then skim.)

III. Production
Mar. 6 T 11. Production and Costs: The Short Run
Walter Nicholson, "Production Functions," Chapter 11 in Microeconomic Theory. reserve
Review V, Chapter 18 		Problem Set 4 due. Answers.
Review: V, Chapter 18: 1-6.
Mar. 8 Th 12. Production and Costs: The Long Run
V, Chapter 20, 21 Review: V, Chapter 20: 1-4, Chapter 21: 1-3.
SPRING BREAK
Mar. 27 T 13. Firm Supply and Factor Demand
V, Chapter 22
 Problem Set 5 due. Answers.
Review: V, Chapter 22: #1-11.
Mar. 29 Th 14. Catchup

IV. Factor Markets and General Equilibrium
April 3 T 15. The Slutsky Equation
V, Chapter 8 (Skip "voluntary real-time prcing" in 6th ed.). Problem Set 6 due. Answers.
Review: V, Chapter 8: 1-5.
April 5 Th 16. The Labor Market
V, Chapter 9. Review: V, Chapter 9: 1-4.
Apr. 10 T 17. The Capital Market
V, Chapter 10, 11. Problem Set 7 due. Answers.
Review: V, Chapter 10: 1-5, Chapter 11: 1, 2, 4.
Apr. 12 Th SECOND MIDTERM
Classes 6-16 Exam   Answers

V. Models of Firm Behavior
Apr. 17 T 18. Long Run Perfect Competition
V, Chapter 23. Review: V, Chapter 23: 1-5,7.
Apr. 19 Th 19. Monopoly
V, Chapter 24. Review: V, Chapter 24: 1-9.
April 24 T 20. Monopoly Behavior
V, Chapter 25.
V, Chapter 26.3. 		Problem Set 8 due. Answers.
Review: V, Chapter 25: 1-4.
Apr. 26 Th 21. Oligopoly
V, Chapter 27. Review: V, Chapter 27: 1-6.
May 1 T 22. Game Theory
V, Chapter 28. Problem Set 9 due. Answers.
Review: V, Chapter 28: 1-6.
May 3 Th 23. Asymmetric Information
V, Chapter 37
(V6, V5, Chapter 36)
May 8 T 24. Reading
Michael Spence, "Job Market Signaling," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 87(3) 1973: 355-374. Problem Set 10 due. Answers

May 11 Review Session
9:30am - 10:30am

May 15 T FINAL EXAM
2:00pm - 5:00pm