National University of Singapore

Department of Economics

EC2101 Microeconomic Analysis I

Semester 1 AY 2015/2016

EC2101 Microeconomic Analysis I

Semester 1 AY 2015/2016
Course Information
Instructor: Dr. Zhang Yang
Lecture: Thursday 2:00 pm 4:00 pm, LT8
Consultation hour
o Thursday 4:00 pm 6:00 pm
o Or by appointment
Contact: AS2-04-36, 6516-6830, zhangyang@nus.edu.sg
Course Overview
This course is designed to help students
Master key concepts and principles in microeconomic theory
Develop a set of mathematical (as well as broadly analytical) tools
Get prepared for more advanced modules
Course Details
Readings
Textbook
David Besanko and Ronald R. Braeutigam, Microeconomics, 5th Ed,
Wiley, 2014
Lecture notes
PPT slides will be posted on IVLE every Wednesday
Webcasts
Webcasts of all lectures are available on IVLE
Assessment
Homework, 15%
Participation (tutorial), 10%
Midterm Exam, 25%
Final Exam, 50%
Homework
There are two individual homework problem sets. Homework problem sets
will be posted on IVLE at least one week before its due date. Students are
required to submit their homework in hard copies to their tutors mailboxes on
time. Graded homework will be returned and solutions will be posted on IVLE
after the due date. Any late homework should be submitted to the lecturer
directly. For each day the assigned homework is late, 25% of the marks will
be deducted.
Practice Problems
Starting from week 2, practice problems will be assigned after each lecture.
These problems will be discussed in the following tutorial session, but they

National University of Singapore

Department of Economics

EC2101 Microeconomic Analysis I

Semester 1 AY 2015/2016

will not be collected. Students are encouraged to work with others on these
problems.
Tutorials
Tutorial sessions will start in week 3. There are ten tutorials in total. There
will be no tutorial in week 7 (the midterm week).
Attendance
Students are expected to attend all lectures and tutorials. Though monitoring
attendance in lectures is difficult given the size of our class, attendance of
tutorials will be taken. Under faculty policy, three or more unexcused
absences from tutorials will be reported to the Deans office.
Participation
Grading of participation is based on 1) presentation in tutorials and 2) general
participation in tutorials. Presentation and general participation each accounts
for 5% of the final grade. During each tutorial, students will present the
solutions to the practice problems assigned in the previous lecture. Every
student needs to present once in the semester. Presentations are graded based
on content (concepts and logic) and delivery (clarity and organization), but not
on correctness. General participation is graded based on attendance and how
actively involved a student is in tutorial discussions. If a student presents more
than once in the semester, only his/her first presentation will be graded, but
he/she will get more points on general participation.
Exams
There will be a closed-book midterm exam and a cumulative, closed-book
final exam. Midterm exam will be held on 1 October at 2:10 pm. There will
be no lecture in that week (week 7). If a student misses the midterm exam,
he/she needs to provide valid reason and proof to qualify for a makeup
midterm. Note that to be fair to the entire class, any makeup midterm will be
more difficult than the original one. Final exam will be held on 26 November
at 9 am.
Other Policies
Silence your mobile phones in lectures and tutorials.
Dishonest practices on the exams and homework problem sets, or in the
course generally are unacceptable. Any suspected cases of dishonesty will
be reported and handled according to university policy.

National University of Singapore

Department of Economics

EC2101 Microeconomic Analysis I

Semester 1 AY 2015/2016

Tentative Course Outline

PART I CONSUMER THEORY
Week 1 (13 August) Course Overview; Constrained Optimization; Preference
Readings
Besanko and Braeutigam (BB), Mathematical Appendix, Section A3-A8;
Chapter 3, Section 3.1 (does not include Ordinal and Cardinal Ranking on
page 63), 3.2
Week 2 (20 August) Utility Function; Budget Constraint; Consumer Choice
Readings
BB, Chapter 3, Section 3.2-3.3; Chapter 4, Section 4.1-4.2
Week 3 (27 August) Consumer Choice; Revealed Preference; Individual Demand
Readings
BB, Chapter 4, Section 4.2, 4.3 (does not include Application: Borrowing
and Lending from page 101 to 103), 4.4, Appendix 1; Chapter 5, Section 5.1
Week 4 (3 September) Market Demand; Income and Substitution Effects;
Consumer Welfare
Readings
BB, Chapter 5, Section 5.2-5.3, 5.4 (does not include Market Demand with
Network Externalities from page 149 to 152)
PART II PRODUCTION AND COSTS
Week 5 (10 September) Production
Readings
BB, Chapter 6, Section 6.1-6.3, 6.4 (does not include Elasticity of
Substitution from page 181 to 183), 6.5-6.6
Homework 1 due on 10 September at 1 pm
Week 6 (17 September) Costs I
Readings
BB, Chapter 7, Section 7.1-7.2, 7.4 (does not include More Than One
Variable Input in The Short Run from page 226 to 227); Chapter 8, Section
8.2
Week 7 (1 October) Midterm Exam
2:10 pm to 3:20 pm, location TBD
No lecture or tutorial

National University of Singapore

Department of Economics

EC2101 Microeconomic Analysis I

Semester 1 AY 2015/2016

Week 8 (8 October) Costs II

Readings
BB, Chapter 7, Section 7.3 (does not include The Price Elasticity of Demand
for Inputs from page 219 to 221); Chapter 8, Section 8.1 (does not include
page 246 to 248), 8.3 (does not include Economies of Experience from page
257 to 259)
PART III COMPETITIVE MARKETS
Week 9 (15 October) Perfect Competition I
Readings
BB, Chapter 9, Section 9.1-9.2, 9.3 (does not include Short-Run Supply
Curve for a Price-Taking Firm When Some Fixed Costs Are Sunk and Some
Are Nonsunk from page 281 to 282)
Week 10 (22 October) Perfect Competition II
Readings
BB, Chapter 9, Section 9.4, 9.5 (does not include page 311 to 312)
Week 11 (29 October) Government Interventions
Readings
BB, Chapter 10, Section 10.1-10.4
Homework 2 due on 29 October at 1 pm
PART IV MONOPOLY
Week 12 (5 November) Monopoly
Readings
BB, Chapter 11, Section 11.1, 11.2 (does not include Quantifying Market
Power: Lerner Index from page 379 to 380), 11.3, 11.5 (does not include
Rent Seeking Activities on page 392), 11.6
Week 13 (12 November) Price Discrimination; Review
Readings
BB, Chapter 12, Section 12.1-12.2, 12.4
Exam Week (26 November) Final Exam
9:00 am to 11:00 am, location TBD