Intermediate Microeconomics

This is a two-semester course for undergraduates. We will be using the text book by Hal R. Varian "Intermediate Microeconomics with Calculus." Roughly in the first semesters we will cover the consumer theory whereas in the second semester we will cover production theory. There will be a midterm and a final for each semester and your term grade will roughly be based on the average of the two subject to some adjustments which we will discuss. Several homeworks and readings (if we have time) will be provided along the way. You are encouraged to work on the homeworks but are not required to hand them in. The course TA will go over the homeworks at due time. For the power point slides of the course, please refer to http://homepage.ntu.edu.tw/~chenying/.

We will meet every Monday afternoon from 2:20-5:20. My office hour will be from 1:30-2:00 before that class meeting time or by appointment. Should you have questions regarding the course, please email me at chenying@ntu.edu.tw or come talk to me at room 809 of the Social Science Building.

We will roughly discuss one chapter of the textbook each week. Here is the list of topics of the textbook, corresponding well to what we will cover week by week. Some readings are provided along the way.
1 The Market (a double auction experiment)
2 Budget Constraint
3 Preferences
4 Utility (Does Your Language Shape How You Think?)
5 Choice
6 Demand
7 Revealed Preference (GARP for Kids: On the Development of Rational Choice Behavior)
8 Slutsky Equation (Giffen Behavior and Subsistence Consumption)
9 Buying and Selling
10 Intertemporal Choice
11 Asset Markets
12 Uncertainty (Teen Motherhood and Abortion Access) (Prospect Theory)
13 Risky Assets (I will write on the blackboard. There will be no ppt this week. I want you to take notes.)
14 Consumer's Surplus
15 Market Demand
16 Equilibrium
17 Measurement
18 Auctions (a common value auction experiment) (the goal of the first semester)
19 Technology
20 Profit Maximization
21 Cost Minimization
22 Cost Curves
23 Firm Supply
24 Industry Supply
25 Monopoly
26 Monopoly Behavior
27 Factor Markets
28 Oligopoly
29 Game Theory
30 Game Applications
31 Behavioral Economics
32 Exchange
33 Production
34 Welfare
35 Externalities
36 Information Technology
37 Public Goods
38 Asymmetric Information (Morals and Markets)