Introductory Microeconomic Theory

Scarcity, Choice, and Trade-offs · Opportunity Cost · Marginal Analysis and Incentives · Production Possibilities Frontier · Economic Models and Assumptions · Positive and Normative Economics · Causation, Correlation, and Empirical Evidence · Economic Systems and Resource Allocation

Markets and Competition · Demand and Demand Shifts · Supply and Supply Shifts · Market Equilibrium and Comparative Statics · Price Elasticity of Demand · Supply, Income, and Cross-Price Elasticities · Elasticity and Total Revenue · Price Ceilings, Price Floors, and Quotas · Taxes, Subsidies, and Incidence

Preferences and Indifference Curves · Utility and Marginal Utility · Budget Constraints · Utility Maximization and Consumer Choice · Individual and Market Demand · Income, Substitution, and Price Effects · Normal, Inferior, and Giffen Goods · Revealed Preference · Consumer Surplus and Welfare Measurement · Cost-of-Living Indexes and Demand Estimation

Probability, Expected Value, and Contingent Consumption · Expected Utility · Risk Aversion and Risk Preferences · Risk Premium and Certainty Equivalent · Insurance and Risk Sharing

Production Functions and Technology Sets · Short-Run Production · Marginal and Average Product · Isoquants and Input Substitution · Returns to Scale · Technical Change and Productivity · Multiple Outputs and Economies of Scope

Economic Cost and Accounting Cost · Economic Profit and Accounting Profit · Fixed, Variable, Sunk, and Marginal Costs · Short-Run Cost Curves · Cost Minimization and Conditional Input Demand · Long-Run Cost Curves · Economies and Diseconomies of Scale · Profit Maximization · Learning Curves and Dynamic Cost Changes

Assumptions of Perfect Competition · Competitive Firm Output Choice · Shutdown and Exit Decisions · Firm and Market Supply Curves · Producer Surplus · Entry, Exit, and Long-Run Equilibrium · Long-Run Industry Supply · Efficiency of Competitive Markets

Sources of Monopoly and Barriers to Entry · Monopoly Output and Pricing · Monopoly Power and the Lerner Index · Welfare Cost of Monopoly · Price Discrimination · Two-Part Tariffs, Bundling, and Peak-Load Pricing · Natural Monopoly and Regulation · Buyer Power in Product Markets · Antitrust Policy and Merger Analysis

Monopolistic Competition · Product Differentiation and Advertising · Cournot Quantity Competition · Bertrand Price Competition · Stackelberg Leadership · Collusion and Cartels · Entry Deterrence and Limit Pricing · Oligopoly Welfare and Competition Policy

Strategic and Normal-Form Games · Dominant Strategies and Nash Equilibrium · Mixed Strategies and Multiple Equilibria · Repeated Games and Cooperation · Sequential Games and Subgame Perfection · Credibility, Commitment, and Strategic Moves · Auctions · Bargaining

Derived Demand for Factors · Marginal Productivity Theory · Labor Supply and Work-Leisure Choice · Competitive Labor Market Equilibrium · Monopsony and Imperfect Labor Markets · Unions and Bilateral Monopoly · Human Capital and Education · Compensating Wage Differentials and Signaling · Labor-Market Discrimination · Wage and Income Inequality · Land, Capital, and Resource Markets

Intertemporal Budget Constraints · Saving, Borrowing, and Intertemporal Choice · Present Discounted Value · Capital Investment and Net Present Value · Bond and Asset Valuation · Interest Rate Determination · Stocks, Flows, and Capital Markets · Exhaustible Resources and Intertemporal Production

Partial versus General Equilibrium · Exchange and the Edgeworth Box · Pareto Efficiency and the Contract Curve · Competitive General Equilibrium · Efficiency in Production · Product-Mix Efficiency · Fundamental Welfare Theorems · Social Welfare, Efficiency, and Equity

Positive and Negative Externalities · Externalities and Allocative Inefficiency · Corrective Taxes and Subsidies · Regulation and Tradable Permits · Property Rights and the Coase Theorem · Transaction Costs and Limits to Bargaining · Public Goods and the Free-Rider Problem · Efficient Provision of Public Goods · Common Resources and the Tragedy of the Commons · Environmental Economics and Innovation Spillovers

Asymmetric and Imperfect Information · Adverse Selection and the Market for Lemons · Moral Hazard · Principal-Agent Problems · Signaling · Screening and Self-Selection · Incentive Contracts and Efficiency Wages · Insurance Markets with Asymmetric Information

Market Failure and the Role of Government · Tax Revenue and Deadweight Loss · Optimal Taxation and Tax Design · Tax Equity and Ability to Pay · Regulation and Cost-Benefit Analysis · Poverty Measurement and Poverty Traps · Redistribution and the Social Safety Net · Social Choice and Voting · Median Voter and Special-Interest Politics · Government Failure

Absolute and Comparative Advantage · Specialization and Gains from Trade · World Prices, Imports, and Exports · Welfare Effects of Free Trade · Tariffs and Import Quotas · Export Subsidies and Non-Tariff Barriers · Arguments for and against Protectionism · Intra-Industry Trade and Globalization

Bounded Rationality and Heuristics · Biases in Judgment and Decision-Making · Reference Dependence and Loss Aversion · Present Bias and Time Inconsistency · Fairness, Altruism, and Social Preferences · Trust, Reciprocity, and Social Influence · Behavioral Public Policy