Corso di studio in Economia

In this class we present a formal introduction to microeconomics, focused on consumption and production. We also introduce the concept of efficiency and discuss when decentralized markets achieve efficiency. We finally describe some reasons that may lead to market failure, and discuss possible remedies.

Why should someone be interested in this course? First, microeconomics is at the core of economic thinking: it studies how individuals interact in a market economy. Second, mastering the theory of consumption and production is fundamental to understand (and work on) any branch of economics. Last but not least, microeconomic theory is fascinating by itself: it builds simple models to understand complex phenomena.

By the end of the class, students will be able to understand how economic agents interact in markets. Moreover, they will understand when decentralized markets achieve efficiency, when they do not, and what can be done to solve this.

We will cover the following topics:

• Introduction
• Consumer Theory
  • Budget Constraint
  • Preferences
  • Demand
  • Slutsky Equation
• Production Theory:
  • Technology
  • Profit Maximization
  • Cost Minimization
  • Cost Curves
  • Firm Supply
  • Industry Supply
• Equilibrium:
  • Exchange
  • Equilibrium with Production
  • First and Second Welfare Theorems
• Market Failure:
  • Monopoly
  • Externalities
  • Public Good

Classes are in person. We will introduce the the topics through models and we will present theoretical results. We will also devote some time to exercises.

Written exams. The length of the exam is between 90 and 120 minutes. There are between three and five exercises at the same level as those presented in class. The weight of each exercise on the final grade is proportional to its complexity. 

There are no oral exams.