National University of Singapore Department of Economics

EC2101 Microeconomic Analysis I Semester 1 AY 2013/2014

EC2101 Microeconomic Analysis I Semester 1 AY 2013/2014

Course Information Instructor: Dr. Zhang Yang Lecture: Thursday 2:00 pm 4:00 pm, LT11 Consultation hour o Thursday 4:00 pm 6:00 pm o Or by appointment Contact: AS2-04-36, 6516-6830, zhangyang@nus.edu.sg Course Overview This course is designed to help students Master key concepts and principles in microeconomic theory Develop a set of mathematical (as well as broadly analytical) tools Get prepared for more advanced courses Course Details Readings Textbook David Besanko and Ronald R. Braeutigam, Microeconomics, 4th Ed, Wiley, 2011 Lecture notes PPT slides will be posted on IVLE every Wednesday Assessment Homework, 15% Participation (tutorial), 10% Midterm Exam, 25% Final Exam, 50% Homework There are two individual homework problem sets. Homework problem sets will be posted on IVLE at least one week before its due date. Students are required to submit their homework in hard copies to the general office of the Economics Department on time. Graded homework will be returned and solutions will be posted on IVLE after the due date. No late homework will be accepted. Practice Problems Starting from week 2, practice problems will be assigned after each lecture. These problems will be discussed in the following tutorial session, but they will not be collected. Students are encouraged to work with others on these problems.

National University of Singapore Department of Economics

EC2101 Microeconomic Analysis I Semester 1 AY 2013/2014

Tutorial Tutorial sessions will start in week 3. There are ten tutorials in total. There will be no tutorial in week 7 (the midterm week). Attendance Students are expected to attend all lectures and tutorials. Though monitoring attendance in lectures is difficult given the size of our class, attendance of tutorials will be taken. Under faculty policy, three or more unexcused absences from tutorials will be reported to the Deans office. Participation Grading of participation is based on student presentation in tutorials. During each tutorial, students will present the solutions to the practice problems assigned in the previous lecture. Every student needs to present once in the semester. In the event that a student presents more than once in the semester, only his/her first presentation will be graded. Presentations are graded based on content (concepts and logic) and delivery (clarity and organization), but not on correctness. Exams There will be a closed-book midterm exam and a cumulative, closed-book final exam. Midterm exam will be held on 3 October at 2 pm. There will be no lecture in that week (week 7). If a student misses the midterm exam, he/she needs to provide valid reason and proof to qualify for a makeup midterm. Note that to be fair to the entire class, any makeup midterm will be more difficult than the original one. Final exam will be held on 27 November at 9 am. Other Policies Silence your mobile phones in lectures and tutorials. Dishonest practices on the exams and homework problem sets, or in the course generally are unacceptable. Any suspected cases of dishonesty will be reported and handled according to university policy.

National University of Singapore Department of Economics

EC2101 Microeconomic Analysis I Semester 1 AY 2013/2014

Tentative Course Outline PART I CONSUMER THEORY Week 1 (15 August) Course Overview; Constrained Optimization; Preference Readings Besanko and Braeutigam (BB), Mathematical Appendix, Section A4-A8; Chapter 3 Week 2 (22 August) Utility Function; Budget Constraint; Optimal Choice Readings BB, Chapter 3, Section 3.2-3.3; Chapter 4, Section 4.1-4.2 Week 3 (29 August) Optimal Choice; Revealed Preference; Individual Demand Readings BB, Chapter 4, Section 4.2, 4.4, Appendix 1; Chapter 5, Section 5.1 Week 4 (5 September) Income and Substitution Effects; Market Demand Readings BB, Chapter 5, Section 5.2-5.4 Homework 1 due on 5 September at 5 pm PART II PRODUCTION AND COSTS Week 5 (eLearning week) Production Readings BB, Chapter 6 Week 6 (19 September) Costs I Readings BB, Chapter 7, Section 7.1-7.2, 7.4; Chapter 8, Section 8.2 Week 7 (3 October) Midterm Exam 2:00 pm to 3:10 pm, MPSH1 Section A Week 8 (10 October) Costs II Readings BB, Chapter 7, Section 7.3; Chapter 8, Section 8.1-8.3 PART III COMPETITIVE MARKETS Week 9 (17 October) Perfect Competition I Readings BB, Chapter 9, Section 9.1-9.3, 9.5

National University of Singapore Department of Economics

EC2101 Microeconomic Analysis I Semester 1 AY 2013/2014

Week 10 (24 October) Perfect Competition II Readings BB, Chapter 9, Section 9.4-9.5; Chapter 10, Section 10.1 Week 11 (31 October) Government Interventions Readings BB, Chapter 10, Section 10.2-10.5 Homework 2 due on 31 October at 5 pm PART IV MONOPOLY Week 12 (7 November) Monopoly Readings BB, Chapter 11, Section 11.1-11.3, 11.5-11.6 Week 13 (14 November) Price Discrimination; Review Readings BB, Chapter 12, Section 12.1-12.2, 12.4 Exam Week (27 November) Final Exam 9:00 am to 11:00 am, location TBD