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Microeconomics 1

The main reference for my half of the course is Lecture notes for Microeconomics. You can download the Latex source if you want to annotate or contribute improvements to the notes.

Some practice questions (including all old exam questions) and sample solutions.

Extra Reference

Some students like an extra reference, although it is unnecessary. I will only test knowledge from my notes. Material marked with a star in the notes will only be tested in bonus questions; it is possible to get a distinction in the class without learning the starred material. My notes are closer to Varian and Kreps than MWG, but quite different from all of them. Ambitious students who would like a strong background in mathematics might want to read Maxwell Rosenlicht's (1968) "Introduction to Analysis" or Luenberger's (1969) "Optimization by Vector Space Methods". Angel de la Fuente's (2000) "Mathematical Methods and Models for Economists" is also helpful.

MWG means Mas-Colell, Whinston and Green's (1995) "Microeconomic Theory". V means Varian's (1992) "Microeconomic Analysis". K means Kreps' (1990) "A Course in Microeconomic Theory". KK means Kreps' (2013) "Microeconomic Foundations 1: Choice and Competitive Markets". SL means Stokey and Lucas (1989), "Recursive Methods in Economic Dynamics". Debreu (1960) is Topological methods in cardinal utility theory. All of these references are listed in the library's resource list system.

  1. Introduction
  2. Production
    1. Production Functions   See: V1, MWG5, K7.1
    2. Profit Maximization   See: V2, MWG5, K7.2
    3. Upper Envelopes and Value Functions   See: V3, SL4, MWG5, K7.2
    4. Cost Functions and Dynamic Programming   See: V4, SL4, MWG5, K7.3, K.A.2
    5. Upper Envelopes with Constraints   See: V5, SL4, MWG5, K7.3
  3. Consumption
    1. Utility Functions   See: V7, MWG3, K2.1
    2. Time Preference   See: Debreu (1960), V19, SL4, SL5, MWG20, KK2.5
    3. Utility Maximization   See: V7, MWG3, K2.2
    4. Consumer’s Value and Policy Functions   See: V7, MWG3, K2.2, K2.3
    5. Expenditure Function and Policy Functions   See: V7, MWG3, K2.2, K2.3
    6. Slutsky Decomposition   See: V8, MWG3, K2.3
  4. Equilibrium
    1. Economies   See V17, V18, V19, MWG16, K6.1, K6.2
    2. Efficient Allocations   See V17, V18, V19, MWG16, MWG22, K5.2
    3. Equilibrium   See V17, V18, V19, MWG16, K6.1
    4. Characterising Equilibria   See V17, MWG15, MWG16, MWG20, K2.2
    5. Efficiency of Equilibria   See V17, MWG16, K6.3
    6. *Existence of Equilibria   See V17, MWG17, K6.4
    7. Implementation of Efficient Allocations   See V17, MWG16, K6.3