Foundations of Microeconomics

Course Description
In this course, we provide a general presentation of the basic principles of microeconomics. Microeconomics studies the behavior of agents (consumers and firms) and their interaction in markets.

Biography
Professor Fátima Barros has a PhD and a Master in Economics from the Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium) and a Licenciatura in Economics from the Catholic University of Portugal. From 2004 to 2012 Professor Barros was the Dean of CATÓLICA-LISBON School of Business & Economics where she teaches Economics since 1992. She was Associate Dean of the CATÓLICA-LISBON during 2001-2004. From May 2012 to August 2017 Professor Fátima Barros was President of ANACOM- Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações, the regulatory authority for electronic communications and postal services. She was also the Chair of BEREC - Board of European Regulators for Electronic Communications in 2015 and Vice-Chair in 2014 and 2016. Currently she is Non-Executive Board Member in several institutions: Banco BPI, Brisa Concessão Rodoviária, Supervisory Board of Warta (Biedronka in Poland) and Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos. Her research interests are in industrial organization, strategy, competition policy and regulation.

Course Content
I. INTRODUCTION
1. Principles of Economics 
II. SUPPLY AND DEMAND: THE BASICS
2. Market Forces: Demand and Supply 
3. The Production Process and Costs 
4. Quantitative Demand Analysis: Elasticity 
5. The Theory of Individual Behavior 
III. MANAGING IN COMPETITIVE, MONOPOLISTIC AND MONOPOLISTICALLY COMPETITITVE MARKETS 
6. Perfect Competition
7. Monopoly
8. Monopolistic Competition
IV. BASIC Oligopoly Models & STRATEGIC INTERACTION
 9. Cournot Oligopoly, Stackelberg Oligopoly and Bertrand Oligopoly
 10. Game Theory

Course Objectives
Foundations of Microeconomics allows students to master some of the central concepts of economics. The course deals with microeconomics and so its aim is to lead the students to understand the behavior of consumers, firms and the functioning of markets. Primary emphasis is on acquiring tools needed to analyze current economic issues including the understanding of everyday economic problems and economic news as well as the use of economics to understand the strategic behavior of economic agents.

Grading
Final Grade = 37,5% (midterm test)+ 37,5% (endterm test) + 25% continuous evaluation (in class minitests and assignments). The student passes with a Final Grade of 10 or higher subject to the condition that grades obtained in each test (midterm test or endterm test) are above 8,0. 
If the student’s grade in any test is bellow 8,0 then there is mandatory access to final exam (despite a Final Grade above or equal to 10).
If the students’ Final Grade is between 8 and 9,5 then access to final exam is mandatory. 
If the Final Grade is below 7,5 the student is excluded (does not have access to the final exam).

In the final exam students pass with a grade of 10 or higher; in this case the Final Grade will be the grade obtained in the final exam. 

Both midterm test and endterm test are mandatory. If the student misses one test (midterm or endterm test) without absence justification, he/she will be excluded. If the absence is justified according to the School rules, then the student will attend final exam and will substitute the grade of the missed test by the grade of the final exam in the calculation of the Final Grade.

Note that the endterm test will focus exclusively on topics lectured after the midterm test. Those topics covered by the midterm test will not be included. The final exam will cover all course content.

Bibliography
Mandatory: 
[BP], BAYE and PRINCE (2016), Managerial Economics and Business Strategy, 9th. ed., McGraw-Hill.

Complementary:
[FB], FRANK and BERNANKE (2013), Principles of Microeconomics, 4th ed.; McGraw-Hill.
[PR], PINDYCK and RUBINFELD (2018), Microeconomics, 8th ed.; Pearson.