501 ECO

This course provides an introduction to microeconomic theory. It is intended for graduate students in the economics program. Some components of the course are designed to teach material that all graduate students should know while others are used to introduce methodologies. Topics of recent interest will also be covered and may include: theories of production and individual choice (under certainty and uncertainty); markets and competition; tools of comparative static and their application to price theory. There will be also an introduction to non-cooperative game theory, theory of general equilibrium and its applications and extensions. Other topics include: risk sharing, moral hazard, adverse selection (signaling, screening), mechanism design, decision making under uncertainty.

The main text for the course is Hal Varian, Intermediate Microeconomics, 5th Edition (New York: W.W.Norton & Company, 1999) ISBN 0-393-97370-0

Other Textbooks:
The abbreviations in the table refer to the following textbooks:
MWG = Mas-Colell, Andreu, Michael Whinston, and Jerry Green. Microeconomic Theory. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1995. ISBN: 0195073401.
JR = Jehle, Geoffrey, and Philip Reny. Advanced Microeconomic Theory. 2nd ed. Reading, MA:Addison-Wesley,2000.ISBN:0321079167. This book is more readable and still covers much of the course material in about half as much space.

Kreps, D. A Course in Microeconomic Theory. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University, 1990. ISBN: 0691042640. Supplementary readings include lecture notes, which I will distribute as we proceed, as well as journal articles and selections from other books.
This course is a communications intensive subject. Assignments include six problem sets (approximately one every second week) and one Essay. The problem sets will count for a total of 20% of the final grade. The Essay will count for 30%. There will also be a midterm and a final examination, which will count for 25% of the grade each.