SYLLABUS OF MICROECONOMICS

 

COURSE TITLE:  Microeconomics

CREDIT POINTS:  4

CONTACT HOURS:       64 Hrs

LEVEL:       Undergraduate, 2^nd semester

DELIVERY:       Lectures and Presentations

LECTURERS: Cheng Li, Zhang Bo, Miao Ying, Wei Lan

 

Course Description

Economics is divided into microeconomics and macroeconomics. This course is just the first part of it, Microeconomics. It introduces main economics theories and analytical methods for making rational decision. This course helps you understand and explain economics phenomenon. What’s more, it helps you to learn how to make predictions. Economics is the basic course for students whose specialty is related to economics or management. It includes many new terms, calculations, and analytical methods with graphs which seems difficult at first but useful.

There are 64 hours for the whole course. At the beginning of every chapter, it puts forward some main questions you should focus on. Then it introduces key terms, economic theories and analytical methods. It also introduces economic phenomenon in real life which are related to economic theories. During the class, some exercises could help to review the key parts of every chapter. At the end of every chapter, you have some assignments after class then we could discuss at next class. 

 

Course Outcomes   

Upon successful completion of this course,

1. Students can get a comprehensive understanding of economic basic theories and operation mechanism and methods, and regulation means in the whole economy.

2. Students can learn to observe and analyze the circumstances, required conditions and possible problems in economic operations. Furthermore, students can cultivate differentiate economic theories and solve practical problems in economic development.

3. Students can establish correct economic consciousness and new economic concepts. During the process of teaching and learning, the curriculum should not only emphasize the transfer and accumulation of economic theories, but also concentrate on application of economic theories to analyze the status of economic development in economy, which will enhance economic theories.

 

Course Content

Chapter 1 is to lay out ten economic principles，which can be grouped into three categories: how people make decisions, how people interact, and how the economy works as a whole.

Chapter 2 is to demonstrate how everyone can gain from trade. Trade allows people to specialize in the production of goods for which they have a comparative advantage and then trade for goods that other people produce.

Chapter 3 is to establish the model of supply and demand. The model of supply and demand is the foundation for the discussion for the remainder of this text.

Chapter 4 is to add precision to the supply-and-demand model. We introduce the concept of elasticity, which measures the responsiveness of buyers and sellers to changes in economic variables such as prices and income.

Chapter 5 is to consider two types of government policies—price controls and taxes. These policies can be analyzed within the model of supply and demand. We will find that government policies sometimes produce unintended consequences.

Chapter 6, different sources of externalities and a variety of potential cures for externalities are addressed. We will see that while markets are usually a good way to organize economic activity, governments can sometimes improve market outcomes.

Chapter 7 is to address a group of goods that are free to the consumer. Free goods may not be produced and consumed in the proper amounts. Government can potentially remedy this market failure and improve economic well-being.

Chapter 8 is to address the costs of production and develop the firm’s cost curves. Industrial organization—the study of how firms’ decisions about prices and quantities depend on the market conditions they face.

Chapter 9 is to examine the behavior of competitive firms—firms that do not have market power. The cost curves developed in the previous chapter shed light on the decisions that lie behind the supply curve in a competitive market.

Chapter 10 is to examine the production and pricing decisions of monopolists, the social implications of their market power, and the ways in which governments might respond to the problems caused by monopolists.

Chapter 11 is to discuss oligopoly—a market structure in which only a few sellers offer similar or identical products. The decisions of any one firm may affect the pricing and production decisions of the other firms in the market.

Chapter 12 is to address monopolistic competition—a market structure in which many firms sell products that are similar but not identical. Monopolistic competition differs from perfect competition because each of the many sellers offers a somewhat different product. Monopolistic competition is extremely common.

 

TEXTBOOKS AND REFERENCE MATERIALS

Textbooks

Principles of Economics, Fourth Edition, by N. Gregory Mankiw, Tsinghua University Press

 

Reference Materials

1. Economics, Sixteenth Edition, by Paul A. Samuelson, William D. Nordhaus, The Commercial Press

2. Microeconomics, Fifth Edition, by Olivier Blanchard, Tsinghua University Press

 

COURSE TEACHING PLAN

Lectures and Tutorials

 

Type of Assessment