Microeconomics

Microeconomics

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共通科目

社会科学研究科

学年指定なし

KCWMS5MCA1

2単位

講義 (Lecture)

2024年度後期

(Fall semester)

磯貝 茂樹

社会科学研究科　GB専攻

英語

目標4

To be announced in the first class.

To be announced in the first class.

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1◎／2〇／3〇

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The course aims to provide students with expertise in microeconomic theory. We cover standard topics appropriate to graduate studies.

The students will be able to understand the ideas and concepts of microeconomics. The goal is that students will be able to read academic papers published in internationally renowned journals and to apply microeconomic ideas to real-world problems.

Learning microeconomic framework for professionals.

Microeconomics, Price theory, Game theory

Microeconomics is a field of economics that studies how each individual makes economic decisions and then how those individual behaviors affect the economy. It also provides us with a tool to analyze various social phenomena in a logically consistent way. Such knowledge in economics is widely applied to economic policies and businesses in some countries such as the U.S. (and recently in Japan). For example, studying markets provides us with insights on how to regulate markets; game theory is a useful tool to analyze various situations encountered in business settings and is sometimes directly applied to gain profits in some business fields.

The course covers standard topics in microeconomics, i.e. price theory and game theory. Also, the course is self-contained. In particular, relevant mathematical knowledge is also explained in the class.

The tentative schedule is as follows:
Week 1: Introduction and preliminaries
Week 2: Consumer theory (1)—Preference and utility representations
Week 3: Consumer theory (2)—Utility maximization and demand function
Week 4: Consumer theory (3)—Expenditure minimization, duality, and welfare measurement
Week 5: Producer theory—Profit maximization and supply function
Week 6: Market analysis (1)—Partial equilibrium and general equilibrium
Week 7: Market analysis (2)—Welfare theorems
Week 8: Decision under uncertainty—Expected utility and its applications
Week 9: Game theory (1)—Examples and various formulations of games
Week 10: Game theory (2)—Nash equilibrium
Week 11: Game theory (3)—Subgame-perfect equilibrium
Week 12: Game theory (4)—Repeated games
Week 13: Game theory (5)—Incomplete-information games
Week 14: Game theory (6)—Application to auction and mechanism design
Week 15: Game theory (7)—Signaling game

Exam week: Final exam

The standard topics and tools of microeconomics are covered. The first 7 courses cover the so-called price theory. Price theory is a "ripe" field and will be a useful tool for students' future research. The latter half studies relatively recent fields of decision under uncertainty and game theory. They are important research fields in recent developments in microeconomics and will give students insights and interests.

Note: While not relevant to evaluation, students are allowed to use generative AI to help their self-study. However, they need to be aware that the currently used AIs (such as chatGPT) do not necessarily tell you correct statements about your inputs (particularly when you ask something academic or professional). It is their responsibility to make a "fact-check" on the output.

The instructor provides the lecture notes.

Mas-Colell, Whinston, and Green, "Microeconomic Theory" and
Hal Varian, "Microeconomic Analysis."

[Preparation] Reading the lecture notes beforehand (15h)
[Review] Checking your understanding of the course materials (including reading the lecture notes again and solving review exercises) (15h)

Due to the nature of a theoretical course, hours for "explicit" active learning are not reserved (for group activity or discussion). However, any questions and spontaneous discussions from students are always welcome, and the instructor plans to introduce a web service that enables students to anonymously ask questions (to help shy students).

The course evaluation aims to assess students' understanding of the course materials. It will be based on the final exam.

The course materials (such as lecture notes and review exercises) will be provided through the university system.

The course is self-contained. A former exposure to microeconomic courses and math courses will be helpful.

Not applicable.