Syllabus (updated 09/16/2010)
Econ 101: Intermediate Microeconomics
Fall 2010
Tuesday and Thursday, 1:30-3:00
Location: COHN G17
Professor Qingmin Liu
428 McNeil
Email: qingmin@econ.upenn.edu
Office hours: Mon 3:30-5:30PM or by appointment
Teaching Assistants (recitation/office hours)
Lingwen Huang (4th year PhD candidate), Email: lingwen@sas.upenn.edu
Econ 101 Section 207 Tuesday 12 to 1, MCNB 167-8
Econ 101 Section 208 Thursday 12 to 1, MCNB 285
Office hours: Tuesday and Thursday 11-11:30 and 1:00-1:30; MCNB 329
Sophie Shin (3rd year PhD candidate), Email: ses@sas.upenn.edu
Econ 101 Section 202 Wednesday 12 to 1, MCNB 286-7
Econ 101 Section 205 Thursday 10:30-11:30, TOWN 309
Office hours: Wednesday 1-3, MCNB 472
Garth Baughman (2nd year PhD candidate), Email: garthb@sas.upenn.edu
Econ 101 Section 203 Friday 11 to 12, MCNB 395
Econ 101 Section 204 Friday 2 to 3, MCNB 410
Office hours: Friday 12:00-12:30 and 3:00-3:30; Wednesday 2:30-3:30; MCNB 415
Course Description
This course will study the decision making of consumers and firms, and examine how
market mechanisms operate to allocate resources. The course provides basic tools of
economic analysis required by upper level economics courses. This course is calculus
based. You must have taken two terms of calculus before taking this class. We will also
study the recent development in microeconomics such as game theory, information
economics, and market design.
Prerequisites (http://www.econ.upenn.edu/undergraduate/major/requirements)
Incoming freshmen with AP or transfer credit for Econ 1 and Econ 2 MUST complete
Math 104 and Math 114 or Math 115 before enrolling in Econ 101. Upper classmen must
have at least a B+ in Math 104 to take Econ 101 and Math 114 or Math 115 concurrently.
Students who have waived out of Math 104 and Math 114 or 115 may proceed to Econ
101 with permission from the Department. Students who have waived out of Math 104
only must complete Math 114 or 115 before enrolling in Econ 101
Textbook
The required text for this class is Hal Varian’s Intermediate Microeconomics: a Modern
Approach. Penn bookstore has the 8th edition. But 7th edition is equally fine. I also
reserved the book in Rosengarten Library for the class. Lecture notes will be posted on
Blackboard.
Besides the required textbook, we recommend two additional books.
1. Microeconomics, Theory and Applications with Calculus, by Jeffrey Perloff. This book
contains many good calculus-based problems and explicitly solves them for you.
2. Microeconomics for Managers, by David M. Kreps. This book is written for MBA’s. It
does not cover many technical materials. Nevertheless, the book has an excellent
treatment for recent research in game theory and information economics, at the same
level as my lecture notes/slides. Kreps is a great writer. The book is a good bed time
reading.
Lectures & Sections
The class will be comprised of two lectures a week (Tuesday & Thursday), given by
the professor. Problem sets and quizzes will be graded by the teaching assistants; final exam
will be graded by the teaching assistants and the professor.
Requirements
Requirements for the course include at most four quizzes, which will be held in
class, a final exam, and at least four problem sets. The problems sets will be handed out in
class and posted on the course website. You are encouraged to work on the problem sets in
small groups.
The problem sets should be submitted in class, and they will be returned in
recitation section after grading is done. Write down your recitation section number in your
submission. Late problem sets will NOT be accepted. Electronic submissions will NOT be
accepted under any circumstances.
Reading newspapers are NOT allowed in class. You can sleep in the class, but
snoring is absolutely NOT acceptable. Note-taking with laptops in class is OK as long as
you do not negatively affect your neighbors.
Grading Policy
In-class Quizzes 30%
Problem Sets 30%
Final Exam 40%
Note: the top three of your four quizzes will be counted, and the top three of your problem
sets will be counted.
Graders:
Lingwen Huang (Problem set #2, Quiz #1, Quiz #4)
Sophie Shin (Problem set #3, Quiz # 2, Final exam)
Garth Baughman (Problem set #1, Problem set #4, Quiz #3)
Qingmin Liu (Final exam)
Final Exam Time: 12-2PM, Dec. 22.
Quiz Time: Sep. 28, Oct 14, Nov 4, Nov 23.
Preliminary Course Outline
Reading of book chapters (Varian) will be assigned and announced each week through
blackboard
Lecture 1: Introduction
Lecture 2: Modeling Consumer 1: Budget Constraint & Preference
Lecture 3: Modeling Consumer 2: Utility Representation
Lecture 4: Consumer Demand 1: Utility Maximization
Problem set 1, Quiz 1
Lecture 5: Demand Theory 2: Comparative Statics
Lecture 6: Demand Theory 3: Slutsky equation
Lecture 7: Consumer Surplus
Lecture 8: Market Demand and Elasticity
Problem set 2, Quiz 2
Lecture 9: Producer Theory 1: Production & Profit Maximization
Lecture 10: Producer Theory 2: Cost Minimization
Lecture 11: Market Structure: Perfect Competition and Monopoly
Lecture 12: Topics on Monopoly
Problem set 3, Quiz 3
Lecture 13: General Equilibrium
Lecture 14: Welfare Theorems
Lecture 15: Market with Small Number of Players: Introduction to Game Theory
Lecture 16: Rationality and Common Knowledge of Rationality
Lecture 17: Nash equilibrium
Problem set 4, Quiz 4
Lecture 18: Oligopoly and Imperfect Competition: Application of Games
Lecture 19: Uncertainties, Expected Utility, and Mixed Strategy Equilibrium
Lecture 20: Dynamic Interactions: Decision and Games
Lecture 21: Topics on Information Economics
Lecture 22: Review
FINAL EXAM
Academic Integrity
If a student is found in violation of academic integrity, the student would be given a
failing grade for the assignment and the course.