ECO2132
Principles of Microeconomics
The course presents an introduction to microeconomics analysis and the study of economic behavior in particular markets. Topics of study include an introduction to economics, introduction to the market system, market structure and pricing including monopolies and oligopolies, market failure and public policy, and international microeconomics within the firm or business entity.
UPON COMPLETION OF THE COURSE, THE STUDENT WILL BE COMPETENT IN:
- Understanding the basic concepts of the art and science of economic analysis including definition of economics, economic scarcity, factor of production, product and resource markets, circular flown model, positive and normative economics, and economic graphs.
- Understanding the basic economic tools used in economic analysis including opportunity costs, law of comparative advantage, production possibility analysis, and three economic systems.
- Understanding the economic decision makers of households, businesses, and the government.
- Understanding the economic concepts of demand, supply, and market equilibrium.
- Understanding elasticity of demand, elasticity of supply, income elasticity, and cross-price elasticity of demand.
- Understanding consumer choice and demand including utility analysis, marginal analysis, and law of diminishing utility.
- Understanding the basic concepts of production and cost in the firm including explicit costs, implicit costs, variable costs, fixed costs, law of diminishing returns, relationship between the total cost curve, variable cost curve, and marginal cost curve, in the short run, and economies and diseconomies of scale.
- Understanding the characteristics of the four market structures of perfect competition, monopolistic competition, oligopoly, and monopoly.
- Understanding the resource market including resource demand and resource supply, derived demand, the resource market demand and supply curve, temporary resource price differential, permanent resource price differential, economic rent and opportunity cost, the firm’s decision-making process regarding marginal resource cost and marginal revenue product.
- Understanding labor markets and labor unions.
- Understanding capital, interest, entrepreneurship, and corporate finance as related to the economy.
- Understanding transaction cost, imperfect information, and behavioral economics.
- Understanding economic regulation and antitrust policy as related to the economy.
- Understanding public goods and public choice as related to the economy.
- Understanding externalities and the environment as related to the economy.
- Understanding income distribution and poverty as related to the economy.
- Understanding international trade and its impact on the economy.
- Understanding international finance as related to the economy.
- Understanding economic development and its impact on the economy.