This course provides a comprehensive introduction to microeconomics, examining how individuals, firms, markets and institutions make decisions in a world of scarcity and competing objectives. It begins with the fundamental economic problem of choice and opportunity cost, and develops the demand-and-supply framework as a foundation for understanding markets and social problems.
The course then explores consumer and producer behaviour, including preferences, utility, income and substitution effects, production, cost minimisation and profit maximisation. Students examine how competitive markets work and how different market structures—including monopoly, monopolistic competition and oligopoly—shape pricing, strategic behaviour and economic outcomes.
The course moves beyond individual markets to consider general equilibrium, welfare economics, income distribution and inequality. It also examines situations in which markets may fail, including externalities, public goods, common resources and information asymmetries. The role of institutions, incentives and contracts is explored through topics such as polycentric governance and principal–agent problems.
The final section introduces advanced perspectives on economic behaviour and markets, including behavioural economics and network economics. Throughout the course, economic models are connected to real-world problems and policy questions, helping students understand not only how markets work, but also when they succeed, when they fail, and how economic institutions can influence outcomes.