Microeconomics: Information, Design, and Institutions

(5 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This course studies the design of institutions that optimally cope with fundamental, longstanding economic questions (allocation of private goods, public good provision, externalities). We start from a simple, institution-free description of each question, try to understand the basic tensions at work (for example environmental externalities), and derive institutions that optimally address these tensions (for instance systems of permits or taxes). In the process, we introduce the important ideas of social choice, game theory, and market design. We will shed light on the theoretical concepts using empirical applications and in class games.