The course aims to illustrate the basic principles of political economy and thus provide the essential analytical tools for understanding the functioning of today's market economies, mainly on the microeconomic level. The main topics analyzed are those of price formation, consumption and production decisions, the characteristics of market forms.

Microeconomics encompasses the analysis of individual agents' behavior and market equilibrium..

The program covers the institutional foundations of microeconomics (basic concepts, supply, demand and markets, applied microeconomic analysis, market failures). 

Specifically, the program is organized as follows:

• The Basics of Economics
• Markets and the state in a modern economy
• Fundamentals of supply and demand
• Consumer choices
• Production and technology
• Cost analysis
• Equilibrium in competitive markets
• Monopoly
• Oligopoly and game theory. 
• Monopolistic competition.
• Income, inequality and poverty.

None

Knowledge and understanding: by the end of the course, the student will have acquired basic knowledge related to consumer and business choice problems, the functioning of markets as well as the economic system, articulated in supply and demand, as a whole.

Applied knowledge and understanding (applying knowledge and understanding): the student will be able to understand the fundamental concepts of the discipline and use its main tools to interpret economic phenomena, for example by reading data in a table or the evolution of a graph.

Autonomy of judgment (making judgements): the student will have developed the ability to understand and interpret economic phenomena and thus the critical ability to evaluate possible solutions in terms of economic choice by the rational consumer.

Communication skills (communication skills): the student will have acquired the specialized language typical of economics and will learn to communicate his or her economic knowledge, also making use of appropriate tools, such as graphs, tables and simple formalizations. Learning skills (learning abilities): the student will learn how economic models work and will be able to use them for problem solving, both from a microeconomic and macroeconomic perspective.

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

In addition to the study of the textbook and materials provided by the lecturer, generally available on blended learning platform, training activities and supplementary seminars on topics of interest and current events, with the participation of operators in the field, external experts and direct involvement of students, are also planned.

Teaching

- Lectures

- Guided exercises of both theoretical and applied content

- Seminars taught by subject matter experts

Innovative teaching methods

- Debate: this is a collection of ideas on the chosen topic, whereby students are divided into teams-one for and one against-called to debate the key issue defined in the preparation phase.

- Problem-solving learning: this is problem-based learning for small groups; the space in which the class is held is organized to encourage work in small groups (6-8 students if possible).

Attendance

There is no attendance requirement. However, class attendance is recommended for a better understanding of the study topics and to acquire a solid preparation that will enable the student to adequately tackle the exam.

Course books

P.A. Samuelson, W.D. Nordhaus, C.A. Bollino, P. Polinori, ECONOMICS, McGraw-Hill, 22nd Edition, 2023. All the indicated chapters have to be studied: chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 16, 17. Read very carefully chapter 11.

Additional supplementary material will be available on the blended learning platform.

Assessment

Knowledge and comprehension and communication skills will be assessed through a written test involving multiple questions in a reasoned form with a possible oral test (at the discretion of the committee). The time available to answer the proposed questions is 70 minutes.

The evaluation criteria used are as follows: the level of mastery of theoretical knowledge, graphic and mathematical tools used; the degree of articulation of the answer; the degree of adequacy of explanation and goodness of argumentation; the degree of accuracy of graphic and formal analysis.

Students may opt for an assessment mode consisting of two tests:

(a) A first intermediate written test taken, during the semester of course delivery, on the days stipulated in the academic calendar. The midterm test consists of five reasoned questions and one exercise. Each individual question may receive a maximum grade of 5 points, the exercise may receive a maximum grade of 7 points; the partial grades then are added together to have the overall grade. The grade for the written test is given in thirtieths.

(b) A second intermediate written test, at the end of the course, on the days specified in the academic calendar. You can enter the second midterm only if you pass the first midterm. 

In the case of an unfavorable outcome for the second intermediate test, the student will have to take the full exam, on the entire program, in the regular appeals.

The final score is given by the average of the marks obtained in the two intermediate written tests (with any oral supplementation).

Alternatively, students may choose to take the comprehensive exam (on the entire syllabus) by appearing directly at the regular appeals of the exam session.

Both the second midterm and the full exam are structured exactly like the first, with the same evaluation criteria. At its discretion, the committee (chaired by the full professor) if it deems it appropriate, to verify and confirm the contents of the written test, may decide to supplement the latter with an oral examination (this only following the second midterm and for the full exam).

The student must answer the questions thoroughly and clearly in such a way as to demonstrate:

- that he or she has well assimilated the economic concepts and theoretical models presented in the course;

- that he/she is able to argue rigorously and concisely taking into account the time constraint, supporting the reasoning with the use of any graphs and/or other analytical tools and using appropriate language; adherence of the answer to what is being asked is important.

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.

Teaching

- Lectures

- Guided exercises of both theoretical and applied content

- Seminars taught by subject matter experts

Attendance

There is no attendance requirement. However, class attendance is recommended for a better understanding of the study topics and to acquire a solid preparation that will enable the student to adequately tackle the exam.

Course books

P.A. Samuelson, W.D. Nordhaus, C.A. Bollino, P. Polinori, ECONOMICS, McGraw-Hill, 22nd Edition, 2023. All the indicated chapters have to be studied: chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 16, 17. Read carefully chapter 11.

Additional supplementary material will be available on the blended learning platform.

Assessment

Knowledge and comprehension and communication skills will be assessed through a written test involving multiple questions in a reasoned form. The time available to answer the proposed questions is 70 minutes.  After passing the written test, at the discretion of the committee, the student may enter a supplementary oral.

The evaluation criteria used are as follows: the level of mastery of theoretical knowledge, graphical and mathematical tools used; the degree of articulation of the answer; the degree of adequacy of the explanation; the degree of accuracy of the graphical and formal analysis. Based on these criteria, attending students may opt for an assessment mode consisting of two tests:

(a) an intermediate written test taken, during the semester of course delivery, on the days stipulated in the academic calendar. The midterm test consists of five reasoned questions and one exercise.  Each individual question may receive a maximum grade of 6 points, the exercise may receive a maximum grade of 7 points; the partial grades then are added together to have the overall grade. The grade for the written test is given in thirtieths.

(b) a final written test taken, at the end of the course, according to the examination schedule. The final examination always includes questions in reasoned form and the use of graphs to explain the required topics. The written test consists of 5 questions and one exercise.  Each individual question can receive a maximum grade of 5 points, the exercise can receive a maximum grade of 7 points; the partial grades then are added together to get the overall grade. The grade for the written test is given in thirtieths.

The student must answer the questions thoroughly and clearly in such a way as to demonstrate:

- that he or she has well assimilated the economic concepts and theoretical models presented in the course;

- that he/she is able to argue rigorously and concisely taking into account the time constraint, supporting the reasoning with the use of any graphs and/or other analytical tools and using appropriate language; adherence of the answer to what is being asked is important.

The final score is given by the average of the marks obtained in the two written tests.

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.

Non-attending students are encouraged to make contact with the lecturer via e-mail and/or come to the reception at least once during the academic year for timely clarification of the syllabus and assessment methods.   

The student can request to sit the final exam in English with an alternative bibliography. Please contact the lecturer.

Students who have registered disability certification or DSA certification with the Office of Inclusion and Right to Study may request to use concept maps (for keywords) during the exam.

For this purpose, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam call, to the or course instructor, who will check their consistency with the university guidelines and may request their modification.