About this course: We make economics decisions every day: what to buy, whether to work or play, what to study. We respond to markets all the time: prices influence our decisions, markets signal where to put effort, they direct firms to produce certain goods over others. Economics is all around us. This course is an introduction to the microeconomic theory of markets: why we have them, how they work, what they accomplish. We will start with the concept of scarcity and how specialization according to comparative advantage helps us achieve more than we could alone. Next we model a marked using the tools of Supply and Demand and learn what well working markets accomplish and what their limit are. We end by exploring the impact of government intervention on perfect markets. Examples are taken from everyday life, from goods and services that we all purchase and use. We will apply the theory to current events and policy debates through weekly exercises. These will empower you to be an educated, critical thinker who can understand, analyze and evaluate market outcomes.
Created by: University of Pennsylvania
Taught by: Rebecca Stein, Senior Lecturer
Economics
| Commitment | 5 weeks of study, 4-7 hours/week |
| Language | English, Subtitles: Mongolian |
| How To Pass | Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. |
Syllabus
WEEK 1
The Concept of Scarcity
Where do markets come from? We will start with understanding the constraint of scarcity that we face and the concept of opportunity cost that reflects the true cost of any decision we make. We will learn to model scarcity using the Production Possibilities Fro...
17 videos, 2 readings
Graded: Opportunity Cost
Graded: Production Possibility Frontier (PPF)
Graded: Production Possibilities Frontier and Growth
WEEK 2
Specialization & Trade
Trade allows us to achieve the unattainable- we can consume more than we can produce on our own. We will introduce the concept of Comparative Advantage and discuss how gains from specialization allow us to use our resources efficiently. We will apply these con...
14 videos, 1 reading
Graded: Comparative Advantage
Graded: Trade
WEEK 3
Supply and Demand
We will introduce the central model of Supply & Demand. This will allow you to communicate with other economists and finally understand those business pages and market updates. We will distinguish between a movement along and a movement of the supply & demand ...
15 videos, 1 reading
Graded: The Demand Curve
Graded: The Supply Curve
Graded: Market Equilibrium
Graded: A Change in Market Equilibrium
WEEK 4
Understanding Markets: Elasticities, Market Surplus, Efficiency, and Equity
There is a lot of terminology this week. We will introduce of the concept of elasticity of demand that measures the responsiveness of quantity demanded to a change in the price of a good. We will explore the relationship between change in price and revenue or ...
23 videos, 1 reading
Graded: Elasticity of Demand
Graded: Elasticity of Demand & Revenue
Graded: Other Elasticity Terms
Graded: Consumer and Producer Surplus
WEEK 5
When Government Intervenes
In week four we learnt that the markets maximize the surplus that can be generated. So what happens if the government steps in and intervenes in the market? This week we will analyze price floors and ceilings, taxes and subsidies and learn how the best intenti...
16 videos, 1 reading
Graded: Price Intervention
Graded: Taxes
Graded: Subsidies
Graded: Government Intervention
Graded: Final Exam
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University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (commonly referred to as Penn) is a private university, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. A member of the Ivy League, Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and considers itself to be the first university in the United States with both undergraduate and graduate studies.
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