Introductory Microeconomics

An Introduction to Consumer, Firm, Game Theory and Imperfect Markets

Last updated 2022-01-10 | 4.1

- How to think (and think critically) about Microeconomics

What you'll learn

How to think (and think critically) about Microeconomics

* Requirements

* High School Algebra

Description

This course provides the most comprehensive and serious overview of first-year University Microeconomics (and, technically, way more than first-year Microeconomics) available, to date, on Udemy.

I don't have to be here. But if I am going to be here, I am going to do it right and set the benchmark as to how Economics should be taught. Because I take students and their exams and their personal development seriously (on that note, feel absolutely free to reach out for any question or doubt that may arise as you delve into the material). Because, when I was taken seriously by my professors, everything became clearer and more engaging. Because the world is in dire need of engaged, curious people who act according to the brains instead of their stomach, people who let serious social science guide their gaze upon the surrounding world instead of random nonsense. A thoughtful world is a better world. I am strongly convinced that a resolute, serious study of proper economics helps moving toward that end. I am going to guide you at every step of the way, but excellence requires your resolute and serious effort as well: you shall take out only what you shall put in.

In this course, I set out to introduce the main ideas and models in Microeconomics. Its purpose, shared by the other "Introductory" courses too, is to lay the foundations for deeper and more comprehensive studies in Economics. Hence, I spend little time dwelling on the mathematical derivations and statistical nuances, covering only the bare minimum, and more time trying to convey the intuition, the concept and, essentially, why should you care. After having covered the simple market model of supply and demand, I discuss Consumer’s Choice, Producer’s Choice (including production and costs), Game Theory (included an introduction to Auction Theory), the various models of Competition (Monopoly, Monopolistic Competition, Oligopoly), Uncertainty, Externalities (including the Coase Theorem), Public Goods, and the Informational Asymmetries (Adverse Selection, Moral Hazard and Signalling). I cap the course off by introducing you to an area of Advanced Microeconomics (Market Design) that, I believe, puts together all the ideas and models discussed herein to deal with problems of fundamental importance (how do we create and improve markets to guarantee not just the existence of the "economic pie" but of a "fair distribution" of the "economic pie"), in the hope that that shall fire your curiosity up. Which is the only thing that matters.

Who this course is for:

  • Economics Undergraduates who are about to take their first (usually, Intermediate) Microeconomics course
  • Social Sciences Undergraduates

Course content

12 sections • 52 lectures

1.1) Foundations of a Market Model Preview 14:45

1.2) Demand Preview 20:12

1.3) Supply Preview 15:43

1.4) Market Equilibrium Preview 21:51

1.5) Welfare Implications Preview 14:53

2.1) Elements of Consumer Choice Preview 08:41

2.2) Preferences Preview 40:26

2.3) Constraints Preview 20:01

2.4) Putting Everything Together Preview 11:45

2.5) Income and Substitution Effects Preview 17:44

2.6) Types of Goods Preview 04:40

2.7) Elasticities Preview 23:27

3.1) Elements of Producer's Choice Preview 06:12

3.2) Perfect Competition Preview 19:13

3.3) Monopoly Preview 28:27

3.4) Production One Factor Preview 25:38

3.5) Production Two Factors Preview 22:11

3.6) Costs (Short-Run) Preview 22:11

3.7) Costs (Long-Run) and Producer's Choice Preview 22:37

4.1) Elements of Game Theory Preview 16:50

4.2) Simultaneous Games Preview 25:03

4.3) Nash Equilibrium Preview 25:08

4.4) Mixed Strategies Preview 53:36

4.5) Sequential Games Preview 35:16

4.6) Subgame Perfect Nash Equilibrium Preview 36:05

4.7) Elements of Repeated Games Preview 27:40

4.8) Elements of Auction Theory Preview 39:36

5.1) Bertrand Model with Homogeneous Goods Preview 13:40

5.2) Bertrand Model with Heterogeneous Goods Preview 18:33

5.3) Monopolistic Competition Preview 21:23

5.4) Cournot Model Preview 17:14

5.5) Bertrand-Cournot with Asymmetries Preview 26:13

5.6) Cartels and Collusion Preview 24:46

6.1) Basic Stats for Uncertainty Preview 18:08

6.2) Basic Maths for Uncertainty Preview 19:39

6.3) Von Neumann-Morgenstern Expected Utility Preview 14:24

6.4) Risk Profiles Preview 53:28

7.1) Externalities Preview 14:21

7.2) Negative Externalities Preview 19:43

7.3) Positive Externalities Preview 23:25

7.4) Coase Theorem Preview 27:06

8.1) Public Goods Preview 12:49

8.2) Optimal Public Goods Provision Preview 16:21

8.3) Free Rider Problem Preview 10:47

9.1) Informational Asymmetries Preview 20:45

9.2) Adverse Selection Preview 27:49

9.3) Moral Hazard Preview 16:01

9.4) An Introduction to Signalling Preview 12:34