University of Oregon
Department of Economics
Winter 2012
EC 311: INTERMEDIATE MICROECONOMIC THEORY
Office
Office hours
Instructor
Benjamin Hansen
539 PLC
Thur 1pm-3pm
GTF
Nickolas Hockensmith
TBD
TBD
TBD
Email
[email protected]
[email protected]
Course Description: The objective of this course is to provide you with an introduction to, and overview
of, the most important concepts and constructions in microeconomics. The material in this course
provides the foundation for studying issues in a wide variety of fields in economics, including labor,
health, education, industrial organization, trade, environmental economics, and other fields, and it is
essential for further study in economics.
We start with a review of material from Introduction to Microeconomics (EC 201) by discussing costbenefit analysis and supply and demand. Then we proceed to study consumer theory, gaining an
understanding of how consumers’ preferences and budgets lead to their consumption choices and the
derivation of individual and market demand curves. We then study producer theory and will learn how
available technologies lead to cost functions and supply curves. Having gained an understanding of both
the demand and the supply sides of economies, we proceed by studying the interactions of consumers and
firms in different types of markets.
Prerequisites: As stated in the University of Oregon catalog, EC 201 (introduction to microeconomics)
and MATH 111 (college algebra) or equivalent are ABSOLUTE prerequisites for this course. If you have
not passed these prerequisites prior to the start of the term, you must drop the course unless you have
explicit written permission from me to take it. If you do not drop the course and do not have permission to
take it, you will be given an F for this class. In addition to the required prerequisites, it is STRONGLY
recommended that you take calculus (at least MATH 241) before you take EC 311, as this course will use
differentiation and constrained optimization.
You will soon find out that this course makes extensive use of mathematics. I assume that you are, or will
soon be, comfortable with solving equations, and maximizing a function.
Course Materials: The text is a custom version of Pyndick’s Intermediate Micro text (from Pearson
Learning Solution). As a custom book, I restricted the book chapters to those we will be covering and
this reduced the cost substantially. Likewise obtaining the book through the book store you also get an
ebook you can access through a tablet or web browser, and it gives you access myeconlab.
Note that you CAN use older versions of the textbook. In fact, while I find this textbook particularly
helpful, you can use other reference intermediate textbooks as references.
I encourage you to come to class. I will use slides for a PART of most lectures, and the content of the
slides is of course discussed in more detail in lecture (they will be posted on blackboard later). If seats are
not available due to students from another section attending out of their section, I may hold an impromptu
quiz and you will get zero points if you are attending the wrong section. I will also share slides and
practice tests via dropbox in the case blackboard crashes.
Assessment: There will be two in-class tests and a final exam, plus several homeworks on myeconlab. I
will be sending an invite to myeconlab shortly. The course ID is hansen65217The two tests will be held
during weeks 4 and 7. They are 1 hour and 30 minutes long. The FINAL will be a comprehensive 2-hour
exam, which is scheduled as announced in the schedule of classes. All exams are closed-note and closedbook, and will be based on multiple choice and long-form questions. You are allowed to bring a
calculator (basic or scientific). You will NOT be able to use cellular phones, ipads, ipods, android tablets,
or windows surface, or HP touchpads (did anyone actually buy one?).
While I love tech as much as everyone, but nothing bothers me more than texting during lecture. I’m
always looking for new toys, so please don’t use yours during lecture time.
Your final course grade will be determined as follows:
15%
45%
40%
HOMEWORK
TWO TESTS [January 30 and February 22]
FINAL [March 18, 6:00pm]
Homework will be due by 11:45 PM Sunday of most weeks. All homework carry the same weight. You
get one “free pass”, so if for whatever reason you cannot turn in your homework in a given week, this will
not count against your final grade. If you turn in all of your homework, the one with the lowest grade is
dropped.
No makeup exams will be given. In the case of a missed test due to unanticipated emergency situations,
the student will be allowed to put the weight of the missed test on the final exam, provided I am notified
as soon as possible and verification of the emergency is given. A missed final due to an unanticipated
emergency may be handled with an “incomplete” for the course. Again, this will require timely
notification and verification of the emergency. Do not take this class if you already know you cannot
make the final exam.
Grades: Each exam is not graded with a letter grade, but scored as a percentage of correct answers. Your
overall grade for the class will be determined on the basis of these percentage scores. You will pass the
class (a grade of C- or above) if your overall score is 70% or more. In addition, I will adjust the scores as
needed to for a fair grade distribution conditional on the difficulty of the exam. I also have adjusted the
weighting in the past to reward people showing mastery of the subject by making substantial
improvement on the final relative to their midterms. This is by reweighting their grade by a higher
amount for every percentage point their final exceeds their midterm score + 15 percentage points.
Academic Dishonesty Policy: Academic dishonesty (from plagiarizing work to cheating on exams) will
NOT be tolerated. Please acquaint yourself with the Student Conduct Code, which is published in the
Schedule of Classes each term. If I have reason to believe that a student is violating the Student Conduct
Code, I will involve the Student Judicial Affairs Office. I have a very good eye in catching cheating
students: I have reported several in the past. Instead, study hard, work hard, and if you have problems
with the materials come see me or the GTFs BEFORE you turn in materials. Likewise copying the
homework of others will only hurt you in the long run.
Students with Disabilities: If you have a documented disability and anticipate needing accommodations
in this course, please make arrangements with me during the first week of the term. Please request that
the counselor for students with disabilities send me a letter verifying your disability and informing me
what accommodations you will require.
Outline of Course Material: Below is a tentative schedule for the term.
Part I: Introduction
WEEK 1: Cost-Benefit Analysis and Supply and Demand Analysis, Math Primer
Read Chapters 1,and 2.
Part II: Consumer Theory
WEEK 2: Preferences, Utility, Budget Constraints, and Choice
Read Chapter 3 and Appendix pp(146-143).
WEEK 3: Choice, Individual and Market Demand; Elasticities
Read Chapter 4.
WEEK 4: Uncertainty, Applications of Choice;
Read Chapter 5.
Exam 1 [January 30, tentatively].
Part II: Producer Theory
WEEK 5: Production and Costs
Read Chapter 6, Chapter 7 and Appendix (pp. 269-274).
Part III: Market Structure
WEEK 6: Costs and Perfect Competition and Profit Maximization
Read Chapter 8
WEEK 7: Market Supply
Chapter 9.
Exam 2 [February 20, tentatively].
WEEK 8: Monopoly
Read Chapter 10 and 11.
WEEK 9: Imperfect Competition
Read Chapter 12 and 13.
WEEK 10: Imperfect Competition, and Review.
FINALS WEEK: Comprehensive Final, March 18, 6:00 PM.