Economic models must carefully identify decision makers, goals, choices and relationship between choices and outcomes. The course aims at providing students advanced theoretical tools in microeconomics, focusing on consumer theory, theory of the firm, general equilibrium and welfare economics.

The course will cover the following topics: 1 Consumer Theory:

• Rationalchoice, utility functions

• Utility maximization and demand

• Price and income changes and elasticity.

2 Theory of the Firm

• Production technology

• Cost minimization and profit maximization

• Inputs demands

• Perfect Competition

3 Market Power

• Monopoly

• Monopolistic Competition

• Oligopoly

• Collusion

4 Market Failures

• Asymmetric Information

• Externalities

- Knowledge and understanding: the student, at the end of the course, will have acquired advanced knowledge about the problems of consumers’ choice and firms’ profit maximizations, and the functioning of markets.

- Applying knowledge and understanding: the student will be able to understand the dynamics of the economic variables and policies in terms of market regulation.

- Making judgements: the student will have developed the understanding of economic phenomena and the critical capacity to evaluate the solutions proposed in relation to some issues of economic policy.

- Communication skills: he student will learn to make their economics knowledge with the help of graphs and mathematical tools.

- Learning skills: the student will learn the functioning of economic models and to use them for the solution of economic problems.

The teaching material prepared by the lecturer in addition to recommended textbooks (such as for instance slides, lecture notes, exercises, bibliography) and communications from the lecturer specific to the course can be found inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it

Teaching

The course consists of lectures and teaching (exercises) for a total of 20 hours of lessons.

Attendance

Compulsory

Course books

Varian, Microeconomic Analysis, Third edition, chapters 1-10, 14-16, 24-25

Assessment

# Please note: The test will be structured in 2 parts: Part A corresponding to topics 1 and 2; and part B, corresponding to topics 3 and 4. PhD students can decide whether to take the full exam in the final week of the first teaching module or take a partial exam on part A at the end of the first teaching module, and postpone part B to the final week of the 2nd teaching module.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.