Course Outcomes
Formally express and analyze economic models
- Recognize the common building blocks of economic models (actors, choices, objectives, constraints)
- Solve economic models (constrained optimization, equilibrium conditions)
- Interpret the results (comparative statics)
- Explain concepts using graphs, prose, and mathematical analysis
Demonstrate an understanding of core microeconomic theories
Consumer
- The axioms upon which standard microeconomic consumer theory is based.
- The implications of consumer demand including price and income responses in absolute and elasticity forms in both utility maximization and expenditure minimization problems.
Firms
- The meaning and representation of technology.
- The implications of cost and profit maximization for firms.
Markets
- Integrate consumers and producers into a market in order to perform market analysis on equilibrium traded quantities and prices.
- Use market analysis to understand the effects of public policy.
Adapt models to new scenarios
- Compare the impact on equilibrium behavior of altering the assumptions of canonical models
- Contrast the results of different market imperfections
