The Microeconomic Analysis module aims to:

• Provide students with an up-to-date understanding of microeconomic analysis at a third year undergraduate level
• Make students aware of the use of microeconomic analysis in understanding the behaviour of consumers and producers, and the operation of the economy as a whole
• Make students aware of more recent microeconomic theory in particular in the areas of game theory and uncertainty
• Give students a firm understanding of issues in dealing with microeconomic policy analysis
• Enable students to obtain subject specific and core skills which will be of use in further education and their future careers

A    Knowledge and Understanding:

• be aware of advanced undergraduate microeconomic theory in relation to producers and consumers, duality, general equilibrium, game theory, asymmetric information and uncertainty
• be aware of the use of economic analysis to solve economic problems arising in the micro economy
• be aware of the techniques that economists use to solve microeconomic problems
• have covered sufficient micro theory to proceed to an MSc.  course in Economics should they wish to do so

B    Intellectual Skills: 

• be able to apply logical analysis to the treatment of microeconomic issues
• be able to read and understand key articles in journals in the microeconomics area

C    Discipline Specific Skills: 

• be able to understand and analyse some of the key issues in the micro literature
• be able to use analytical techniques including mathematical and diagrammatic analysis to solve specific microeconomic problems

D    Transferable Skills: 

• be able to read extensively and to write and present short reports
• be able to indicate to non-economists what economic thinking would suggest in dealing with real economic problems

Teaching takes place in the Autumn and Spring Semester.  There are approximately 36 hours of lectures and 16 hours of classes (although extra classes may be put on to deal with more technical aspects of the course).   

Indicative study hours:   200

The two hour exam (30% of the course mark) is designed to test students’ ability in dealing with microeconomic problems and covers the first part of the course (see below). Students will be asked to answer a number of questions of a problem-solving type nature in this exam. The three hour exam (70% of the course mark) is then focused on the second and third parts of the course.

The syllabus is divided into three parts.  The first develops students’ understanding of analysis and includes the following topics: consumer theory and producer theory using duality, partial equilibrium, general equilibrium and welfare economics.  The second part covers developments in game theory and includes treatment of static and dynamic games, games of complete and incomplete information, and provides appropriate solution concepts: Nash equilibrium, Bayesian Nash equilibrium and subgame perfect Nash equilibrium.  The third part covers the economics of uncertainty and information.  It will cover expected utility theory, moral hazard and adverse selection, focusing on equilibria in signalling, screening and principal agent models.

Gravelle, H. and R. Rees, Microeconomics, Pearson Education, 2004.
Jehle, G. A. and P. J. Reny, Advanced Microeconomic Theory, Pearson Education, 2011.
Osborne, M. J., An Introduction to Game Theory, Oxford University Press, 2004.
Macho-Stadler, I. and D. Perez-Castrillo, A Introduction to the Economics of Information, Oxford University Press, 2001.
Watson, J., Strategy: An Introduction to Game Theory, Norton, 2002 (2008, 2^nd edition).