Interactive Syllabus

[you must read the syllabus]

Introduction

Course objectives. The course Seminar in microeconomics supplements the course Microeconomics 2. The main goal of the course is to deepen students' knowledge of microeconomic theory and improve their ability to apply the theory in practice.

Syllabus.  1. Introductory seminar • 2. Budget Constraint, Preferences and Utility • 3. Choice and Revealed Preferences • 4. Demand and Slutsky Equation • 5. Consumer's Surplus and Market Demand • 6. Uncertainty and Equilibrium • 7. Technology and Profit Maximization • 8. Cost Minimization and Cost Curves • 9. Firm Supply and Industry Supply • 10. Monopoly and Monopoly Behaviour • 11. Oligopoly • 12. Game Theory and Asymmetric Information

I will not add material, but--depending on several factors that I will evaluate--the program could be shortened and chapters could be dropped.

Learning outcomes. After completing the course, the student will be able to: - derive theoretical concepts from the field of consumer theory, firm theory, general equilibrium and asymmetric information theory; - apply microeconomic theory when solving stylized examples; - analyze real consumer decisions, competitive behavior and market results.

Study abroad. The course can be completed in case of study abroad (e.g. Erasmus). The exam can be taken after your return to Czechia; then, I can check your obligatory exercises too. Please contact me if you are studying abroad.

Contacts and meetings with students

My email is luca.fumarco@econ.muni.cz

My room is on the fifth floor, room 523, on the left corridor when you exit either of the two central lifts.

I do receive students in my office. However, the most suitable moment when to talk about courses related issues is during these seminars (i.e., MPE_ACMI). If you want to talk with me at a different moment, please contact me via email, and let's set up a meeting.

You can send me a message anytime and I usually answer within a couple of days. However, sometimes it takes longer or I simply miss your message (also, if you write to me with your private email, the email provider might automagically dump it in the spam/junk email; so, I recommend you use your muni email). If my answer takes too long to reach you, please send me a soft reminder via email or approach me during the lectures or seminars; never take my lack of a response as a deliberate act.

Topics schedule

1. Review of Mathematics (all exercises in the sheet), September 27th (FOR THIS FIRST SEMINAR, students in group 3 will have to join either seminar group 1 or 2, the reason being that September 28th is vacation day)
   
2. Budget Constraint (mandatory exercises 2.1, 2.5, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 4.1 ; optional exercises), October 4th
   
3. Choice and Revealed Preferences (mandatory exercises5.1, 5.2, 5.4, 5.7, 7.1, 7.3, 7.6; optional exercises), October 11th / Deadline online quiz
4. Demand and Slutsky Equation (mandatory exercises 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.6, 8.1, 8.4, 8.5; optional exercises), October 18th
5. Consumer's Surplus, Market Demand, and Equilibrium (mandatory exercises14.1, 14.3, 14.5, 15.0, 15.1, 16.1, 16.3; optional exercises), October 25th
   
6. Uncertainty (mandatory exercises 12.2, 12.9, 12.12, 12.13; optional exercises), November 1st
   
7. Study week, November 8th
   
8. Technology and profit maximization, November 15th (on this day we will have a different arrangement)
   
9. Test 1 + (go over mandatory exercises for previous seminar 18.0, 19.2, 19.16; optional exercises - only those on technology and profit), November 22nd
   
10. Cost minimization and cost functions (mandatory exercises 20.1, 20.2, 20.3, 21.1, 21.2; optional exercises - only those on costs), November 29th
    
11. Firm Supply and Industry Supply  (mandatory exercises 22.1, 22.4, 22.8, 23.4, 23.5, 23.11), December 6th
12. Monopoly and Monopoly Behavior (mandatory exercises 24.1, 24.4, 25.1, 25.2, 25.7(a-h), 25.8; optional exercises), December 13th
13. Test 2 + Game theory and oligopoly (mandatory exercises 27.5, 27.4(a-c,g), 27.8, 28.1, 28.4 (a-e), 28.6; optional exercises), December 20th

This topic's schedule is suggestive of the seminars' progress and could be adjusted depending on how MPE_AMI2 proceeds.

Literature

BERGSTROM, Theodore C. and Hal R. VARIAN. Workouts in intermediate microeconomics. 8th ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2009. 562, 38. ISBN 9780393935158. info (EXERCISES BOOK)

Evaluation scale

This is a pass/fail course, there is no grade, only a credit.

Whether you pass or fail depends on your attendance at the seminars, and on whether and how you solve the mandatory and optional exercises.

To pass it, you need to have 60 points out of the maximum of 103 points (104 with the bonus point).

There are two tests, each test is worth 30 points, whereas 43 points come from seminars attendance and work (more details below).

If your total number of points is less than 60 at the end of the semester, you may resit one of the tests. In the final evaluation, the points from the resit will be counted instead of the points from the chosen test.

To avoid a subjective evaluation, I do not round grades up if you are close to a cut-off or otherwise tweak grades. Please do not ask me to do this. Please note that I do not use a curve to grade your assignments or exams: your grade is in your hands only.

In-class activity and attendance

You can earn up to 33 points during the seminars, these points depend on your attendance and on the mandatory work. Below I explain how.

In every seminar, you may be asked once to solve an obligatory exercise (or a part of it). How you solve this (part of) exercise will determine how many points gain:

• you gain 0 points each time you do not attend the seminar
• you gain 0 points if, when I ask you to come to the board, you refuse to come
• you gain 0 points if, when I ask you to come to the board, you come, and you solve the exercise completely wrong (i.e., the process you use to find the solution and the solution itself are wrong)
  
• you gain 1 point if, when I ask you to come to the board, you come, you solve the exercise correctly, but you do not explain what you are doing (you have to explain it, otherwise it looks like you have copied from someone or from something without understanding anything)
• you gain 2 points if, when I ask you to come to the board, you come, you solve the exercise, and the solution you get is wrong, but the process that you have explained is correct (e.g., this is the typical case where a student did the correct process, but made a computational mistake)
• you gain 3 points if, when I ask you to come to the board, you come, you solve the exercise, the solution you get is correct, and you have explained it

The above rules do not apply to the first seminar (Review of Mathematics). At that seminar, all the attendees will automatically receive 3 points (but if you do not attend, you get 0 points).

It is impossible for me to have all of you come to the board for each lesson. Thus, whenever you attend, but are not asked to come to the board, you get 3 points. In order to be counted as an attendee, you have to badge in with your student card (the sensor that reads your card is right on the side of the door).

To make the 1h50' more bearable, we will have a 10' break in each seminar.

You can get 9 additional points if you solve the optional exercises. We will have rarely time to solve these exercises in class; so, if you do one or more of these optional exercises, come to me either during the break or at the end of the seminar and I will quickly check them on your papers.

You can get 1 additional point if you solve an online quiz that inquires you about this syllabus. It will be composed of a few multiple-choice questions. In order to receive this 1 point, you have to pass at least 70% of the quiz.

After each seminar, I could share with you step-by-step solutions that I wrote by hand (they might have typos or mistakes; this is not official material of the course and it represents notes that I use during the seminars, so be wise if you use them).

If a student cannot attend the seminars because of work or study abroad, they would have to contact me by the end of October.

Tests

How do tests look like? There are two tests. Each of them has 6 questions, a correct answer to each question is worth 5 points. Thus, if you respond correctly to each of the 6 questions in a test, you receive 30 points from that test. 

Problems in the test will be similar to the problems solved during the seminars. 

Tests content. Test 1 takes place over the first half of the lecture on November 22nd and will include questions on material covered in lessons 1 to 6. Test 2 takes place over the first half of the lecture on December 20th and will include questions on material covered in lessons 8 to 13 (see schedule of topics). 

If you miss the test on the scheduled date and have a document from the MD in the information system, you can write the test on a later date.

Tests rules. Both tests will be closed book, closed notes tests. NO CELLPHONE IS ALLOWED; YOU HAVE TO BRING YOUR CALCULATOR. 

ADDITIONAL RULES: NO TALKING, NO LOOKING IN THE DIRECTION OF OTHER PEOPLE'S EXAM. THE FIRST TIME YOU BREAK ANY OF THESE RULES, I GIVE YOU A WARNING, BUT ON THE SECOND TIME I WILL TAKE YOUR EXAM AND YOU WILL GET 0 FOR THAT TEST. In general, any copying, recording or leaking tests will lead to the same result: YOU WILL GET 0. If you have to ask something to a classmate (e.g., some water, a tissue), you first rise your hand and tell me that you have to do so.

The above rules apply to any unauthorized tool, aid and communication device, or other disruptions of objectivity of credit tests will be considered non-compliance with the conditions for course completion as well as a severe violation of the study rule (see the link at the bottom of the page)

Your wrong answers do not reduce your grade, they simply count as a 0; thus, if you are not sure about what to answer, just pick one of the answers: do not be tempted to break any of the above rules.

What is the relationship between MPE_AMI2 and MPE_ACMI?

During the lessons for MPE_AMI2, we will focus on the theory, while during the seminars for MPE_ACMI, we will focus on the exercises. As you see from the sample test, the exam for MPE_AMI2 will include both theoretical questions and exercises. Thus, although MPE_AMI2 is separate from the seminars (i.e., MPE_ACMI), the seminars will help you learn the tools to pass MPE_ACMI.

Could exercise banks (those used for tests and in-class activities) contain errors?

Please note that your tests and assignments in this course are usually multiple-choice quizzes that come from standardized test banks from one of the most famous intermediate microeconomics books in the world. Mistakes are very rare and there is no space for arbitrary decisions on whether an answer is correct or not.

The policy of zero tolerance for academic dishonesty will be strictly applied.