New in 2025-26

ECONOMICS 2050

Introduction to Economics as a Mathematical Science

(officially "Intermediate Microeconomics I'')

Three-sentence summary: This new course is designed especially (but not exclusively) for second-year science and engineering students who were unable to explore economics during their first year.  The course will cover two semesters of microeconomics (Economics 1021 and 2150) in one semester, and will leave students qualified for second-semester second-year microeconomics and various electives.  This fast-paced course requires students to have a solid understanding of one calculus course.

Three-paragraph summary: For background, note that economics students take two second-year courses in "microeconomics".  The first-semester course uses maximization problems to model consumers and firms, and finds an equilibrium price to equate demand and supply.  Then the second-semester course models simultaneous markets for many goods, and uses game theory to model monopolists or oligopolists who try to manipulate prices.  

At the general level, these second-year courses are numbered 2150 and 2151.  The prerequisites for 2150 include both Economics 1021 (a watered-down introduction to 2150 and 2151) and 1022 (a similar course for "macroeconomics").  These introductory courses do not use calculus, and can be too slow and too imprecise for mathematically inclined students. 

The new course, called Economics 2050, rolls 1021 and 2150 into one fast-paced one-semester course.  It has no economics prerequisites.  Rather, its only prerequisite is one calculus course, and more specifically, a solid understanding of power and logarithmic functions, the first and second derivatives of such functions, and the maximization of such functions (and combinations thereof) over a real interval. So the course seems especially well-suited to second-year science and engineering students with no knowledge of economics and a solid background in calculus. 

Ten-minute video with more details.  Hand-written slide from video.  (There will be no textbook to buy.)

Calculus pretest.  You should find this pretest easy (ignore questions 24 and 25).  If you must rely on eliminating options from the multiple-choice questions, you do not know the material well enough.  Further, there will be a similar calculus exam early in 2050, and that exam will count toward the course mark. 

Economics courses for which you will become eligible.  Courses available immediately after 2050 include 2151 (discussed above), 2155 (labor economics), 2159 (public expenditure), and 2176 (law and economics).  Also, if your mark in 2050 is high enough, you can apply to the Economics Department for special permission to jump to the honors version of 2151, which is numbered 2261.  Thereafter certain honors electives may become available, including 2288 (economic policy), 3329 (taxation), 3344 (labor economics), 3352 (international trade), 3364 (industrial organization), and 3366 (law and economics).

Economics modules you might consider.   For example, a minor in economics.  (For an honours module, consult early with our undergraduate office at econugrd@uwo.ca.  Scheduling might be difficult.)