Microeconomics

The objective of this course is that each student learns how to use microeconomic reasoning to analyse individual, group, and societal behaviour in a wide range of settings and to apply that reasoning to the challenges of our time.

Students will acquire a set of skills that will be useful for their future, both within and outside academia:
· Starting with a question or a problem about the economy—why the advent of capitalism is associated with a sharp increase in average living standards, for example— students will learn to identify which tools of economics can contribute to an answer.
· In doing so, students will acquire knowledge on the basic principles of microeconomics.
· This process, through mastering of economics tools, will enable students to apply these tools to new problems.
· By exercising critical thinking, students will be encouraged to evaluate critically the solutions offered by policy makers to these problems in the real world
The range of assignments for the course will improve students' ability to apply economic tools to real world problems, will give them the opportunity to acquire initial knowledge of and practice data analysis and writing skills, and will inform their future work (within and outside the university) by encouraging them to think in depth about a topic of their choosing within the course curriculum.