Marburg, Germany - Course Descriptions - Microeconomics

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The course "micro-economics I" provides an introduction to individual economic decision theory. It deals with benefits of price-coordination, theory of household and theory of production. The students get trained in simple economic optimization concepts within different economic settings. Conceptually, the lecture is based on the idea of methodical individualism (rational-choice theory). This idea is formalized and applied to different economic settings. The course focuses on a classical introduction into microeconomics that covers the theory of the household and aspects of the theory of the firm.

The lecture contains the following topics:

1. Market equilibrium
2. Consumer Choice and Demand Theory
3. Production Decisions
4. Competitive Markets and Competitive Supply
5. Monopoly

Objectives:
The lecture provides basic skills for describing and analysing economic problems to students, which will be analysed in further courses. A student, who has successfully passed the lecture, has gained the ability to formulate assumptions of rational economic behaviour and to describe objectives of individual agents as well as constraints individuals face. The student has gained knowledge about solution strategies for simple decision problems and understands the price mechanism as a communication device.
This lecture is part of the first-year program. Therefore, it supports students in the development and training of key competencies, e.g. the ability to read effectively reading and to structure the information provided during lectures.

Main textbooks:

• Pindyck, Robert and Rubinfeld, Daniel (2004): Microeconomics, 6th edition, Prentice Hall.
• Frank, Robert (2003): Microeconomics and Behavior, 5th edition, McGrawHill.
• Varian, Hal (2005): Intermediate Microeconomics, 7th edition, Norton.