SE-306 Issues in Microeconomics

Emnet er tilknyttet følgende studieprogram

• Økonomi og administrasjon, bachelorprogram
• Økonomi og administrasjon - siviløkonom, 5-årig masterprogram

Anbefalte forkunnskaper

MA-138-1/MA-138-G Mathematics Applied in Business Administration A or equivalent SE-213-1 Mikroøkonomi or equivalent

Innhold

This course builds upon SE-213 Mikroøkonomi. The students learn how firms behave under different market structures and how these induce firms’ market power. We derive firms’ optimal behaviour, focus on price discrimination and advertising, and discuss competition policy issues. Other important topics include asymmetric information, decision making under uncertainty, and risk. Moreover, factor markets, externalities and contract theory will be covered.

Læringsutbytte

Upon successful completion of this course the student should:

 

• have fundamental knowledge of how market structures affect firms’ decision behaviour.

• have a thorough understanding of why and how firms price-discriminate and what this means from a welfare perspective.

• be able to apply economic theory to assess regulatory and competition policy issues in markets with imperfect competition.

• have an in-depth understanding of how risk, asymmetric information, and uncertainty influence decision making, particularly in businesses.

• have a thorough understanding of how firms’ activities create externalities and strategies how to mitigate negative ones.

• understand how businesses can use contracts to mitigate moral hazard and to share risks optimally.

• be able to apply economic theory to assess current issues in microeconomics.

• realize how important the core topics negative externalities, moral hazard, and risk sharing are for understanding several of the United Nations sustainable development goals.

Vilkår for å gå opp til eksamen

Approved compulsory assignment, in which the students apply the theory and models learned to solve microeconomic problems. Detailed information will be available on Canvas at the start of the semester.

Undervisnings- og læringsformer

Lectures, group work and digital learning using the MyEconLab platform. The total workload is about 200 hours.

Studentevaluering

The study programme manager, in consultation with the student representative, decides the method of evaluation and whether the courses will have a midterm- or end of term evaluation, see also the Quality System, section 4.1. Information about evaluation method for the course will be posted on Canvas.

Tilgang for privatister

No.

Eksamen

4-hour written examination. Letter grades.