Microeconomics II – Class 1

Course presentation
 Teachers

∗ Henrique Monteiro

∗ Department of Economics
∗ E-mail: henrique.monteiro@iscte.pt
∗ Phone: 217656503
∗ Office: D5.16
∗ Office hours: Tuesdays, 11h-12h
∗ Info: http://iscte.pt/~hpcm/

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 Fenix

∗ https://fenix.iscte-iul.pt/
∗ Contents supplied through the fenix platform:
∗ Syllabus, Curricular Unit File and Class Planning
∗ Class summaries
∗ Exercises for practice classes (and additional exercises
for revisions)
∗ Exams (results and solutions)
∗ Last year’s exams
∗ Slides
∗ Review of basic mathematical concepts
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 Course contents

∗ 1. Consumer theory
∗ 1.1. Axioms of revealed preferences
∗ 1.2. Slutsky equation
∗ 1.3. Consumer surplus, compensating and equivalent
variation
∗ 1.4. Consumer choice with initial endowment
∗ 2. Intertemporal choice
∗ 2.1. Consumer’s intertemporal choice
∗ 2.2. Asset markets
∗ 3. Decision under uncertainty
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 Course contents

∗ 4. General equilibrium theory

∗ 4.1. General equilibrium in a pure exchange economy
∗ 4.2. General equilibrium with production
∗ 4.3. Welfare theory
∗ 5. Market failures
∗ 5.1. Externalities
∗ 5.2. Public Goods
∗ 5.3. Asymmetric Information

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 Evaluation methodology

∗ Performance evaluation
∗ Mid-term exam (40%)
∗ Final exam (60%)
∗ (Required: minimum grade of 7.5/20 points in both exams)
∗ Periodic assessment
∗ First final written exam (100%)
∗ Resitting exam (100%)

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 Readings

∗ Varian, Hal R. (2014), Intermediate Microeconomics: A

Modern Approach, 9th edition, New York: W.W.
Norton & Company.
∗ Available at the library: E.111.2 VAR*Int 9ª ed

∗ Portuguese translation: Varian, Hal R. (2010),

Microeconomia intermédia, 8a edição,Verlag-
Dashöfer
∗ Available at the library: E.111.2 VAR*Mic trd por

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How to succeed in the course?

∗ Attend classes
∗ There is a strong correlation between attendance and
grades
∗ Read the textbook and the recommended references.
∗ Studying only by class notes or slides causes summarized
knowledge and grades
∗ Do the exercises before the practice classes
∗ It yields more productive classes and it counts for grades

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How to succeed in the course?

∗ Ask questions, ask for help.

∗ During classes or office hours, teachers get paid to
answer your questions and they can only help if you ask
them.
∗ Mutual aid among students is a feature of ISCTE-IUL.
Practice it!

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How to succeed in the course?

∗ Look around you.

∗ Economic theories are created to explain the world
around you. Read magazines and newspapers and try to
understand news with your newly acquired knowledge of
Economics.
∗ Pay attention to human behavior. Apply the lessons to
your surrounding world.
∗ Take advantage of examples from textbooks, classes and
the “To learn more” section in Fenix to see theories
applied. It will motivate your study.
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How to succeed in the course?

∗ Start early!
∗ Classes last for 12 weeks. Concentrating all the workload
in the few days before exams is a bad idea.
∗ Besides 54h of classes, the course planning assumes 95h
of autonomous work. This means we expect you to work
as much at home as in classes during the academic term,
besides studying for the exams.
∗ Your knowledge and grade at the end of the semester will
be proportional to your effort during the entire course.

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 Tasks

∗ Your job starts today and not a few days before the mid-
term.

∗ Tasks to do before next class:

∗ Get the textbook.
∗ Read the textbook’s mathematical appendix.

∗ Tasks for (all) the practice classes:

∗ Try to do the exercises beforehand

∗ Welcome! Enjoy.

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