Microeconomics
Students develop a suite of tools from economic theory to understand the mutual processes of individual action and structural constraint. Students apply these tools to human interaction and social decision-making. Builds an understanding of producer theory from the collaborative possibilities and physical constraints that unfold as production is scaled up. Presents consumer theory as the process of individuals doing the best for themselves, their families, and their communities -- subject to the sociostructural constraints under which they operate. Considers alternative frameworks of social welfare, with a specific focus on marginalization and crisis, as well as common policy interventions and their implications under different constructions of welfare.
Fall 2010
Topics
- The housing and financial bubbles
- Midterm 1
- Imperfect competition I—Monopoly
- Imperfect competition II—Price discrimination, monopolistic competition
- Imperfect competition III—Oligopoly and game theory
- Capstone example: Why medical costs rise so fast (including brief discussion of the effects of medical uncertainty, agency and the pernicious role of incentives, etc.)
- Midterm 2
Readings
- [NS]= Nicholson, Walter, and Christopher Snyder. Intermediate Microeconomics and Its Application . 11th ed. South-Western College Publishers, 2009. ISBN: 9780324599107.
- [NS] Chapter 1 (including appendix).
- [NS] Chapter 2.
- Immergluck, Dan. “Mortgage Market Breakdown: The Contributions of Transactional Failures, Conflicts of Interest and Global Capital Surpluses.” In Foreclosed: High-Risk Lending, Deregulation, and the Undermining of America’s Mortgage Market . Cornell University Press, 2009. ISBN: 9780801447723.
- [NS] Chapter 6 and 7.
- [NS] Chapter 8.
- SES #: 9 · TOPICS: Midterm 1 · READINGS: No readings
- [NS] Chapter 9.
- Video: “Farm Fallout.” Jim Lehrer NewsHour , Monday, July 13, 2009.
- Parkin, Michael. “Oligopoly.” Economics . 9th ed. Prentice Hall, 2009. ISBN: 9780321589491.
- SES #: 17 · TOPICS: Midterm 2 · READINGS: No readings
- Nicholson, Walter, and Christopher Snyder. Intermediate Microeconomics and Its Application . 11th or 10th ed. South-Western College Publishers, 2009. ISBN: 9780324599107.
- Nicholson, Walter, Christopher Snyder, Peter Luke, and Michael Wood. Intermediate Microeconomics . Cengage Learning, 2008. ISBN: 9781844806294.
Prerequisites & course information
Prereq: None G (Spring; first half of term) 3-0-3 units
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026–2027
- MIT OpenCourseWare ↗Fall 2010
- MIT OCW readings ↗
- MIT OCW syllabus ↗
- MIT OCW calendar ↗
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.