Aims: This course is designed to provide an introduction to the methods of microeconomic analysis, including the use of simple economic models and their application. The aims of the course are to enable students to derive conclusions from simple economic models and evaluate their realism and usefulness. Together with EC20010 Intermediate Microeconomics (to be taken in the second year), we aim to provide students with a thorough grounding in the basic principles of microeconomics and exposure to a range of applications.
Learning Outcomes: The learning objectives are that, on completion of the module, students should be able to understand and apply basic microeconomic principles to the economic decisions of households and firms under a variety of market conditions. Students should be able to use these principles both to describe and to appraise these decisions, and should be competent in the verbal, diagrammatic and basic mathematical concepts and techniques used in introductory microeconomics. The second year unit, EC20010 further develops the theoretical toolkit, so that students will have a firmer and more formal grasp of both theoretical material and applications.
Skills: Basic grounding in introductory microeconomics. Student will acquire skills in problem solving through work completed in class and assessment. They will undertake a piece of applied research work with respect to a current topic in microeconomics.
Content: Introduction to Markets; Household Behaviour; Production and Costs; Perfect Competition and Monopoly; Imperfect Competition; Factor Markets - Labour; Risk and Uncertainty; Welfare Economics.
Key Texts:
* Lipsey, R. G. and K. A. Chrystal (LC). Principles of Economics. Tenth Edition, Oxford University Press, 2004.
* Begg, D., R. Dornbusch and S. Fischer (BDF). Economics. Seventh Edition, McGraw Hill, 2003.
* Parkin, M., M. Powell and K. Mathews (PPM). Economics. Fifth Edition, Addsion Wesley, 2003.
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