Interaktivní osnova

You must read the syllabus: "Life [and Micro 2] is just like a game. First you have to learn rules of the game, and then play it better than anyone else." (A. Einstein)

Introduction

Course objectives. The goal of the course is to teach students intermediate microeconomic theory. The course provides students with the knowledge necessary for further studies of microeconomics at the doctoral level.

Syllabus. 1/ Budget Constraint, Preferences and Utility • 2/ Choice and Revealed Preferences • 3/ Demand and Slutsky Equation • 4/ Consumer's Surplus and Market Demand • 5/ Uncertainty and Equilibrium • 6/ Technology and Profit Maximization • 7/ Cost Minimization and Cost Curves • 8/ Firm Supply and Industry Supply • 9/ Monopoly and Monopoly Behaviour • 10/ Oligopoly  • 11/ Game Theory and Asymmetric Information. 

I will not add material, but--depending on several factors that I will evaluate--the program could be shortened and chapters could be dropped.

Learning outcomes. After completing the course the students will be able to: - apply the consumer theory, in particular, they will be able to find optimum choices of consumers and derive demand functions for different preferences; - understand the basic properties of demand; - determine the effects of a price change on consumers’ welfare; - apply the model of a firm; - explain the interaction between consumers and firms in competitive and imperfectly competitive markets, in particular in monopolistically competitive market, in a monopoly and an oligopoly; - apply the basic concepts of consumer theory to situations under uncertainty and explain the main problems related to asymmetric information.

Contacts and meetings with students

My email is luca.fumarco@econ.muni.cz

My room is on the fifth floor, room 523, on the left corridor when you exit either of the two central lifts.

I do receive students in my office. However, the most suitable moment when to talk about course-related issues is during the seminars (i.e., MPE_ACMI). If you want to talk with me at a different moment, please contact me via email, and let's set up a meeting.

You can send me a message anytime and I usually answer within a couple of days. However, sometimes it takes longer or I simply miss your message (also, if you write to me with your private email, the email provider might automagically dump it in the spam/junk email; so, I recommend you use your muni email). If my answer takes too long to reach you, please send me a soft reminder via email or approach me during the lectures or seminars; never take my lack of a response as a deliberate act.

Topics schedule

1. Budget constraint, preferences, and utility, September 25th
   
2. Choice and revealed preference, October 2nd
   
3. Demand and Slutsky equation, October 9th
4. Consumer's surplus, market demand, and equilibrium, October 16th
5. Uncertainty, October 23rd 
6. Technology and profit maximization, October 30th / In-class activity 1
7. No lesson, study week, November 6th
8. Cost minimization and cost functions, November 13th
   
9. Firm supply and industry supply, November 20th / In-class activity 2
10. Monopoly and monopoly behavior, November 27th
11. Game theory and oligopoly, December 4th
12. FAQ session, December 11th / In-class activity 3
13. Mock exam, December 18th
    

This topic's schedule is suggestive of the course progress through Varian's book (see the literature below).

Literature

VARIAN, Hal R. Intermediate microeconomics: a modern approach. 8. ed. New York: Norton, 2010. xxiv, 739. ISBN 9780393934243. info (TEXTBOOK)

BERGSTROM, Theodore C. and Hal R. VARIAN. Workouts in intermediate microeconomics. 8th ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2009. 562, 38. ISBN 9780393935158. info (EXERCISES BOOK)

Evaluation scale

Students will be evaluated based on three extra activities, one mid-term exam, and the final cumulative exam.

Extra activities, and the exam will be weighted based on the following percentages:

In determining your final letter grade, I will cumulate your points through in-class activities, and the exam. I will then convert this final percentage grade to a final letter grade as follows:

• A: (90; 100]
• B: (80; 90]
• C: (70; 80]
• D: (60; 70]
• E: [50; 60]
• F: [0, 50)

Online exams are not allowed under any circumstance.

To avoid a subjective evaluation, I do not round grades up if you are close to a cut-off or otherwise tweak grades. 

Please do not ask me to take online exams or to round up grades. Please note that I do not use a curve to grade your assignments or exams: your grade is in your hands only.

The weights in the table are indicative, very likely these are the weights I will use. If for any reason I decide to change them (e.g., if a test or in-class activity is very long/short, hard/easy), I will correct the weights in here and I will add a time stamp; moreover, I will announce the change in class, and I will communicate the change via message. The change will be applied to everybody's in-class activity. 

Attendance - not graded

Attendance is not mandatory; however, it is warmly recommended. To make the 1h50' more bearable, we will have a 10' break in the middle of the lesson.

Studies have shown that students learn better when they attend in-person classes. Direct personalized learning experiences motivate students and allow them to stay focused and avoid lagging. In other words, it is in your interest to attend: it increases the learning experience and satisfaction with the course. Moreover, lessons are the best moment when to ask questions about material that you have not understood.

Although the slides are available now, and you have the book, I encourage you to take notes during the lessons. Studies have shown this is a very effective way to learn.

Since the material is already available, I expect that, before coming to lesson, you will have already read the slides for that lesson (e.g. on October 8th, you read the slides to be discussed in class on October 9th).

There is no option to attend online. However, if you missed a lecture for important reasons (e.g. for medical reasons), you could watch the videos from 2020 hybrid lectures. These lectures will typically be made accessible to everyone after a few days and anyways before the next lecture. The instructor you will see in the video is not me, but it does not matter, because the content of the lecture is the same.

Active participation to lessons - not graded

Some activities will be planned in due course and depend on time availability. These activities are not graded and they are meant to help you learn and make me understand whether something is unclear to you. Typically, these activities are in-class oral questions from me to you on what is discussed on that same day. Additionally and if time allows, at the end of each lesson, we will use either Socrative (room name: FUMARCO) or Mentimeter  (the lecture-specific code will be given in class). Please sign up on both websites, it is free, and download the app, which is available on the smartphone and laptop.

The Mentimeter app for android is here:  Mentimeter APK (Android App) - Free Download (apkcombo.com), or in alternative here: Download Mentimeter 3.0.0 for Android - Filehippo.com. It does not look like it is available on Google Play Store. It looks like it is not available for Apple devices. Last but not least, you can use Mentimeter from your browser and thus regardless of your operating system; go to mentimeter.com, in the home page look at the top (you will see "Enter code to join a live Menti," you will enter the code I give you and then click "Join").

There is a positive correlation between some questions that I ask in class and some questions in the exams.

In-class activities - graded 

In-class activity 1 will be planned in due course. Ideally, it will be an in-class quiz. This quiz will have theoretical questions (math-intensive exercises are not included) on the material from lessons 1 to 4. 

In-class activity 2 will be planned in due course. Ideally, it will be an in-class quiz. This quiz will have theoretical questions (math-intensive exercises are not included) on the material from lessons 5 to 8.

In-class activity 3 will be planned in due course. Ideally, it will be an in-class quiz. This quiz will have theoretical questions (math-intensive exercises are not included) on the material from lessons 9 to 11.

In-class activities 1, 2, and 3 do not give you a pass/fail, but an actual score that adds to your final grade (e.g. if the quiz is 15-question long and you answer to 5 questions correctly, you get 33% of In-class activity 1, which translates in roughly 5 additional points on your final grade--[15/100]*33).

If you take the in-class activity but are unsatisfied with the grade, you can renounce to it.

There is no resit of in-class activities and, if you miss them, the final exam will have a heavier weight on your final score (e.g. if you miss In-class activity 1 but take in-class activity 2 and 3, your final exam will be worth 70 points. ["will have a heavier weight" does not mean "will be longer / with more questions", but just that it will count more]

These activities have two purposes: spur you to study little by little and spread the risk entailed in taking one exam that weights 100% of the grade over multiple activities.

Exam rules will apply to these activities (see below). There is only one authorized tool you can bring and use during these in-class activities: you can bring with you one handwritten A4 sheet, with front and back summary of the chapters that are part of that day in-class activity. If you break the rules, your in-class activity is cancelled (as if you did not take it).  I will check and approve your sheet when I will hand in the test.

Mock exams - not graded

This is a voluntary non-graded exam that you can take so that you assess your own preparation and understanding of the content of the course--before taking an actual exam. It serves you also to see how the exam will look like (it does not mean that the questions in this mock exam will be the same as those in the actual graded exam, although there might be little overlap). 

Although this exam is not graded, I will apply the same rules I apply during the graded in-class activities and the exam (see below).

Exams - graded

Exams have multiple-choice questions with exactly one correct answer.

Some students might need to take the exam earlier, before Christmas, because they will leave Czech Republic and will not come back after the holidays (e.g., incoming Erasmus students). Please contact me in advance.

Exams rules. Exams will be closed book. NO CELLPHONE IS ALLOWED; YOU HAVE TO BRING YOUR CALCULATOR. ADDITIONAL RULES: NO TALKING, NO LOOKING IN THE DIRECTION OF OTHER PEOPLE'S EXAM. THE FIRST TIME YOU BREAK ANY OF THESE RULES, I GIVE YOU A PUBLIC WARNING, BUT ON THE SECOND TIME I WILL TAKE YOUR EXAM AND YOU WILL GET AN F. If you have to ask something from a classmate (e.g., some water, a tissue), you first rise your hand and tell me that you have to do so. 

The above rules are not exhaustive, they apply to any unauthorized tool, aid, and communication device, or other disruptions of objectivity of credit test.

The above rules apply also to the mock exam and to the in-class activities.

Authorized tools. Also during the exams--including the mock exam, you are entitled to bring with you up to three handwritten A4 sheets, with front and back summary of the chapters covered in class (one sheet for lesson 1 to 4, one for lesson 5 to 8, one for lesson 9 to 11). No additional paper is allowed. If I see any additional sheet or the book, I WILL IMMEDIATELY TAKE YOUR EXAM AND YOU WILL GET AN F. IF YOUR SHEETS ARE NOT HANDWRITTEN, I WILL TAKE THEM AWAY [I understand if you bring book or other papers to revise the material before the exam starts--I used to do it too; in that case, please leave them next to my desk after you enter the room and remember to collect them after you have handed in the exam]

Academic dishonesty is taken seriously, see the link below.

!! Your wrong answers do not reduce your grade, they simply count as a 0; thus, if you are not sure about what to answer, just pick one of the answers: do not be tempted to break any of the above rules !!.

Answer sheets. For many of you, this is the first time you will use answer sheets. Here is a sample answer sheet that shows how to answer and how to correct your answers. We will discuss how to fill in the answer sheets in class as well.

This is an example test from previous years. This is just to give you an idea of how the test looks like; some questions in this example are too hard or are from sections that we will not cover this year, so please do not sweat cold if you do not know how to answer some of these questions.

What if you need to revise math? I will proceed through the lectures assuming that your level of calculus is good enough, e.g., you know how to solve equations and inequalities, and how to compute derivatives and areas of basic geometric shapes (you will not need to compute integrals though).

Nonetheless, you might feel the need to revise your basics. Unfortunately, there are many students and I cannot help you with calculus. However, fray not: there is a math and stat support center that you can visit to receive support; they speak in English. Students from past years who benefitted from the services of this center were happy about the received support. Moreover, we will revise math during the first seminar lesson.

Exams dates

• 4/1/2025 at 10,10
• 10/1/2025 at 14,10
• 16/1/2025 at 14,10
• 25/1/2025 at 11,10
• 31/1/2025 at 15,10
• 10/2/2025 at 15,10

On each exam day, enter the classroom 10 minutes earlier (e.g., on January 4th, you enter at 10,00), the exam starts 10 minutes after that. Bring the student card, the instructors will be checking it!
Please only sit in places where the tables are in a horizontal position/open.

Final grade computation

Your grade is computed with a simple weighted average. Below is a reminder on how I compute your grade.

If you do not take any in-class activity, I use the following formula:

Your grade = (Final exam / M)*100

If you take one in-class activity (e.g., in-class activity 2), I use the following formula:

Your grade = ((Correct answers in In-class Activity 2 / X)*15) + ((Final exam / M)*85)

If you take two in-class activity (e.g., in-class activity 1 and 2), I use the following formula:

Your grade = ((Correct answers in In-class Activity 1 / X)*15) + ((Correct answers in In-class Activity 2 / Y)*15) + ((Final exam / M)*70)

If you take all in-class activities, I use the following formula:

Your grade = ((Correct answers in In-class Activity 1 / X)*15) + ((Correct answers in In-class Activity 2 / Y)*15) + ((Correct answers in In-class Activity 3 / K)*15) + ((Final exam / M)*55)

Where X, Y, K, and M correspond to the number of questions in the respective activity or exam.

Remember to update your formula accordingly, if you took in-class activities but renounced to one or more them, or if I cancelled one or more them because I found out you were not complying with the rules.

Exams viewing dates  

You can view your test on paper in room VT105, on the following dates. Please come first at 16,30. There are enough computers in the room, viewing will take place in parallel.

•  8/1/2025 at 16,30
• 14/1/2025 at 16,30
• 21/1/2025 at 16,30
• 29/1/2025 at 16,30
• 5/2/2025 at 16,30
• 3/2/2025 at 16,30

What is the relationship between MPE_AMI2 and MPE_ACMI?

During the lessons for MPE_AMI2, we will focus on the theory, while during the seminars for MPE_ACMI, we will focus on the exercises. As you see from the sample test, the exam for MPE_AMI2 will include mostly theoretical questions and some exercises. Thus, although MPE_AMI2 is separate from the seminars (i.e., MPE_ACMI), the seminars will help you learn the tools to pass MPE_ACMI.

Could exercise banks (those used for exams and assignments) contain errors?

Please note that your exams and assignments in this course are usually multiple-choice quizzes that come from standardized test banks from one of the most famous intermediate microeconomics books in the world. Mistakes are very rare and there is no space for arbitrary decisions on whether an answer is correct or not.

The policy of zero tolerance for academic dishonesty will be strictly applied. 

Some aspects of this course differ from the course in the previous year. Why? I always try to improve the course and meet this year students' needs; plus, some uni regulations might change. Shouldn't it be exactly the same as last year? NO; the syllabus to follow is the current one.

Are there exceptions to any of these rules? NO. If you are playing soccer, you are implicitly accepting the rules, and once you are in the pitch, you cannot ask the ref to change them.