| Institute of Food and Resource Economics | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Earliest Possible Year | BSc. 1 year | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Duration | One block | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Credits | 7.5 (ECTS) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Course Level | BSc | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Examination | Final Examination written examination Portfolio Examination Written Exam in Lecturehall Some Aid allowed use of a study note card is allowed Description of Examination: Five or more problem sets (exact number will be announced at course start) one of which is a midterm assignment, and a final written exam. 75% of all assigned work is required to be completed Weight: Written final 2-hour exam: 45% Course work: 55% 13-point scale, internal examiner Dates of Exam: 14 April 2007 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Organisation of Teaching | The teaching involves lectures and theoretical exercises. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Block Placement | Block 3 Week Structure: A | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Teaching Language | English | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Restrictions | 30 participants | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Areas of Competence the Course Will Address | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Competencies in basic science This course gives a basic understanding of how to formalize and analyze economic problems using mathematical tools. Competencies in applied science This course develops the students' ability to comprehend and solve economic problems and how to perform basic statistical analysis on economic data. Competencies in ethics and values This course fosters the students' ability to reflect on the logic and interaction between objective or positive microeconomic issues and subjective or normative economic values within a common theoretical economic framework. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Course Objectives | |||||||||||||||||||||
| This course gives an introduction to economic thinking & economic modeling methods. The emphasis is: on helping students identify common principals of microeconomics, on understanding the role of markets & equilibrium, on understanding supply & demand, on understanding why markets can fail, on understanding the role of free trade and firm behavior, and finally on understanding the role of labor markets, consumers, and the how the field of psychology can provide insights into market outcomes. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Course Contents | |||||||||||||||||||||
| This introductory course explores the foundations of microeconomics. The first Introductory segment of the class focuses on fundamental principals essential for the study of microeconomics including ten organizing principals of economics, the role of assumptions for developing theory and economic models, and finally a first look at the theory of comparative advantage and gains from trade. The second Supply and Demand segment introduces the tools of supply and demand, the notion of market equilibrium, and introduces and applies the concept of elasticity. We then continue on to extend the earlier supply and demand analysis to include measures of consumer and producer surplus as tools for conducting cost benefit analysis of the market equilibrium and government policy. Also in this section we apply the surplus based analysis tool to the case of international trade in order to consider who wins and loses from trade. This discussion gives insight into some of the protectionism debates that emerge under the context of globalization. The final element of this segment considers the impact of externalities such as pollution and education on the efficiency of market outcomes, and considers some government based and private solutions to the problems introduced by externalities. The third Firm segment of the class is concerned with the theory of the firm and industrial organization. We discuss what constitutes a firms costs and its cost curve, we describe the behavior of price taking firms, and we also discuss the behavior of price making firms such as monopolies and oligopolies. We conclude the firm segment by exploring the most relevant type of firm for contemporary issues, the monopolistically competitive firm that produces differentiated products for many consumers. The fourth Consumers and Frontiers segment first addresses issues pertaining to consumers as laborers selling services to labor market and also considers the market for other factors of production. Next we consider individual consumer decision making using budget constraints and indifference curves, and finally we explore a hot new area of economics called behavioral economics which represents a synthesis of psychology and economics. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Teaching And Learning Methods | |||||||||||||||||||||
| The course content will be dealt with through lectures and exercises. Central elements of the curriculum will be presented in traditional lectures. The students will then individualy and/or in groups work with relevant practical and theoretical problems in exercises under supervision. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Course Litterature | |||||||||||||||||||||
| N. Gregory Mankiw, Principals of Economics, Third Edition, (Thomson-Southwestern). | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Course Coordinator | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Hugh Kelley, huk@foi.dk, Institute of Food and Resource Economics/International Economics and Policy Division, Phone: 35336863 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Study Board | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Study Committee NSN | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Course Scope | |||||||||||||||||||||
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