Facoltà di Economia

Aggiornato A.A. 2018-2019

Textbook:

H.R. Varian, Intermediate Microeconomics (latest edition), W.W. Norton & Company

Workbook (for practice classes):

T.C. Bergstrom and H.R. Varian, Workouts in Intermediate Microeconomics (latest edition), W.W. Norton & Company

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List of topics (for Part I):

Budget constraint (chapter 2)

• The Budget Constraint
• Two Goods are Often Enough
• Properties of the Budget Set
• How the Budget Line Changes
• The Numeraire
• Taxes, Subsidies, and Rationing

Preferences (chapter 3)

• Consumer Preferences
• Assumption about Preferences
• Inidifference Curves
• Examples of Preferences:
  • Perfect Substitutes, Perfect Complements, Bads, Neutral, Satiation, Discrete Goods
• Well Behaved-Preferences
• The Marginal Rate of Substitution
• Other Interepretation of the Marginal Rate of Substitution
• Behavior of the Marginal Rate of Substitution

Utility (chapter 4)

• Cardinal Utility
• Construction a Utility Function
• Some Examples of Utility Functions:
  • Perfect Substitutes
  • Perfect Complements
  • Quasilinear Preferences
  • Cobb-Douglas Preferences
• Marginal Utility
• Marginal Utility and Marginal Rate of Substitution

Choice (chapter 5)

• Optimal Choice
• Consumer Demand
• Some Examples:
  • Perfect Substitues
  • Perfect Complements
  • Neutrals and Bads
  • Discrete Goods
  • Concave Preferences
  • Codd-Douglas Preferences
• Implications of the MRS Condition
• Choosing Taxes

Demand (chapter 6)

• Normal and Inferior Goods
• Income Offer Curves and Engel Curves
• Some Examples:
  • Perfect Substutes
  • Perfcet Complements
  • Cobb-Douglas Preferences
  • Homothetic Preferences
  • Quasilinear Preferences
• Ordinary Goods and Giffen Goods
• Price Offer Curve and Demand Curve
• Some examples:
  • Perfect Substitutes
  • Perfect Complements
  • Discrete Good
• Substitutes and Complements
• The Inverse Demand Function
• Appendix (on Quasilinear Preferences)

Slutsky Equation (chapter 8)

• The Subsitution Effect
• The Income Effect
• Sign of the Subsitution Effect
• The Total Change in Demand
• Rates of Change
• The Law of Demand
• Examples of Income and Substitution Effects

Buying and Selling (chapter 9)

• Net and Gross Demands
• The Budget Constraint
• Changing the Endowment
• Price Changes
• Offer Curves and Demand Curves
• The Slitsky Equation Revisited
•  Use of the Slutsky Equation
• Labor Supply
• Comparative Statics of the Labor Supply

Uncertainty (chapter 12)

• Contingent Consumption
• Utility Functions and Probabilities
• Expected Utility
• Why Expected Utilty is Reasonable
• Risk Aversion

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Exercises (numbers refer to the exercises from Workouts)

Exercises on chapter 2: 2.1 to 2.10

Exercises on chapter 3: 3.1 (only up to (g)), 3.3, 3.9 (excluded (d))

Exercises on chapter 4: 4.1, 4.2, 4.4, 4.5, 4.6, 4.11, 4.12

Exercises on chapter 5: 5.1, 5.3, 5.4, 5.7

Exercises on chapter 6: 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.5, 6.6

Exercises on chapter 8: 8.1, 8.4, 8.5, 8.10, 8.11

Exercises on chapter 9: 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.6, 9.7, 9.8

Exercises on chapter 12: 12.1, 12.3, 12.4, 12.8, 12.9, 12.11, 12.12

Aggiornato A.A. 2016-2017

Textbook.

D. Besanko and R. Braeutigam, Microeconomics (Fifth Edition), Wiley

Syllabus

Analyzing Economic Problems
1.1 Why Study Microeconomics?
1.2 Three Key Analytical Tools
1.3 Positive and Normative Analysis
Demand and Supply Analysis
2.1 Demand, Supply, and Market Equilibrium
2.2 Price Elasticity of Demand
2.3 Other Elasticities
2.4 Elasticity in the Long Run versus the Short Run
Consumer Preferences and the Concept of Utility
3.1 Representations of Preferences
3.2 Utility Functions
3.3 Special Preferences
Consumer Choice
4.1 The Budget Constraint
4.2 Optimal Choice
The Theory of Demand
5.1 Optimal Choice and Demand
5.2 Change in the Price of a Good: Substitution Effect and Income Effect
5.3 Change in the Price of a Good: The Concept of Consumer Surplus
5.4 Market Demand
5.5 The Choice of Labor and Leisure
Inputs and Production Functions
6.1 Introduction to Inputs and Production Functions
6.2 Production Functions with a Single Input
6.3 Production Functions with More Than One Input
6.4 Substitutability Among Inputs
6.5 Returns to Scale
6.6 Technological Progress
Costs and Cost Minimization
7.1 Cost Concepts for Decision Making
7.2 The Cost-Minimization Problem
7.3 Comparative Statics Analysis of the Cost-Minimization Problem
7.4 Short-Run Cost Minimization
Cost Curves
8.1 Long-Run Cost Curves
8.2 Short-Run Cost Curves
Perfectly Competitive Markets
9.1 What Is Perfect Competition?
9.2 Profit Maximization by a Price-Taking Firm
9.3 How the Market Price Is Determined: Short-Run Equilibrium
9.4 How the Market Price Is Determined: Long-Run Equilibrium
9.5 Economic Rent and Producer Surplus
Competitive Markets: Applications
10.1 The Invisible Hand, Excise Taxes, and Subsidies
Monopoly and Monopsony
11.1 Profit Maximization by a Monopolist
11.2 The Importance of Price Elasticity of Demand
11.3 Comparative Statics for Monopolists
11.5 The Welfare Economics of Monopoly
11.6 Why Do Monopoly Markets Exist?
Market Structure and Competition
13.1 Describing and Measuring Market Structure
13.2 Oligopoly with Homogeneous Products
Game Theory and Strategic Behavior
14.1 The Concept of Nash Equilibrium
14.3 Sequential-Move Games and Strategic Moves
Externalities and Public Goods
17.1 Introduction
17.2 Externalities
17.3 Public Goods
Pricing strategies
A. First Degree Price Discriminatio and Two-Part Tariff (paper with E. Campioni and sections 12.1 and 12.2)
B. Linear Pricing
C. Third Degree Price Discrimination (paper with E. Campioni and sections 12.3, pages 420-421)
D. Versioning (lecture notes and pages 427-428)

- Numbers refer to sections in the textbook. For the section on Pricing strategies, the paragraphs are 4.3, 4.3.1 (example 11 and example 12) and 4.3.2 (example 14 and 15) of the working paper "A Proof without Words and a Maximum without Calculus" (joint with E. Campioni) 
- The syllabus is subject to variations to be communicated in class and on the web page of the course
- For the mathematical requisites, consult the Mathematical Appendix of the textbook. In addition, students may consult "Mathematics for Economists" by C.P. Simon and L. Blume (W.W.Norton)
- The book is available, among others, at this reseller. Contacts for info on pricing and delivery: cristina@aab.it - riccardo@aab.it
- Important information regarding the Italian legislation on illegal photocopying of textbooks

Further information on the program

• In addition to the list of sections presented above, the following section/topics/pages are not included in the final version of the program
  1. Compensation Variation and Equivalent Variation
  2. Market Demand with Network Externalities
  3. Production Function CES
  4. Mixed Strategies
  5. Emission trading markets and Common property
  6. Coase Theorem
• Appendix 2 in Chapter 4 is included in the final version of the program

Lectures (main topics)

1. Introduction to the course. Microeconomics: tools and objectives (22.02.2016)
2. Constrained optimization problems. Trade-off costs and benefits (24.02.2016)
3. Demand and Supply in a Perfectly Competitive Market. Excess Demand and Excess Supply. Market Equilibrium (29.02.2016)
4. Comparative Statics of Market Equilibrium. Price Elasticity of Demand (02.01.2016)
5. Price Elasticity and Total Expenditure (or Total Revenue). Income and Cross-Price Elasticity of Demand. Elasticity in the Long and in the Short Run (04.03.2016)
6. Preferences. Utility function. Marginal Utility. Marginal Rate of Substitution (07.03.2016)
7. Perfect Substitutes, Perfect Complements, Cobb-Douglas, and Quasi-Linear Utility Functions. The budget set and the budget line (09.03.2016)
8. Optimal Choice. Tangency condition (16.03.2016)
9. Corner Points. Optimal choice and Demand. Engel Curves. Income Effect and Substitution Effect (18.03.2016)
10. A general analysis of the income and the substituion effect. Labor-Leisure Choice (30.04.2016)
11. Change in wage rate and labor supply. Intertemporal choice (01.04.2016)
12. Production function with single and multple input (06.04.2016)
13. Cost minimizing combination of input (08.04.2016)
14. Demand for input. Total cost curve.The profit maximization problem of a price-taking firm (18.04.2016)
15. The long-run profit maximization problem (20.04.2016)
16. The short-run profit maximization problem with sunk fixed costs (22.04.2016)
17. The short-run profit maximization problem with non-sunk fixed costs. The competitive equilibrium in the short and in the long run (27.04.2016)
18. Consumers' and Producers' Surplus. Efficiency of the perfectly competitive equilibrium. The monopoly (27.04.2016)
19. Inverse Elasticity Pricing Rule. Comparative Statics of the Monopoly. Inefficiency of the monopoly. Barriers to Entry (02.05.2016)
20. The Cournot Duopoloy Model (04.05.2016)
21. The Bertrand and the Stackelberg Duopoly Model (06.05.2016)
22. Classroom Experiment on Voluntary Contribution to Public Good (09.05.2016)
23. The Voluntary Contribution to Public Good model (10.05.2016)
24. GameTheory. Nash Equilibrium. Dominant and Dominated Strategies (11.05.2016)
25. Games with Multiple Equilibria. Sequential-Move Games. Externalities. Excise taxes (13.05.2016)
26. Classroom Experiment on Cournot duopoly (16.05.2016)
27. Deadweight loss from taxation. Incidence of a tax. Rmedies to (negative) externalities: emission standards, emission fees (17.05.2016)
28. Capturing surplus: price discrimination. First degree price discrimination and two-part tariff (18.05.2016)
29. Third degree price discrimination. Versioning (20.05.2016)

Practice classes

1. Introductory Practice Class (26.02.2016)
2. Practice Class 1 (11.03.2016)
3. Practice Class 2 (21.03.2016)
4. Practice Class 3 (23.03.2016)
5. Practice Class 4 (08.04.2016)
6. Practice Class 5 (22.04.2016)
7. Practice Class 6 (29.04.2016)
8. Practice Class 7 (06.05.2016)
9. Practice Class 8 (13.05.2016)
10. Practice Class 8 (20.05.2016)

Additional references

1. J.E. Stiglitz and C.E. Walsh, Principles of Economics, Norton, 2006
2. N.G. Mankiw, Principles of Economics, Cengage, 2011
3. D. Acemoglu, D. Laibosn, J. List, Economics, Pearson, 2016 
4. A. Schotter, Microeconomics. A Modern Approach, South-Western College, 2008
5. H.L. Varian, Intermediate Microeconomics, Norton, 1993

Supplementary material

1. Economics (by the American Economic Association)
2. Food Supply: Uncharted Waters (by the Financial Times)
3. What is Economics. The Role of Prices. Supply and Demand Analysis (by G.S. Becker, Economic Theory, 2007, pp.1-7)
4. An Analogy about Supply and Demand (by A. Marshall, Principles of Economics, 1890)
5. Economics. A Very Short Introduction (by P. Dasgupta, available on reserve in the faculty library. To read chapter 4, Markets)
6. A Proof Without Words and a Maximum Without Calculus (joint with E. Campioni)
7. Environmental Engel curves (from voxeu.org)
8. Classroom Experiment on Public Good (available on C.A. Holt's webpage and published on Journal of Economic Perspectives, 11(4), 209-215, 1997)
9. Classorrom Experimen on Monopoly and Cournot Duopoly is taken fron C.A. Holt's Markets, Games, and Strategic Behavior (Pearson 2007), as implemented on VeconLab

Further information on the program

• In addition to the list of sections presented above, the following section/topics/pages are not included in the final version of the program
  1. Compensation Variation and Equivalent Variation
  2. Market Demand with Network Externalities
  3. Production Function CES
  4. Mixed Strategies
  5. Emission trading markets and Common property
  6. Coase Theorem
• Appendix 2 in Chapter 4 is included in the final version of the program

 

Office hours (after the course):

Panaccione: Thursday, 10.30 - 12.30, office 41, 2nd floor, Research Building

Marazzi: Friday, 16.00 - 17.30, room C ("aula riunioni C"), 2nd floor, Research Building

 

Office hours (during the course):

Panaccione: Friday from 16.30 to 17.30, office 41, 2nd floor, Research Building, and by appointment to be scheduled by e-mail

Marazzi: after each practice class and by appointment to be scheduled by e-mail

Aggiornato A.A. 2015-2016

Textbook..

D. Besanko and R. Braeutigam, Microeconomics (Fifth Edition), Wiley

Syllabus

Analyzing Economic Problems
1.1 Why Study Microeconomics?
1.2 Three Key Analytical Tools
1.3 Positive and Normative Analysis
Demand and Supply Analysis
2.1 Demand, Supply, and Market Equilibrium
2.2 Price Elasticity of Demand
2.3 Other Elasticities
2.4 Elasticity in the Long Run versus the Short Run
Consumer Preferences and the Concept of Utility
3.1 Representations of Preferences
3.2 Utility Functions
3.3 Special Preferences
Consumer Choice
4.1 The Budget Constraint
4.2 Optimal Choice
The Theory of Demand
5.1 Optimal Choice and Demand
5.2 Change in the Price of a Good: Substitution Effect and Income Effect
5.3 Change in the Price of a Good: The Concept of Consumer Surplus
5.4 Market Demand
5.5 The Choice of Labor and Leisure
Inputs and Production Functions
6.1 Introduction to Inputs and Production Functions
6.2 Production Functions with a Single Input
6.3 Production Functions with More Than One Input
6.4 Substitutability Among Inputs
6.5 Returns to Scale
6.6 Technological Progress
Costs and Cost Minimization
7.1 Cost Concepts for Decision Making
7.2 The Cost-Minimization Problem
7.3 Comparative Statics Analysis of the Cost-Minimization Problem
7.4 Short-Run Cost Minimization
Cost Curves
8.1 Long-Run Cost Curves
8.2 Short-Run Cost Curves
Perfectly Competitive Markets
9.1 What Is Perfect Competition?
9.2 Profit Maximization by a Price-Taking Firm
9.3 How the Market Price Is Determined: Short-Run Equilibrium
9.4 How the Market Price Is Determined: Long-Run Equilibrium
9.5 Economic Rent and Producer Surplus
Competitive Markets: Applications
10.1 The Invisible Hand, Excise Taxes, and Subsidies
Monopoly and Monopsony
11.1 Profit Maximization by a Monopolist
11.2 The Importance of Price Elasticity of Demand
11.3 Comparative Statics for Monopolists
11.5 The Welfare Economics of Monopoly
11.6 Why Do Monopoly Markets Exist?
Market Structure and Competition
13.1 Describing and Measuring Market Structure
13.2 Oligopoly with Homogeneous Products
Game Theory and Strategic Behavior
14.1 The Concept of Nash Equilibrium
14.3 Sequential-Move Games and Strategic Moves
Externalities and Public Goods
17.1 Introduction
17.2 Externalities
17.3 Public Goods
Pricing strategies
A. First Degree Price Discriminatio and Two-Part Tariff (paper with E. Campioni and sections 12.1 and 12.2)
B. Linear Pricing
C. Third Degree Price Discrimination (paper with E. Campioni and sections 12.3, pages 420-421)
D. Versioning (lecture notes and pages 427-428)

- Numbers refer to sections in the textbook. For the section on Pricing strategies, the paragraphs are 4.3, 4.3.1 (example 11 and example 12) and 4.3.2 (example 14 and 15) of the working paper "A Proof without Words and a Maximum without Calculus" (joint with E. Campioni) 
- The syllabus is subject to variations to be communicated in class and on the web page of the course
- For the mathematical requisites, consult the Mathematical Appendix of the textbook. In addition, students may consult "Mathematics for Economists" by C.P. Simon and L. Blume (W.W.Norton)
- The book is available, among others, at this reseller. Contacts for info on pricing and delivery: cristina@aab.it - riccardo@aab.it
- Important information regarding the Italian legislation on illegal photocopying of textbooks

Further information on the program

• In addition to the list of sections presented above, the following section/topics/pages are not included in the final version of the program
  1. Compensation Variation and Equivalent Variation
  2. Market Demand with Network Externalities
  3. Production Function CES
  4. Mixed Strategies
  5. Emission trading markets and Common property
  6. Coase Theorem
• Appendix 2 in Chapter 4 is included in the final version of the program

Lectures (main topics)

1. Introduction to the course. Microeconomics: tools and objectives (22.02.2016)
2. Constrained optimization problems. Trade-off costs and benefits (24.02.2016)
3. Demand and Supply in a Perfectly Competitive Market. Excess Demand and Excess Supply. Market Equilibrium (29.02.2016)
4. Comparative Statics of Market Equilibrium. Price Elasticity of Demand (02.01.2016)
5. Price Elasticity and Total Expenditure (or Total Revenue). Income and Cross-Price Elasticity of Demand. Elasticity in the Long and in the Short Run (04.03.2016)
6. Preferences. Utility function. Marginal Utility. Marginal Rate of Substitution (07.03.2016)
7. Perfect Substitutes, Perfect Complements, Cobb-Douglas, and Quasi-Linear Utility Functions. The budget set and the budget line (09.03.2016)
8. Optimal Choice. Tangency condition (16.03.2016)
9. Corner Points. Optimal choice and Demand. Engel Curves. Income Effect and Substitution Effect (18.03.2016)
10. A general analysis of the income and the substituion effect. Labor-Leisure Choice (30.04.2016)
11. Change in wage rate and labor supply. Intertemporal choice (01.04.2016)
12. Production function with single and multple input (06.04.2016)
13. Cost minimizing combination of input (08.04.2016)
14. Demand for input. Total cost curve.The profit maximization problem of a price-taking firm (18.04.2016)
15. The long-run profit maximization problem (20.04.2016)
16. The short-run profit maximization problem with sunk fixed costs (22.04.2016)
17. The short-run profit maximization problem with non-sunk fixed costs. The competitive equilibrium in the short and in the long run (27.04.2016)
18. Consumers' and Producers' Surplus. Efficiency of the perfectly competitive equilibrium. The monopoly (27.04.2016)
19. Inverse Elasticity Pricing Rule. Comparative Statics of the Monopoly. Inefficiency of the monopoly. Barriers to Entry (02.05.2016)
20. The Cournot Duopoloy Model (04.05.2016)
21. The Bertrand and the Stackelberg Duopoly Model (06.05.2016)
22. Classroom Experiment on Voluntary Contribution to Public Good (09.05.2016)
23. The Voluntary Contribution to Public Good model (10.05.2016)
24. GameTheory. Nash Equilibrium. Dominant and Dominated Strategies (11.05.2016)
25. Games with Multiple Equilibria. Sequential-Move Games. Externalities. Excise taxes (13.05.2016)
26. Classroom Experiment on Cournot duopoly (16.05.2016)
27. Deadweight loss from taxation. Incidence of a tax. Rmedies to (negative) externalities: emission standards, emission fees (17.05.2016)
28. Capturing surplus: price discrimination. First degree price discrimination and two-part tariff (18.05.2016)
29. Third degree price discrimination. Versioning (20.05.2016)

Practice classes

1. Introductory Practice Class (26.02.2016)
2. Practice Class 1 (11.03.2016)
3. Practice Class 2 (21.03.2016)
4. Practice Class 3 (23.03.2016)
5. Practice Class 4 (08.04.2016)
6. Practice Class 5 (22.04.2016)
7. Practice Class 6 (29.04.2016)
8. Practice Class 7 (06.05.2016)
9. Practice Class 8 (13.05.2016)
10. Practice Class 8 (20.05.2016)

Additional references

1. J.E. Stiglitz and C.E. Walsh, Principles of Economics, Norton, 2006
2. N.G. Mankiw, Principles of Economics, Cengage, 2011
3. D. Acemoglu, D. Laibosn, J. List, Economics, Pearson, 2016 
4. A. Schotter, Microeconomics. A Modern Approach, South-Western College, 2008
5. H.L. Varian, Intermediate Microeconomics, Norton, 1993

Supplementary material

1. Economics (by the American Economic Association)
2. Food Supply: Uncharted Waters (by the Financial Times)
3. What is Economics. The Role of Prices. Supply and Demand Analysis (by G.S. Becker, Economic Theory, 2007, pp.1-7)
4. An Analogy about Supply and Demand (by A. Marshall, Principles of Economics, 1890)
5. Economics. A Very Short Introduction (by P. Dasgupta, available on reserve in the faculty library. To read chapter 4, Markets)
6. A Proof Without Words and a Maximum Without Calculus (joint with E. Campioni)
7. Environmental Engel curves (from voxeu.org)
8. Classroom Experiment on Public Good (available on C.A. Holt's webpage and published on Journal of Economic Perspectives, 11(4), 209-215, 1997)
9. Classorrom Experimen on Monopoly and Cournot Duopoly is taken fron C.A. Holt's Markets, Games, and Strategic Behavior (Pearson 2007), as implemented on VeconLab

Further information on the program

• In addition to the list of sections presented above, the following section/topics/pages are not included in the final version of the program
  1. Compensation Variation and Equivalent Variation
  2. Market Demand with Network Externalities
  3. Production Function CES
  4. Mixed Strategies
  5. Emission trading markets and Common property
  6. Coase Theorem
• Appendix 2 in Chapter 4 is included in the final version of the program

Office hours (after the course):

Panaccione: Wednesady from 10.00 to 12.00, office 41, 2nd floor, Research Building, and by appointment to be scheduled by e-mail

 

Office hours (during the course):

Panaccione: Friday from 16.30 to 17.30, office 41, 2nd floor, Research Building, and by appointment to be scheduled by e-mail
Marazzi: after each practice class and by appointment to be scheduled by e-mail

Aggiornato A.A. 2014-2015

Textbook.

D. Besanko and R. Braeutigam, Microeconomics (Fifth Edition), Wiley

Syllabus

Analyzing Economic Problems
1.1 Why Study Microeconomics?
1.2 Three Key Analytical Tools
1.3 Positive and Normative Analysis
Demand and Supply Analysis
2.1 Demand, Supply, and Market Equilibrium
2.2 Price Elasticity of Demand
2.3 Other Elasticities
2.4 Elasticity in the Long Run versus the Short Run
Consumer Preferences and the Concept of Utility
3.1 Representations of Preferences
3.2 Utility Functions
3.3 Special Preferences
Consumer Choice
4.1 The Budget Constraint
4.2 Optimal Choice
The Theory of Demand
5.1 Optimal Choice and Demand
5.2 Change in the Price of a Good: Substitution Effect and Income Effect
5.3 Change in the Price of a Good: The Concept of Consumer Surplus
5.4 Market Demand
5.5 The Choice of Labor and Leisure
Inputs and Production Functions
6.1 Introduction to Inputs and Production Functions
6.2 Production Functions with a Single Input
6.3 Production Functions with More Than One Input
6.5 Returns to Scale
6.6 Technological Progress
Costs and Cost Minimization
7.1 Cost Concepts for Decision Making
7.2 The Cost-Minimization Problem
7.3 Comparative Statics Analysis of the Cost-Minimization Problem
7.4 Short-Run Cost Minimization
Cost Curves
8.1 Long-Run Cost Curves
8.2 Short-Run Cost Curves
Perfectly Competitive Markets
9.1 What Is Perfect Competition?
9.2 Profit Maximization by a Price-Taking Firm
9.3 How the Market Price Is Determined: Short-Run Equilibrium
9.4 How the Market Price Is Determined: Long-Run Equilibrium
9.5 Economic Rent and Producer Surplus
Competitive Markets: Applications
10.1 The Invisible Hand, Excise Taxes, and Subsidies
10.2 Price Ceilings and Floors
Monopoly and Monopsony
11.1 Profit Maximization by a Monopolist
11.2 The Importance of Price Elasticity of Demand
11.3 Comparative Statics for Monopolists
11.5 The Welfare Economics of Monopoly
11.6 Why Do Monopoly Markets Exist?
Market Structure and Competition
13.1 Describing and Measuring Market Structure
13.2 Oligopoly with Homogeneous Products
13.5 Monopolistic Competition
Game Theory and Strategic Behavior
14.1 The Concept of Nash Equilibrium
14.3 Sequential-Move Games and Strategic Moves
General Equilibrium Theory
16.1 General Equilibrium Analysis: Two Markets
16.2 General Equilibrium Analysis: Many Markets
16.4 The Efficiency of Competitive Markets
Pricing strategies
A. Non linear pricing
B. Two-Part Tariff
C. Linear Pricing
D. Third Degree Price Discrimination

- Numbers refer to sections in the textbook. For the section on Pricing strategies, the paragraphs are 4.3, 4.3.1 and 4.3.2 of the paper joint with E. Campioni 
- The syllabus is subject to variations to be communicated in class and on the web page of the course
- For the mathematical requisites, consult the Mathematical Appendix of the textbook. In addition, students may consult "Mathematics for Economists" by C.P. Simon and L. Blume (W.W.Norton)
- The book is available, among others, at this reseller. Contacts for info on pricing and delivery: cristina@aab.it - riccardo@aab.it
- Important information regarding the Italian legislation on illegal photocopying of textbooks

 

Lectures (main topics)

1. Introduction to the course. Microeconomics: tools and objectives (16.02.2015)
2. Constrained optimization problems (18.02.2015)
3. Demand and supply. Market equilibrium. Comparative statics (20.02.2015)
4. Elasticity of Demand. Elasticity and Total Revenues (23.02.2015)
5. Isoelastic Demand. Determinants of Elasticity. Elasticity in the Short and in the Long Run. Commodities and preferences (25.02.2015)
6. Utility function. Marginal Utility. Marginal Rate of Substitution (27.02.2015)
7. Special Utility Functions: Perfect Substitutes, Perfect Complements, Cobb-Douglas, Quasi-linear. The budget constraint (02.03.2015)
8. Utility maximization problem. Utility maximization wih perfect substitutes (04.03.2015)
9. Utility maximization with Cobb-Douglas, perfect complements. Price consumption curve. Income consumption curve (09.03.2015)
10. Inferior and normal goods. Income elasticty of demand. Engel curve. Decomposition of price effect: the income effect and the substitution effect (11.03.2015)
11. On the sign of the substitution effect. Income and substitution effect with special utility function. Labor-Leisure choice (16.03.2015)
12. Consumption-Savings choice. Intertemporal budget constraint. Effect of change in the interest rate on savings (18.03.2015)
13. Inputs and production functions. Average and marginal product. Marginal rate of technical substitution. Returns to scale (23.03.2015)
14. Cost minimization. Comparative static analysis of the cost minimization problem. Price elasticity of demand for inputs. Cost minimization in the short run (24.03.2015)
15. Total cost curve in the long run. Comparative statics. Input demand and total cost function with special production function (25.03.2015)
16. Long-run average and marginal cost curves. Long-run profit maximization. Costs in the short run (variable, fixed, sunk, nonsunk). Short run total cost curve (30.03.2015)
17. Short-run profit maximization. Short-run and long-run perfectly competitive equilibrium (01.04.2015)
18. Consumer surplus. Compensating variation and equivalent variation (13.04.2015)
19. Producer surplus. Excise taxes. Deadweight loss. Incidence of excise taxes (15.04.2015)
20. Subsidies. Price ceilings and price floors. Revenues and cost for a monopolist (20.04.2015)
21. Profit maximization for a monopolist. Comparative statics. Deadweight loss of monopoly (22.04.2015)
22. Pricing by a monopolist with a single consumer. Non linear tariff (27.04.2015)
23. Two-part tariff and linear tariff (29.04.2015)
24. Pricing by a monopolist with heterogeneous consumers (04.05.2015)
25. Duopoly model of Cournot. Duopoly model of Stackelberg (06.05.2015)
26. Profit maximization by a cartel. Monopolistic competition. Simultaneous-move games. Nash equilibrium in pure strategies (08.05.2015)
27. Nash equilibrium with mixed strategies. Sequential-move games (11.05.2015)
28. Backward Induction. Strategic moves. The Edgeworth box (18.05.2015)
29. Exchange Efficiency, Input Efficiency and Substitution Efficiency. Efficiency properties of general competitive equilibrium (20.05.2015)
30. Wrap-up (25.05.2015)

Practice classes

1. Practice class 1 (06.03.2015)
2. Practice class 2 (13.03.2015)
3. Practice class 3 (20.03.2015)
4. Practice class 4 (27.03.2015)
5. Practice class 5 (31.03.2015)
6. Practice class 6 (17.04.2015)
7. Practice class 7 (24.04.2015)
8. Practice class 8 (04.05.2015)
9. Practice class 9 (13.05.2015)
10. Practice class 10 (15.05.2015)
11. Practice class 11 (22.05.2015)

Supplementary material

1. Economics (by the American Economic Association)
2. Food Supply: Uncharted Waters (by the Financial Times)
3. What is Economics. The Role of Prices. Supply and Demand Analysis (by G.S. Becker, Economic Theory, 2007, pp.1-7)
4. An Analogy about Supply and Demand (by A. Marshall, Principles of Economics, 1890)
5. Economics. A Very Short Introduction (by P. Dasgupta, available on reserve in the faculty library. To read chapter 4, Markets)
6. A Proof Without Words and a Maximum Without Calculus (joint with E. Campioni)
7. Environmental Engel curves (from voxeu.org)
8. Minimum wage reforn in the USA: a brief survey article, a letter for it, a letter against it
9. Ultimatum Bargaining: the original article and a retrospective survey

Office hours (during the course):

Panaccione: Monday and Wednesday from 11.30am to 12.30am, office 41, 2nd floor, Research Building, or by appointment to be scheduled by e-mail
Marazzi: Wednesday from 13am to 15am, 2 floor, Research Building, or on Thursday by appointment to be scheduled by e-mail

Office hours (from May 25, 2015):

Panaccione: Wednesday from 10.30am to 12.30am, office 41, 2nd floor, Research Building, or by appointment to be scheduled by e-mail
Marazzi: Wednesday from 13.30am to 15.30am, 2 floor, Research Building, or by appointment to be scheduled by e-mail

 

Office hours (July, 2015):

Panaccione: by appointment to be scheduled by e-mail
Marazzi: by appointment to be scheduled by e-mail