Advanced Microeconomics I (2012)

Last up-dated: June 6 2012

Office Hours:

Instructor, Yosuke YASUDA: Mondays 10:00-12:00 or by appointment (Room C911)

TA: Ryoko SUSUKIDA: by appointment (Student ID: PhD10001)

1. Important Announcement

  • There is no TA session on June 6. May 31

  • The final exam will be on June 6 (Wed) from 9:00 am. May 17

  • The lecture on May 2 (Wednesday) is cancelled. TA session will be held instead (from 9 am). May 1

  • We have the first lecture today, 16:40 - 18:10 at room 5F. April 5

  • This web page is under construction. February 14

2. Course Description syllabus

This is an advanced course in microeconomics, emphasizing the applications of mathematical tools and models to the study of individual economic decisions and their aggregate consequences. We begin with a parsimonious set of hypotheses about human behavior and the ways in which individual choices interact, and then examine the implications for markets. This entails treatments and applications of consumer theory and theory of the firm, under the ideal conditions implied by our hypotheses. Course grade will be determined by homework assignments (50%) and a final exam (50%).

3. Course Outline

  1. Logic, Sets, and Topology Apr.5

    • Handout: JR Appendix1

    • Handout: JR Appendix2

  2. Optimization Apr.11

    • Assignment: PQ1

  3. Consumer Problem Apr.12

    • Handout: JR Chapter1

  4. Consumer Demand Apr.18

    • Assignment: PS1

    • Handout: JR Chapter3

  5. Duality Apr.19

    • Reading: Deaton and Muellbauer Chapter2

    • Reading: JR Chapter2

  6. Preference, Choice, and Utility Apr.25

    • Supplementary note

    • Reading: Rubinstein Lecture3

    • Assignment: PQ2

  7. Firm Problem Apr.26

    • Assignment: PS2

    • Handout: JR Chapter4

  8. Partial Equilibrium May 9

    • Assignment: PQ3

  9. Welfare and Allocation May 10

    • Handout: JR Chapter5

  10. General Equilibrium May 16

    • Assignment: PS3

  11. Expected Utility May 17

    • Reading: Ken Binmore, Rational Decision, 2009. Chapter3

  12. Risk Aversion May 23

  13. Production Economy May 24

    • Assignment: PQ4

  14. Time and Uncertainty May 30

  15. Final Exam (150 minutes) June 6

4. Assignments

Inside ( ) shows the due day for each assignment.

    • Practice Quiz

      • PQ1 (Apr.19): file

      • PQ2 (May 2): file

      • PQ3 (May 17): file

      • PQ4 (May 31): file

    • Problem Sets

      • PS1 (Apr.26): file

      • PS2 (May 10): file

      • PS3 (May 24): file

5. Textbooks

Advanced Microeconomics (I and II) does not use specific textbooks. Instead, I provide my own lecture slides, which are downloaded from above course outline. There are two textbooks which you may find useful to complement my lecture notes. You are encouraged to purchase the second ([NS]), since it will serve as the main textbook for Advanced Microeconomics III and IV. For the first one ([JR]), the copies of related chapters will be distributed in class.

[JR] Geoffrey Jehle and Philip Reny, Advanced Microeconomic Theory, 3rd edition, 2011.

[NS] Walter Nicholson and Christopher Snyder, Microeconomic Theory: Basic Principles and Extensions, 11th edition, 2011.

An insightful advanced textbook on individual choice theory. It contains full of original ideas.

Ariel Rubinstein, Lecture Notes in Microeconomic Theory, 2nd edition, 2012.

Old version is downloadable from author's page for free

A standard graduate level textbook with full of intuitive explanation is:

Hal Varian, Microeconomic Analysis, 3rd edition, 1992

Those of you look for more lucid treatment than the above textbooks may consult with the following authoritative sources. The former comprehensively incorporates game theoretical perspectives into microeconomics, and the latter is most widely used for microeconomics courses for economics Ph.D. students.

David Kreps, A Course in Microeconomic Theory, 1990

Andreu Mas-Colell, Michael Whinston and Jerry Green, Microeconomic Theory, 1995

A classic but still useful textbook for consumer theory and its applications is:

Angus Deaton and John Muellbauer, Economics and Consumer Behavior, 1980

A well-written and highly readable book for optimization techniques is:

Avinash Dixit, Optimization in Economic Theory, 2nd edition, 1990

A more advanced, yet readable book on optimization is:

Rangariajan Sundaram, A First Course in Optimization Theory, 1996

The followings are comprehensive and rigorous textbooks on mathematics for economics, both of which contain variety of economic applications.

Angel de la Fuente, Mathematical Methods and Models for Economists, 1999

Efe Ok, Real Analysis with Economic Applications, 2007

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