Applied Economics
This course addresses the need for choice implied by the scarcity of resources. The fact of scarcity necessitates that individuals, firms, and societies choose among alternative uses of its limited resources. At the same time, the various choices made by different economic agents must be mutually consistent. In the course, we seek to understand how economists model the behaviour of individual consumers and firms, and how markets work to coordinate these choices. The analytical context of the course is as follows: Supply and Demand: Introduction to Microeconomics, Production Possibility Frontier, Efficiency, Opportunity Cost, Applying Supply and Demand, Elasticity, Equilibrium; Consumer Theory: Preference and Utility, Budget Constraints, Deriving Demand Curve; Producer Theory: Production Function, Cost Minimization, Deriving Supply Curve; Main Market Forms: Perfect Competition, Monopoly, Monopolistic Competition, Oligopoly.