Economics 401: Intermediate Microeconomics, spring 2012
Instructor: Prof. Jeremy A. Sandford
Office hour: T 3-4pm, 335L B&E, or by appointment
Lecture:
9-9:50am TH, BE 305
Quiz dates:
Monday, January 30, Monday, February 13, Wednesday, February 29, Friday, March
23, in class
Final exam
date: Thursday, May 3, 10:30am-12:30pm
Required texts: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, Microeconomics, Pearson/Prentice Hall, Hellman and Alper, Economics of Crime, Theory and Practice, Pearson Custom Publishing
Homework 1, answers
Homework 2, due 2/13/12
Note: For some, but not all, of the classes, I will be posting lecture notes written by another economist. These are not required readings, and should not be presumed to be comprehensive, but they may complement your reading of the textbook and attendance at my lectures.
Schedule
Wednesday, January 11: Intro: microeconomics is the study of incentives and their consequences
Friday, January 13: Consumer incentives I: budget
constraints and indifference curves
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 3
Lecture notes 1
Monday, January 16: No class, Martin Luther King Day
Wednesday, January 18: Propoerties of indifference curves
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 3
Lecture notes 1
Friday, January 20: consumer choice, graphical
Lecture notes 2
Monday, January 23: utility maximization
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 3
Lecture notes 2
Wednesday, January 25: utility maximization, marginal
utility
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 3
Lecture notes 2
Friday, January 27: special cases of utility functions:
perfect complements and perfect substitutes
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 3
Lecture notes 2
Monday, January 30: Quiz #1 (with answers) (on consumer choice model)
Wednesday, February 1: expected utility and uncertainty
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 5 (skip 5.4)
Lecture notes 3
Friday, February 3: expected utility and uncertainty
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 5 (skip 5.4)
Lecture notes 3
Monday, February 6: No class
Wednesday, February 8: expected utility and uncertainty
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 5 (skip 5.4)
Lecture notes 3
Friday, February 10: Examples of problems involving
expected utility
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 5 (skip 5.4)
Lecture notes 3
Monday, February 13: quiz #2 (on material from beginning of course through 2/10)
Wednesday, February 15: firm production
reading: Pindyck and Rubinfeld, chapter 6
Lecture notes 4