Course Syllabus
ECO200Y5Y – Microeconomic Theory
Department of Economics
University of Toronto Mississauga
Summer 2021
Contact Information
Instructor: W.H. Lee Bailey
Email: lee.bailey@utoronto.ca
Office: Kaneff Centre Room 3250
Voicemail: 905-569-4908
Office hours: Monday and Wednesday 08:30 to 09:00 a.m.
Teaching Assistant: Mary Kazek
Office hours: Monday and Wednesday 10:30 to 11:00 a.m.
Teaching Assistant: Nina Zi Wei Lo
Office hours: Monday and Wednesday 10:30 to 11:00 a.m.
Website: https://q.utoronto.ca
Meeting Link: https://utoronto.zoom.us/87037096441
All lecture times, tutorial times, exam times, deadlines, etc. are stated in local Toronto time.
Toronto adheres to Eastern Daylight time. It is your responsibility to correctly convert local
Toronto time to your time zone.
Set up your official Zoom account at https://utoronto.zoom.us
Communication
1. Please use the Quercus Discussion Forums to post questions about the economic
models presented in this course. There is a forum called FAQ if you have general
questions about the course.
2. Professor Bailey’s email is for matters that cannot be addressed during Office Hours or
using the Discussion Boards. He answers email during his office hours.
3. Our Teaching Assistants are not allowed to answer your emails. They can be reached
during Office Hours or through the Discussion Board. Your email will be forwarded to
the Professor/ Department and your email address will be filtered.
4. Please don’t use the Quercus Inbox Application. It is not monitored.
Contact Hours
This course is divided into 24 Sessions. Prior to attending each Session you should complete
the Online Asynchronous Lecture Videos (Pencasts) and Activities (Pencast Reviews) that we
have created on Quercus. This should take around 1 hour for each Session. The first set of
Asynchronous Lecture Videos and Activities should be completed before attending the
Session on May 3. Lectures, tutorials and activities are held between 09:10 and 11:00 a.m.
Excepting some unforeseeable emergency, we will not use the 11:00 to 12:00 time period
because you are devoting 1 hour per Session of your time towards the Asynchronous
Lectures and Activities.
Course Objectives and Learning Outcomes
This is a course in microeconomic problem solving. Learners will develop the ability to apply
the concepts and procedures of microeconomic analysis to illustrate, quantify and interpret
the behavior of economic decision makers in a variety of contexts.
Sessions 1 to 12: Households
Outcome 1: Learners will develop the ability to apply the concept of optimal choice and
the procedures of microeconomic analysis to illustrate, quantify and interpret the
behavior of decision makers using a variety of utility functions across several models of
household behaviour.
The Concept of Optimal Choice
Decision-makers choose alternatives on the highest affordable indifference
curve
Procedures of Analysis will include but are not limited to
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Indifference Curve Analysis
Demand Curve Analysis
Cost Benefit Analysis
Welfare Measures
Elasticity Analysis
Revealed Preference Analysis
Functional Specifications will include but are not limited to
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Cobb-Douglas
Perfect Substitutes
Perfect Complements
Constant Elasticity of Substitution
Quasi-linear
Non-essentials
Concave
Quadratics
Economic Bads
10. Hybrids
Models of Household Behaviour will include but are not limited to
1. Commodity Demand
2. Housing
3. Taxes, Subsidies and Transfers
4. Endowments
5. Labour Supply
6. Time and Money Prices
7. Risky Assets
8. Saving and Borrowing
9. Human Capital
10. Contingent Consumption
11. Expected Utility
12. Mean-Variance Analysis
13. Auctions
14. Behavioral Economics
15. Public Goods
Sessions 13 to 24: Firms
Outcome 2: Learners will develop the ability to apply the concept of optimal choice and
the procedures of microeconomic analysis to illustrate, quantify and interpret the
behavior of decision makers using a variety of production functions while making the
distinction between short-run and long-run horizons and with due consideration of
market structure.
The Concept of Optimal Choice
Decision-makers maximize profit when inputs are hired so that the value of
marginal product is equal to marginal cost and when output is sold at levels
where marginal revenues are equal to marginal cost
Procedures of Analysis will include but are not limited to
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Short-run and Long-run Isoprofit Analysis
Short-run Cost Analysis
Short-run and Long-run Isoquant Analysis
Long-run Cost Analysis
Factor Demand Analysis
Cost Benefit Analysis
General Equilibrium Analysis
Game Theory Analysis
Functional Specifications will include but are not limited to
1. Cobb-Douglas
2. Perfect Substitutes
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Perfect Complements
Constant Elasticity of Substitution
Quasi-linear
Quadratics
Cubics
Hybrids
Systems
Models of Market Structure will include but are not limited to
1. Perfect Competition
2. Single-price Monopoly
3. Price-discriminating Monopoly
4. Natural Monopoly
5. Monopsony
6. Monopolistic Competition
7. Cournot Oligopoly
8. Stackelberg Oligopoly
9. Bertrand Oligopoly
10. Models of Strategy
11. Models of Collusion
Prerequisites and Exclusions
The prerequisites and exclusions for this course can be found in the Academic Calendar.
Prerequisites are strictly checked and enforced and must be completed before taking this
course. By taking this course you acknowledge that you will be removed from the course at
any time if you do not meet all requirements set by the Department of Economics. Entry into
third year Advanced Microeconomics requires a grade of 70 percent in ECO200Y5Y.
Course Materials
Our textbook is written by Professor Hal Varian. It is an internationally renowned, and widely
adopted book. After a distinguished career at University of California Berkeley Professor
Varian spends his retirement as Chief Economist at Google. His book is called Intermediate
Microeconomics A Modern Approach ISBN 978-0-393-69132-0 (9th Edition). It is available at
the University of Toronto Bookstore.
The Study Guide called Workouts, written by Professor Ted Bergstrom and Professor Varian,
is an excellent resource and one of the main reasons I adopted this textbook. The questions
are brilliant. The publishers have now decided to take this Guide out of print. You can find a
free pdf are on the internet.
The SmartWork5 "Student Set" ID is 439006 (ECO200Y5Y Summer 2021) The platform is not
very good but the questions are excellent. Many of them come from Workouts. SmartWork5
is not for grades and there are no deadlines but you will notice that a large number of my
test and exam questions are from Workouts/SmartWork.
Course Outline
Monday
Session
Chapters
Wednesday Session
Chapters
May 3
Graphing
2, 3, 4
May 5
Demand
5, 6
May 10
Statics
15, 8, 17
May 12
Welfare Metrics
7, 14, 16
May 17
Auctions
18
May 19
Test 1
May 24
No Class
May 26
Time
9
May 31
Intertemporal
10
June 2
Uncertainty
12
June 7
Financial
11, 13
June 9
Exceptions I
31, 37
June 14
Test 2
June 16
No Class
July 5
Technology
19, 20
July 7
Cost I
21, 22
July 12
Cost II
23
July 14
Competition
24
July 19
Equilibrium
32, 33, 34
July 21
Test 3
July 26
Exceptions II
35, 38, 36
July 28
Monopoly
25, 26
August 2
No Class
August 4
Input Markets
27
August 9
Oligopoly
August 11
Game Theory
29, 30
August 16
Test 4
August 18
No Class
28
Evaluation
Grades will be awarded based on the following weights
Item
Weight
Notes
Synchronous Final Examination
40
2 Hours
Synchronous Term Tests
Test 1: May 19
Test 2: June 14
Test 3: July 21
Test 4: August 16
30
Best 3 of 4
Synchronous Classroom Activities
Asynchronous Pencast Reviews
20
10
Best n of N Scores
Best 50 Scores
The Synchronous Final Examination is 2 hours and it will be scheduled during the Exam
Period and delivered through Quercus Quizzes.
Synchronous Term Tests are 50 minutes and held during class time 09:30 to 10:30 a.m.
Students with AARC accommodations will start earlier. We will present solutions, and might
have a graded activity following the test. Tests will be delivered as Quercus Quizzes that
combine numeric response questions and file upload “show your work and a diagram”
questions. Test instructions will say
Work independently for 50 minutes. Do not exit Quercus during the Test. Varian Textbook,
Notebooks, Calculators are allowed. Pencast Videos are allowed. Other online resources are
not allowed.
Synchronous Classroom Activities are held during class time. These will be delivered through
Quercus Assignments, Quizzes and Zoom.
Asynchronous Pencast Reviews are Quercus Quizzes.
Late Submissions
Synchronous Classroom Activities, Term Tests and the Exam are synchronous. These will
auto-submit at the deadline, whether you have finished or not. Quercus provides a timer. It is
your responsibility to finish your work on time. It will take a few minutes for an upload to
complete. If you wait too long, and your upload is missing, you receive zero grade.
Asynchronous Pencast Reviews are subject to a 50% per day late penalty.
Missed Term Work
Asynchronous Pencast Reviews and Synchronous Classroom Activities cannot be made
up. Missed work receives a zero grade.
Students who miss a Term Test because of circumstances beyond their control (e.g. illness
or an accident) can request that the Department grant them special consideration. The
following steps must be completed in order to be considered for academic accommodation.
1. Your absence must be declared on ACORN on the day of the missed test, or by the
day after, at the latest.
2. You must notify your professor using the Missed Term Test application on Quercus
within one week of the missed test.
3. Complete an online Special Consideration Request within one week of the missed test.
The University is temporarily suspending the need for a doctor’s note or medical
certificate for any absence from academic participation if you are experiencing COVID19 symptoms. However, this policy may change at any point during the course. If you
missed your test for a reason connected to your registered disability, the department
will accept documentation supplied by Accessibility Services. If you visited a Dentist,
Nurse/Nurse Practitioner, Physician/Surgeon, Psychologist, Psychotherapist or Social
Worker registered and licensed in the Province of Ontario, have them fill out the
University’s Verification of Student Illness or Injury form. In other cases, a Verification
of Extenuating Circumstances form is acceptable. Other documentation can include,
but is not limited to, automobile collision or police reports, death certificates, and
supporting documentation from employers, lawyers and other related personnel.
Please email your form to economics.utm@utoronto.ca.
4. Consult the Office of the Registrar should your absence be lengthy or affect multiple
courses.
The written explanation and documentation that you submit represents an appeal from you,
requesting the opportunity to account for that portion of your grade in some other manner. If
an appeal is not received, or if the appeal is deemed unacceptable, you will receive a grade of
zero for the item you missed. If the appeal is granted
1. your first missed Term Test results in a “best 3 out of 3” policy and
2. your second, third and even fourth missed Term Test grades will be proxied by
the corresponding section of the Final Exam and the “best 3 out of 3 policy” will
be applied.
Note that it is your responsibility to ensure that your email account is working. Claims that a
Departmental decision was not received will NOT be considered as a reason for further
consideration. Note that holidays and pre-purchased plane tickets, family plans, your friend’s
wedding, lack of preparation, or too many other tests/assignments are not acceptable
excuses for missing a quiz, a test or an item of term work.
Students who cannot complete their final examination due to illness or other serious causes
must file an online petition within 72 hours of the missed examination. Late petitions
will NOT be considered. Students must also record their absence on ACORN on the day of
the missed exam or by the day after at the latest. Upon approval of a deferred exam request,
a non-refundable fee of $70 is required for each examination approved.
Regrade Request
Re-marking Pieces of Term Work will be accepted up to one month from the date you
returned the term work. Please visit during Professor Bailey’s Office Hours. Please do not
email.
Privacy and Use of Course Materials
Course staff will be recording video and audio to track attendance, track team participation,
record polls, and to ensure that everyone’s behaviour is in accordance with the Code of
Student Conduct and the Academic Code. Your participation will be recorded but it will never
be made available to other students in the course.
The material on Quercus belongs to The University of Toronto and it is protected by copyright.
You have my permission to download PDF files. You do not have my permission to download
or capture the audio and video files.
Screen capturing Sessions is a violation of Provincial law.
Technology
In order to take this course, you will need reliable and regular access to a laptop/desktop; a
cell phone is NOT sufficient. You will also need reliable and regular access to high-speed
internet. See the University’s Recommended Technology Requirements for Remote/Online
Learning for more details. Read also the UTM Library Learn Anywhere resource website.
Students must create an official UTM Zoom account using their UTORid and password at
https://utoronto.zoom.us. Logging in with an unofficial account will leave you stranded in the
waiting room and unable to attend lectures / tutorials / office hours.
Supplement
The Supplement to Course Syllabi (dated March 25, 2021) of UTM’s Department of
Economics should be understood to be an integral part of this syllabus. It describes
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your responsibility to adhere to the Code of Student Conduct;
your responsibility to adhere to the Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters;
expectations regarding academic integrity, including examples of violations;
your responsibility to avoid course conflicts;
your responsibility to honour the copyright of course materials;
your right to receive accommodations for religious observances;
the equity statement for this course;
your academic rights;
some resources that are available to you as a student, including Accessibility Services.