Econ 1001 Economics.

 

Term 1, 2007-08.  Microeconomics

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

 

 

Course Lecturer:

Dr. Donald Verry

Room 306 Drayton House

Internal telephone extension: 25835

Email: d.verry@ucl.ac.uk

Office Hour: Tuesdays 11.15-12.45

 

Aims and objectives of the Economics 1001 Microeconomics course.

Aims:

The Economics 1001 course provides an analytical introduction to the core concepts of microeconomics and macroeconomics for students on the Specialist Economics degree (L100) and the joint degrees Economics and Geography and Philosophy and Economics. As such, the course is intended to provide the foundation for students who will be taking one or both of the second year core micro and macro courses (Econ 2001, Econ 2004), rather than being a stand-alone introduction.

Objectives:

On successfully completing the Economics 1001 microeconomics course students should:

·        Be familiar with the core concepts in modern microeconomics and be able to apply these concepts to a range of issues and problems in the real world.

·        Be able to apply these concepts, along with some elementary mathematical techniques acquired on this and other courses, to solve stylised numerical or algebraic economic problems.

·        Be able to move without undue difficulty to the more advanced analysis they will encounter on the second year of the degree course.

Teaching:  

            Formal teaching is in the form of lectures and classes.

 

            Lectures (20).

            Christopher Ingold Auditorium on:        

            Tuesdays  1-2

            Thursdays 1-2

 

            Lectures begin on Tuesday 2nd   October 2007 and continue until the end of term.  There are no lectures in Reading

            Week, i.e. the week beginning November 5th.

 

            Demonstration Lectures (worked problems, 5 per term) 2

            Thursdays 4-5, Christopher Ingold Auditorium.    These will be held on the following dates: October 25th, November 1st,  

            November 22nd, November 29th, and December 13th.

.  

Questions and problems to be covered in the Demonstration Lectures will be added here a few days prior to the lectures. You are expected to attempt these problems before the demonstration lecture; do not just turn up and copy down the answers – that is not the way to learn.

For Demonstration Lecture 1

For Demonstration Lecture 2

For Demonstration Lecture 3

For Demonstration Lecture 4

For Demonstration Lecture 5.

 

Classes and Coursework. 

You will have eight 1001 classes per term. Your class teacher will set coursework; four pieces of coursework will be marked (per term). Attendance and submission of coursework is compulsory.  Classes begin in the week beginning October 15th.  

Here are the class arrangements:  Class arrangements

 

I will release the blocks of questions to be done for classes regularly throughout the term – broadly reflecting where we are up to in lectures:

            Class problem set 1

Class problem set 2

Class problem set 3

Class problem set 4

Class problem set 5

Class problem set 6

Class problem set 7 (essays)

 

 Assessment:

 

Examination:

1001 is examined in a three-hour paper during the main exam period (April-May).  Last year’s paper is attached.  The basic format (but not the questions!) will be unchanged.

            1001 exam 06-07

To be permitted to sit the end of year examination students must have met the

Course requirements

To meet course requirements you must have a satisfactory record of class attendance and coursework submission.  College guidelines state that students who do not attend 75% of classes have not met course requirements and may be ineligible to sit the final examination (which in turn could prejudice your chances of progressing to year 2).  If you cannot attend classes for medical reasons or other serious conflicts you will need to provide documentation.

 

Additional Online Course Material.

 

Course outline and reading list.

Outline and reading 07-08

 

Lecture Handouts: These will be posted as we progress (usually several days ahead of the lecture in question).

You should print these off and bring them to the lecture; you will not have time to copy the slides down and the Department cannot photocopy handouts for an audience the size of 1001. When you view the handout you may have to “rotate clockwise” (toolbar above document). When you print them off you can go to “page scaling” and choose to print multiple pages per sheet.

These are not substitutes for attending the lectures.  They contain the main diagrams and some other material but are not intended to be complete lecture notes.

Lecture 1 handout

Lecture 2 handout

Lecture 3 handout

Lecture 4 handout

Lectures 5 & 6  handout

Lecture 7 handout

Lecture 8 handout

Lecture 9 handout

Lecture 10 handout

Lecture 11 handout

Lecture 12 handout

Lecture 13 handout

Lecture 14 handout

Lecture 15 handout

Lecture 16 handout

Lectures 17 & 18 handout

Lecture 19 handout

           

Supplementary material

Items 3-5 will not make much sense until we have covered the topics in lectures.

 

1.      Although you will cover this material more rigorously and in greater depth in Econ 1004 (or Maths B6401 and B6402) this brief guide to the mathematics used in Econ 1001 may be helpful to some.  B1 Mathematics

 

2.      Historians of economic thought often claim that the publication of Adam Smith’s  Wealth of Nations in 1776 marks the beginning of modern economics.  Here is a famous passage from that book on the subject of specialization (which I will discuss in the second lecture): Adam Smith

 

3.      Elasticity formula for tax incidence. You would not be asked to reproduce this proof in an exam. Sales tax incidence

 

4.      Marginal utility and the slope of indifference curves. Marginal utility.

 

5.      Income and substitution effects via Slutsky equations