Taught In English

There is no language prerequisite for courses at this language level.

I. SUMMARY:

The course aims to give students the fundamentals of the behavior of economic agents (consumers and firms), in the business environment. The course will also look at the fundamentals of Game Theory and the importance of information in the economic decision- making.

II. OBJECTIVES:

- Analyze economic and business environment
- Identification of fundamentals
- Become aware of relevant issues in business decisions
- Debate and discussion skills

III. LEARNING PROCESS:

Each session is presented through visual aids, and students will be asked to look after applications and examples of the core issues allowing, to present alternative viewpoints.
On practice sessions, emphasis will be on the discussion of cases.

IV: CRONOGRAM OF CONTENTS AND LEARNING STRATEGIES

The budget constraint
Concepts and shifts in prices
and income
- Visual aids
- Graphs and math
- Practical sessions
Pyndick & Rubinfeld, Ch 3

The consumer's choice
Income, prices and tastes in the consumer's choice
- Visual aids
- Graphs and math
- Practical sessions
Pyndick & Rubinfeld, Ch 3

The demand curve
Consumer's optimization and derivation of the demand curve
- Visual aids
- Graphs and math
- Practical sessions
Pyndick & Rubinfeld, Ch 4

The market demand
Determinants of Market Demand
Elasticities
- Visual aids
- Graphs and math
- Practical sessions
Pyndick & Rubinfeld, Ch 2 and 4

The production function Factors of Production and Output
- Visual aids
- Graphs and math
- Practical sessions
Pyndick & Rubinfeld, Ch 6

Cost theory
Cost curves in the Short and Long-Run
- Visual aids
- Graphs and math
- Practical sessions
Pyndick & Rubinfeld, Ch 7

Profit maximization in a competitive marketDerivation of the supply curve for a competitive market
- Visual aids
- Graphs and math
- Practical sessions
Pyndick & Rubinfeld, Ch 8

MID TERM EXAM
Competitive Market
Price controls and other kinds of government intervention
- Visual aids
- Graphs and math
- Practical sessions
Pyndick & Rubinfeld, Ch 8

Non-competive Markets
Market power, monopoly, price determination, welfare costs
- Visual aids
- Graphs and math
- Practical sessions
Pyndick & Rubinfeld, Ch 10 and 11

Other Non-competitive Markets
Oligopoly, the Cournot-Nash Equilibrium,
- Visual aids
- Graphs and math
- Practical sessions
Pyndick & Rubinfeld, Ch 12

The Game Theory and the Oligopoly theory
Game Theory approach to the olipolystic markets
- Visual aids
- Graphs and math
- Practical sessions
Pyndick & Rubinfeld, Ch 13

Information economics
Information asymmetry, Moral Hazard, and adverse selection
- Visual aids
- Graphs and math
- Practical sessions
Pyndick & Rubinfeld, Ch 17

FINAL EXAM

IV. EVALUATION:

Mid–Term Exam: 30%
Final Exam: 30%
Practice: 40% (5 will be taken along the semester; the minimum grade will be dropped from the final average)

CHRONOGRAM

EVALUATIONS Date
1 Week 4
2 Week 7
3 Week 12
4 Week 14
5 Week 16

VI BIBLIOGRAPHY

[1] Pindyck & Rubinfeld. Microeconomics. Prentice Hall, Madrid, 1998. 338.5/.P59/1998
[2] Mansfield, Allen, Doherty & Weigelt. Managerial Economics, 2002. 338.5/C68M
[3] Earl, P. Microeconomics for Business and Marketing.E. Elgar, 1995.