BA Modern Language and Business & Management (Russian) / Course details

See course Blackboard pages.

The aim of this course is to introduce students to the fundamental concepts and techniques of intermediate microeconomics, with special attention to market failures.

On successful completion, students should be able to:

1. Solve simple individual choice problems under uncertainty.
2. Compute Nash equilibria and sub-game perfect Nash equilibria in static and sequential games, respectively.
3. Determine the monopoly equilibrium and compare it with perfect competition.
4. Understand the canonical cases of price discrimination.
5. Distinguish the main differences between price and quantity competition.
6. Find out non-cooperative solutions and policy remedies in simple economic models with externalities.

1. Uncertainty.
2. Monopoly.
3. Game theory and its applications to oligopoly.
4. Externalities.

Lectures and tutorial classes.

Mid-Term Test:

• Weighting: 20% of the final mark.
• Date: 16 April.
• Length: 45 minutes.
• Structure: In-class test.
• Students need to answer 1 out of two questions where they require to solve mathematical questions and explain intuitively and graphically (where possible).
• Topics: Uncertainty, Monopoly, and Game theory and its application to oligopoly

Final Exam:

• Weighting: 80% of the final mark.
• Date: May/June Exam Period.
• Length: 1 hour.
• Structure: Multiple choice questions. There will be 14 questions and students are required to answer all.
• Topics: entire syllabus.
   

• Tutors will hold one Feedback Class at the end of the term (Tutorial 4), where students will have the possibility to obtain feedback on any other exercise covered in the Tutorials.
• Office hours.
• Discussion boards.

Lecture slides together with the course outline and problem sets will be available online. Any standard text book in microeconomics will be helpful, but students might find the following textbook particularly useful:

• Varian, H. (2002) Intermediate Microeconomics, Norton, 6th edition (or, the latest edition).

In addition, they can also use:

• Gravelle, H., and R. Rees (2004) Microeconomics, Pearson Education, 3rd edition.

Students must review basic mathematical concepts before the semester starts. They could read, for example, the mathematical appendix of Gravelle and Rees (2004).