Advanced Microeconomics I (2009)
Last updated: April 9 Course number: ECO600E
Instructor: Yosuke Yasuda ([email protected])
Time/Room: Thursday 3rd and 4th (13:20‐16:20) / Room 5D Office hours: By appointment
Course web: http://sites.google.com/site/yosukeyasuda/Home/teaching/micro09_1
1. Course Description
This is an advanced course in microeconomics, emphasizing the applications of mathematical tools and models to the study of individual economic decisions and their aggregate consequences. We begin with a parsimonious set of hypotheses about human behavior and the ways in which individual choices interact, and then examine the implications for markets. This entails treatments and applications of consumer theory and theory of the firm, under the ideal conditions implied by our hypotheses.
2. Course Outline
1. Sets and mappings: [JR] Appendix1 2. Preferences: [NS] Ch3; [R] Ch1 3. Topology: [JR] Appendix1 4. Utility: [NS] Ch3; [R] Ch2 5. Choice: [NS] Ch3; [R] Ch3
6. Consumer preferences and choice: [R] Ch4; Ch5
7. Optimization and value functions: [NS] Ch2; [JR] Appendix2 8. Utility maximization: [NS] Ch4
9. Dual problem: [R] Ch6
10. Income and substitution effect: [NS] Ch5
11. Production and cost functions: [NS] Ch9, 10; [R] Ch7 12. Profit maximization: [NS] Ch11; [R] Ch7
13. Expected utility: [NS] Ch7; [R] Ch8 14. Risk aversion: [NS] Ch7; [R] Ch9 15. Monopoly: [NS] Ch14
16. Final exam: 120 minutes
3. Grading
Course grade will be determined by combining grades on problem sets (30%) and a final exam (70%). Each problem set will be distributed in class and will be due a week later. Because solutions are published, late problem sets cannot be accepted. You are
encouraged to form study group, but must write up solutions independently.
4. Textbooks
There are two main textbooks for the course:
[NS] Walter Nicholson and Christopher Snyder, Microeconomic Theory: basic principles and extensions, 10th edition 2007.
[R] Ariel Rubinstein, Lecture Notes in Microeconomic Theory, 2006: Latest version downloadable from author’s page for free; http://arielrubinstein.tau.ac.il/Rubinstein2007.pdf
Useful textbooks at roughly the same level as [NS] are:
[JR] Geoffrey Jehle and Philip Reny, Advanced Microeconomic Theory, 2nd edition, 2000.
Hal Varian, Microeconomic Analysis, 3rd edition, 1992.
Those of who look for more lucid treatment than the above textbooks may consult with the following authoritative sources. The former incorporates game theoretical perspectives, and the latter is as standard textbook most widely used in Economics Ph.D. microeconomics courses.
David Kreps, A Course in Microeconomic Theory, 1990.
Andreu Mas‐Colell, Michael Whinston and Jerry Green, Microeconomic Theory, 1995.
A classic textbook for theory and applications on consumer demand is:
Angus Deaton and John Muellbauer, Economics and Consumer Behavior, 1980.
A well‐written bok for optimization techniques, which provides full of intuitive explanation is:
Avinash Dixit, Optimization in Economic Theory, 2nd edition, 1990.
A more advanced, but highly readable textbook on optimization is: Rangariajan Sundaram, A First Course in Optimization Theory, 1996.
The followings are comprehensive and rigorous textbooks on mathematics for economics both of which contain variety of economic applications:
Angel de la Fuente, Mathematical Methods and Models for Economics, 1999. Efe Ok, Real Analysis with Economic Applications, 2007.
The latest comprehensive graduate level textbook on mathematics for economics (and econometrics) is:
Dean Corbae, Maxwell Stinchcombe, and Juraj Zeman, An Introduction to Mathematical Analysis for Economic Theory and Econometrics, 2009.
