Microeconomics Syllabus

Semester I · Credit Hours 3 · Full Marks 100 · Pass Marks 50 · Lecture Hours 48

Course Objective: This course is designed to provide students with a foundation in the core concepts and methods of microeconomics, strengthening their research skills and overall understanding of microeconomic problems. At the end of the course, students should be able to understand microeconomic theories and issues, develop microeconomic models, and analyze them with appropriate techniques.

Unit I: Methodology in Economics (6 Hours)

Definition and significance of methodology in economics; philosophical foundation of economic methodology: positivism, rationalism, empiricism, constructivism; methods of economic analysis: deductive, inductive and hypothetico-deductive, static, comparative static and dynamic.

Unit II: Scientific Approach in Economics (6 Hours)

Concept, principles & relevance of scientific method in economics; economics as science; role of assumptions in economics and relevance of assumption in scientific study; falsifiability in economics; models in economics — definition, importance, types (economic and econometric), and choice between models; general features of economic models.

Unit III: Consumer Behaviour and Theory of Demand (12 Hours)

Consumer preferences, utility function and its types; budget constraints, consumer's equilibrium, price effect, income effect and substitution effect; derivation of ordinary and compensated demand curves; indirect utility function; expenditure function; consumption duality; revealed preference theory; Lancaster's theory of demand; linear expenditure system (LES).

Unit IV: Theory of Production (12 Hours)

Concept of production function; production technology and their properties (homogeneous, homothetic, linear, Cobb-Douglas, CES, Leontief); producer's equilibrium (least cost combination of input, output maximization, profit maximization); derivation of cost function from production function; cost curves; empirical estimation of cost.

Unit V: Market Theories (12 Hours)

Price and output determination in perfectly competitive market, monopoly; price discrimination under monopoly, multi-plant monopolist; monopolistic competition in short-run and long-run; Chamberlin's model of monopolistic competition, peak load pricing, transfer pricing, dumping; policy implications in the market: tax, subsidy, price and quantity rationing.

References

• Blaug, M. (1992). The methodology of economics: Or, how economists explain. Cambridge University Press.
• Cowell, F. (2006). Microeconomics: Principles and analysis. Oxford University Press.
• Friedman, M. (1953). Essays in positive economics. University of Chicago Press.
• Gravell, H. & Rees, R. (2004). Microeconomics (3rd ed.). Pearson.
• Koutsoyiannis, A. (1979). Modern microeconomics (2nd ed.). Macmillan.
• Mas-Colell, A., Whinston, M. D., & Green, J. (1995). Microeconomic theory. Oxford University Press.
• Nicholson, W. (2005). Microeconomic theory: Basic principles and extensions (9th ed.). Thomson.
• Salvatore, D. (2009). Principle of microeconomics (5th ed.). Oxford University Press.
• Varian, H. R. (2009). Microeconomic analysis (3rd ed.). Viva Books.