This course is an introductory undergraduate course that teaches the fundamentals of microeconomics. For some, it may be the only course they take in the subject, and it provides a solid foundation for economic analysis and thinking that can last throughout their education and subsequent professional careers. For other students, it may provide an academic basis for many years of study in economics, business, or related fields aimed at training professional economists. In particular, it is designed to offer students insights into economic principles guiding people’s behavior and how simple economic models help explain significant real world phenomena. 

After completing this course, students should have developed the analytical framework enabling them to understand economic issues, address decision problems and participate in the discussion of public affairs. By the end of this course, students should be able to: 

• Understand the nature of economics and the relation between scarcity, competition and social rules;

• Develop an intuition of opportunity cost and apply it when making choices;

• Appreciate the driving forces and benefits of social specialization and trade;

• Interpret various concepts of value and apply them to model market exchange; 

• Model consumer behavior, firm behavior and how they interact in the market; 

• Use the demand and supply model to analyze market equilibrium and how government policies affect market outcome; 

• Apply the economic way of thinking (principles) to a wider range of human activities. 

Students should also acquire the essential skills to approach economic problems intuitively, graphically and mathematically. 

Tentative Schedule.: