Registry
Module Specifications
Current Academic Year 2012 - 2013
Please note that this information is subject to change.
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| Description | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The purpose of this module is to equip students with the tools they need to examine issues in microeconomics. In this module students will develop knowledge and skills in standard microeconomic analysis, building on the basic knowledge gained in their introductory economics course. Students will also develop problem-solving skills, using tools mastered in Maths for Business, so reinforcing understanding of microeconomic concepts. A student who successfully completes this module should be able to confidently undertake further study in applied Microeconomics fields (eg labour, health, urban, or transport economics). Students are expected to attend lectures and to actively participate in workshops and tutorials. Weekly exercises will be assigned in order to focus students' study and ensure timely review of course material. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Learning Outcomes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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1. Use standard microeconomic tools to explain and predict behaviour of individual consumers and firms. 2. Apply microeconomic theory to explain market structures and the behaviour of firms within specific industry types. 3. Explain the advantage of perfect competition in achieving efficiency and comment on its potential shortcomings in the context of welfare economics. 4. Discuss how market failures occur and determine possible government policies to correct for them. 5. Translate economic ideas into equations and numerical examples and calculate quantitative answers to economic problems. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml |
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| Indicative Content and Learning Activities | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Review of Maths. Revision of key techniques that will be used in the course. Partial differentiation and solving simultaneous equations.. Theory of the consumer. This will introduce the standard tools used to analyse consumer behaviour: utility and indifference curves, budget constraint, constrained utility maximisation, individual demand, market demand. Within this framework students will examine applied issues eg. comparing use of subsidies or cash transfers to increase consumers' welfare, individuals as suppliers of labour. Theory of the producer. Technology and production, profit maximisation, cost minimisation. Market structures. Basics of market forms (Perfect competition and single-priced monopolies) will be reviewed. Students will focus on more advanced theories; examining how, and under what conditions, firms practice price discrimination and using game theory to analyse the behaviour of firms in oligopoly.. General Equilibrium and Welfare. Moving from examining the behaviour of a single consumer or producer, General Equilibrium focuses on the interplay of markets and how equilibrium is simultaneously determined within them. The concept of Parteo Efficiency is described, and the role of the market in achieving efficiency in a perfectly competitive world. The concepts of 'efficiency' and 'equity' in market equilibria are distinguished, and the Fundamental theorems of Welfare economics will be introduced in the context of a 2x2x2 economy.. Market Failure. Students will address situations where the assumptions underlying the first welfare theorem do not hold: the cases of externalities and public goods. In each of these cases the market will not automatically reach an efficient outcome, which opens up a remedial role for government. Potential solutions for the market failures will be analysed.. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Other Resources | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Programme or List of Programmes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| BSSAO | Study Abroad (DCU Business School) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| EPL | BA in Economics, Politics and Law | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Timetable this semester: Timetable for EF210 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of Last Revision | 02-NOV-06 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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