Course Credit:
4
Introduction: What is Economics? Scope and subject matter of economics, scarcity and efficiency, free goods vs. economic goods, microeconomics vs. macroeconomics, different economic systems (market economy, command economy, mixed economies), Key problems of economic organization (what, how, whom), revolution of microeconomics, the production possibility frontier: (definition, derivation of PPF, productive efficiency, and various economic processes)
Basic elements of demand: What is demand? Law of demand, demand function, factors affecting the demand, demand schedule, demand curve, shifts in demand, movements along the demand curve, market demand.
Basic elements of supply: Definition of supply, law of supply, supply function factors affecting the supply, supply schedule, supply curve, shifts in supply, movements along the supply curve.
Market: Supply and demand interaction; market equilibrium
Elasticity of demand: Definition, types of elasticity and its measurements, factors affecting elasticity of demand, relationship between elasticity of demand and revenue generation.
The theory of consumer behavior: Marshallian demand theory, basic assumptions, law of diminishing marginal utility, law of equi-marginal utility, consumer equilibrium, derivation of demand curve through Marshallian approach.
Indifference curve approach: Basic assumptions, law of diminishing marginal rate of substitution, indifference curve, indifference map, budget line, consumer equilibrium, PCC, ICC
The theory of firms: Production function, factors of production, short run and long run, total product, marginal product, average product, law of diminishing marginal product, returns to scale,
The theory of costs: Concepts of costs, fixed cost and variable cost, derivation of short run and long run cost curves (TC, MC, AC, AVC, TVC, TFC), relation between different types of cost curves
Market structure: Definition and characteristics of different markets Perfect competition: Behavior of a competitive firm, short run equilibrium of a firm in the competitive market, long run equilibrium, industry supply curve, break-even point, shut down point
Monopoly market: Behavior of a monopolist, mark-up pricing, short run and long run equilibrium of a monopolist, consumer and producer surplus, dead weight loss of monopoly