ECON231-09W (C) Whole Year 2009

Microeconomic Theory and Applications

22 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 23 February 2009
End Date: Sunday, 15 November 2009
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Friday, 6 March 2009
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Friday, 4 September 2009

Description

Introduction to price theory: The neo-classical model of consumer and producer choice and general equilibrium, and deviations from that model including externalities and public goods. The course covers the same material as ECON 230 but with an emphasis on applications of the theory rather than formal mathematical modelling.

Introduction to price theory: The neo-classical model of consumer and producer choice and general equilibrium, and deviations from that model including externalities and public goods. The course covers the same material as ECON230 but with an emphasis on applications of the theory rather than formal mathematical modelling.

Economics 231 is intended to help you "think like an economist."  It will provide you with a solid grounding in the analytic methods of microeconomics, both in theory and in application.  The course will emphasize three main ideas.  First, that individuals practice optimal choice, doing the best they can to meet their objectives subject to constraints such as time, income, and information.  Second, that prices can act to coordinate the optimal choices of individuals, bringing their behaviour into equilibrium.  And third, that we can evaluate equilibrium arrangements using the criteria of economic efficiency and equity.  We will make repeated use of these ideas as we study the various actors in the modern economy, and the market environments under which they interact.  Economics 231 should equip those of you who intend to pursue higher-level studies in economics.  It should also help you gain insight into the economic forces active in consumer and producer behaviour, and in public policy issues.

Prerequisites

Restrictions

ECON230, ECON204, ECON550 (prior to 2006)

Course Coordinator

Jeremy Clark

Lecturer

Steven Tucker

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage 
1st Semester Problem Sets 5%
2nd Semester Online Quizzes 5%
Final Exam 40%
Online Quizzes 5%
Mid-year Test 45%


Short problem sets will be assigned every other week, and due in tutorials one week later.  These problem sets will be graded and are collectively worth 10% of your (year long) grade.  Each problem set will be graded out of 5 marks if handed in at your tutorial.  It will be graded out of 4 marks if handed in late to your tutor or Economics Department secretary by 5 p.m. of the Tuesday of the week the problem set is due.  It will not be accepted after that.

In the second semester, you will also have 10 online quizzes that you will take at your convenience over the course of the 2nd semester.  These quizzes will be worth 5% of your grade, therefore each quiz is worth 1/2%.

Textbooks / Resources

Required Texts

Perloff, Jeffrey M; Microeconomics ; 5th international ed; Pearson/Addison Wesley, 2009.

Recommended Reading

Mason, Charles F. , Perloff, Jeffrey M., Stone, Leonie; Study guide to accompany Microeconomics fifth edition [by] Jeffrey M. Perloff ; Pearson/Addison-Wesley, 2009.

Recommended Journals
Tall Poppies,  Official Magazine of the New Zealand Association for Gifted Children

APEX, New Zealand Journal of Gifted Education

Required readings will be provided from text and journal articles as relevant to the topic of study.

Websites
www.tki.org.nz
www.giftedchildren.org.nz
www.nagc.org
www.hoagiesgifted.org
www.worldgifted.org
www.roeperreview.org

Course links

Library portal

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $828.00

International fee $3,483.00

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.

For further information see Department of Economics and Finance .

All ECON231 Occurrences

  • ECON231-09W (C) Whole Year 2009