Professor William C. Perkins
Telephone (914)-323-5149. E-mail: perkinsw@mville.edu.
Office: Reid Hall 400-A
Office Hours: Tuesday & Thursday 3 to 5:30pm & Wednesday 11am to 12 noon.
Course Description: Intermediate microeconomics is concerned with market activity. Topics include market demand and supply, the theory of consumer behavior and the theory of the firm. Different kinds of product market structures will be examined including perfect competition, monopolistic competition, oligopoly and monopoly.
Required Reading:
Microeconomics: Theory/Applications (11th edition) by Edwin Mansfield and Gary Yohe. W.W. Norton & Company, publishers. Abbreviated M below.
Course Requirements: Three exams will be given during the semester on the dates indicated below. Each exam will count equally towards the final course grade (approximately 30% each). The remaining 10% will be determined from grades on homework, class participation and regular attendance.
Prerequisites: Principles of Economics I and II or the equivalent.
August 30 Introduction M chapter 1
(a) Tasks performed by a market system
(b) Model building in economics
(c) Positive v. normative economics
September 6 & 13 Consumer Tastes and Preferences M chapter 2
(a) Consumer preferences and utility
(b) Indifference curves and the marginal rate of substitution
(c) The budget line and price ratio
(d) Consumer equilibrium
September 13 & 20 Consumer Behavior and Individual Demand M chapter 3
(a) Effects of price and income changes
(b) Substitution and income effects
(c) Consumer surplus
September 20 & 27 Market Demand Curve and Elasticity M chapter 4
(a) Measuring demand curves
(b) Price, income and cross-price elasticity or demand
(c) Marginal revenue
(d) Industry and Firm Demand Curves
Friday, October 7
FIRST
EXAMINATION
October 11 & 18 The Firm: Its Technology and Costs M chapters 6 & 7
(a) Technology and inputs
(b) Short run and long run
(c) Production function and diminishing returns
(d) Isoquants and isocost curves
(e) Short run and long run cost curves
Oct 25 & Nov 1 Perfect Competition and Applications M chapters 8 & 9
(a) Equilibrium price & output
(b) Applications of the competitive model
(c) Long run supply
Friday, November 11
SECOND
EXAMINATION
November 15 The Monopoly Model M chapter 10
(a) Equilibrium price & output
(b) Comparison with perfect competition
(c) Price discrimination
(d) The regulated monopolist
November 22 Monopolistic Competition M chapter 11
(a) Equilibrium price & output
(b) Comparison with other models
(c) Mark-up pricing
(d) The role of advertising
November 29 Oligopoly M chapter 12
(a) Characteristics
(b) Cournot model and Nash equilibrium
(c) Collusion and cartels
(d) Game theory
December 6 Oligopoly (continued) and review
December 9 -13 FINAL EXAM: Date to be announced by
registrar’s office.
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