Introductory Microeconomics

On completion of the course, students will be able to:

• explain and calculate opportunity costs as a basis for decision-making
• explain how the individual’s consumption choices depend on the prices of the goods as well as the individual’s income and preferences
• explain how companies’ production choices to maximize profit depend on the prices of the goods and the company’s costs in different market structures
• derive the demand curve for factors of production
• carry out a simpler economic analysis of the outcome in a market when there are exogenous effects or regulations and taxes are introduced
• carry out a simpler economic analysis of the outcome in a market where there is market failure.

The course provides an introduction to the concepts and methods used to make a microeconomic analysis. The starting point is scarcity – that there are limited resources – and that society therefore needs to choose how the resources are to be distributed. The course consists of two modules. In the first module, the concepts and theories that form the basis of microeconomic models are introduced, mainly the supply and demand model. In the second module, models are applied to analyze markets in perfect competition, monopoly, oligopoly and when there are market failures.

• Test
• Written exam
• Economic experiments with written laboratory report

The grading scale used for the final course grade is U–VG.

To receive VG on the course, VG is required in module 2

Grades are reported as follows:

• Theory and concepts - 1.5 Credits | U–G
• Economic analyzes and market failures - 6 Credits | U–VG

Overlaps NA1035