EXC 3520 Microeconomics

EXC 3520 Microeconomics

Course code: 
EXC 3520
Department: 
Economics
Credits: 
7.5
Course coordinator: 
Anders Tveit
Course name in Norwegian: 
Microeconomics
Product category: 
Bachelor
Portfolio: 
Bachelor - Common Courses
Semester: 
2020 Autumn
Active status: 
Active
Level of study: 
Bachelor
Teaching language: 
English
Course type: 
One semester
Introduction

Microeconomics deals with the behaviour of individual economic units, such as consumers, workers, investors, owners of land and business firms. Microeconomics explains how these units make economic decisions. Another important concern of microeconomics is how these economic units interact in markets and in industries.

Learning outcomes - Knowledge

Students will be trained in the systematic analysis of consumer and firm behaviour in various market situations, and shall learn to understand the efficiency of resource use given different market forms (perfect competition, monopoly and monopolistic competition). The exam contains more formal optimization problems than is customary in a standard course at "principles" level at a US university.

Learning outcomes - Skills

After completed course students shall:

  • Be able to solve basic microeconomic optimization problems, and to understand the main principles of economic modelling.
  • Be able to reason based on graphs and standard optimization problems, where the Lagrangian technique is mentioned, and they will develop both intuition and technical skills during the course.
General Competence

Students will be encouraged to reflect on and distinguish between the impact market changes have on efficency versus their distributive effects, and to be conscious the distinction between efficiency goals and other considerations not captured by the market analysis.

Course content
  1. Introduction to microeconomic analysis
  2. Demand, supply and market equilibrium
  3. Consumer behaviour
    • The budget constraint and consumer preferences
    • Effects of changes in price and income levels
    • Demand functions and elasticities
  4. Firm behaviour
    • Production theory
    • The optimal use of input factors
    • The cost of production
    • The profit objective
  5. Market theory
    • Perfect competition
    • Effects of taxation
    • Monopoly
    • Oligopoly
    • Game theory
  6. Market forms and resource allocation.
Teaching and learning activities

The course comprises 36 hours of teaching and 6 hours of review of exercises and discussions in class.

Software tools
No specified computer-based tools are required.
Additional information

.

Qualifications

Higher Education Entrance Qualification

Covid-19

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there may be deviations in teaching and learning activities as well as exams, compared with what is described in this course description.

Required prerequisite knowledge

EXC 2910 Mathematics or equivalent.
Microeconomics is the standard introductory course in microeconomics. Algebra and elementary calculus are required as a background for students taking this course - up to and including partial derivatives.

Assessments
Assessments
Exam category: 
Submission
Form of assessment: 
Written submission
Invigilation
Weight: 
100
Grouping: 
Individual
Support materials: 
  • BI-approved exam calculator
  • Simple calculator
  • Bilingual dictionary
Duration: 
5 Hour(s)
Exam code: 
EXC35202
Grading scale: 
ECTS
Resit: 
Examination every semester
Type of Assessment: 
Ordinary examination
Total weight: 
100
Student workload
ActivityDurationComment
Teaching
36 Hour(s)
Feedback activities and counselling
6 Hour(s)
Review of assignments in plenary
Prepare for teaching
36 Hour(s)
Group work / Assignments
49 Hour(s)
Student's own work with learning resources
68 Hour(s)
Examination
5 Hour(s)
Sum workload: 
200

A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 7,5 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of at least 200 hours.