Iowa State University
Department of Economics
Econ 101
Fall 2006
Subhra Bhattacharjee
subhra@iastate.edu
269 Heady Hall
Principles of Microeconomics
Section 4
Class Hours: MWF 1.10 – 2.00 pm
Location: Kildee 125
Course website: http://www.econ.iastate.edu/classes/econ101/Bhattacharjee/
Course organization:
 Lectures – Class meets on MWF between 1.10 pm and 2.00 pm. All exams
except the final one are scheduled during class hours
 Office Hours – Subhra Bhattacharjee – F – 10 am -1 pm at 269 Heady Hall or by
appointment.
 TA information:
o Ranojoy Basu – B4 Curtiss Hall; rbasu@iastate.edu
o Suman Majumdar – B11 Curtiss Hall; Majumdar@iastate.edu
o Hai-Lan Yang – B13 Curtiss Hall; pseudo@iastate.edu
o Lin Yang – 275 Heady Hall; linyang@iastate.edu
o Tian Yu – B11 Curtiss Hall; yutian@iastate.edu
 Reading Material – The textbook for the course is “Microeconomics – Principles
and Applications” by Robert E. Hall and Mark Lieberman, Third Edition. Feel
free to buy an earlier edition if you wish. You do not have to buy the book. You
are required to subscribe to Aplia and it gives you the option of using the online
version of the book (see instructions on Aplia registration).
 Mathematical Prerequisites – For the mathematically inclined, economics has a
lot of scope for application of advanced mathematics. For this class, however, we
will limit our use of mathematics to the minimum possible. Knowledge of
elementary, high school level algebra and use of graphs will suffice. If you have
problems with any of the tools that we use in class, please see me or one of the
TAs right away.
 Homework – Graded homeworks will be assigned on Aplia for every week of
class except the dead week. In addition there will be practice problems with you
are encouraged to solve before class. They are not graded or required but they do
earn you extra credits. Please see Aplia information for further details.
 Exams – There will be eight exams spaced out over the duration of the course –
roughly one each alternating week. The dates for the exams will be posted on the
website and announced in class well in time. All exams except the final will take
place during class hours. There will be no make up exams but your two lowest
scores will be dropped while calculating your grade.
 Final Grades – Your final grades will be computed as follows: Homeworks –
10%; Each exam - 15%
 Extra Credits – A set of practice problems will be assigned on Aplia every week
on the topic to be covered that week. These are not graded and you get feedbacks
on them right away. You are encouraged though not required to solve them before
a topic is taught in class. If you attempt every single one of these practice
problems during the semester and get at least 40 percent of the questions correct,
you earn 5 extra credits to be added on to the final grade. That can make a
difference of a single grade, i.e take you from a B+ to an A- or from an A- to an
A.
 Disabilities: If you have a disability and require accommodations, please contact
me right away so that your learning needs may be appropriately met. No
retroactive accommodations will be provided in this class. You will need to
provide documentation of your disability to the Disability Resources (DR) office,
located on the main floor of the Student Services Building, Room 1076, 515-2947220.
 Help room: The economics Help Room is located in 178 Heady Hall. Tentative
hours: MTWR 9-6, F 9-4. It is manned by graduate TAs who will be able and
willing to help you out with any questions you might have regarding the material
or mathematical techniques. They will, however, not solve entire homeworks for
you.
 Other Stuff: If you find that you are unable to understand lectures or have any
other problems, it is a good idea to get in touch with the TAs or me right away.
Do check the course website regularly for announcements and other information
relating to the course.
List of Core Topics
1. What is economics? Microeconomics and Macroeconomics. The ‘model’ as a
means of analyzing real economic events. Why economists disagree. Opportunity
cost.
2. The basic units of microeconomic analysis – buyers, sellers, markets. Firms,
households, markets. Demand and supply.
3. Mathematical preliminaries.
4. Topics in demand and supply
5. Theory behind the demand curve – theory of consumer behaviour.
6. Theory behind the supply curve - Production theory.
7. Theory of the firm – profit maximization.
8. Market structures: Perfect competition, monopoly, monopolistic competition,
oligopoly. Why is market structure important?
9.
Perfect Competition
10. Monopoly
11. Monopolistic competition
12. Oligopoly. Introduction to game theory.
13. Game theory: Origin, areas of application, definitions. Prisoner’s dilemma, Battle
of the sexes. Pure strategy Nash equilibria.
14. Economic efficiency
15. Comparative advantage and gains from international trade