PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS I (MICROECONOMICS)
Course unit partition: Cognomi A-K

Academic year 2014/15
1° year of course - Second semester
Professor
Marco ZILIOTTI
Academic discipline
Economia politica (SECS-P/01)
Field
Ambito aggregato per crediti di sede
Type of training activity
Caratterizzante
70 hours
of face-to-face activities
10 credits
hub: PARMA
course unit
in - - -

Learning objectives

At the end of the course the students know the basics of the microeconomic theory (market, demand and supply, consumer theory, etc.) and are able to understand the differences between the main forms of market (perfect competition, monopoly and oligopoly).
At the end of the course students are able to analyze and understand the main events of an economic nature, such as, for example, the equibrium market, the dynamics of market prices, the cost of doing business.
After the course the students are able to express an opinion concerning the events and/or situations related to the economic system and the choices of consumers and firms.
At the end of the lectures, students are able to attend an interview on economic issues (concepts, definitions, implications) with professionals and / or public sector operators.
At the end of the course students are able to use the techniques of analysis of microeconomics, in particular with reference to the basic mathematical formulas and graphs corresponding to the main models of the theory.

Prerequisites

None

Course unit content

In the first part, following topics will be covered in lectures:
- Introduction to the study of microeconomics. Supply and demand.
- Analysis of consumer behavior.
- Application Individual and market demand.
In the second part, following topics will be covered in lectures:
- Analysis of the production. The production costs.
- A company in perfect competition.
- Monopoly and market power.
- Oligopoly and Monopolistic Competition.
- Market of production factors.
- Externalities and public goods.

Full programme

- - -

Bibliography

"Istituzioni di Economia Politica I"-Progetto CREATE, Docenti: Lasagni-
Ziliotti, Edizioni McGrawHill

Teaching methods

Acquisition of knowledge: lectures.
Acquisition of the ability to apply knowledge: classes and seminars.
Acquisition of judgment: during the course students will be stimulated to verify the results obtained in models of microeconomics and to compare them with respect to the empirical evidence on markets, sectors or companies in Italy.
Acquisition of learning skills: for each topic we will start by disclosure of the assumptions of the model, and examine critically the main outcomes resulting from choices made by consumers or by firms.
Acquisition of technical language: during the course will be introduced and discussed the main definitions of the concepts (eg, supply, demand, market) commonly used in the language of economics.

Assessment methods and criteria

Final assessment of learning is done through a written examination. The knowledge and understanding will be assessed with some multiple choice questions on basic concepts and have a total value of 10 points.
The ability to apply knowledge will be assessed with exercises and openended questions that have a total value of 20 points.
Learning ability and independence of judgment will be assessed by examining how to solve the exercises given by each student in the final exam.
The ability to communicate with the appropriate technical language will be evaluated through the analysis of expressions and definitions used by the student in the open-ended questions.
The final score is the sum of the scores assigned with multiple choice questions and exercises and open-ended questions. The threshold of sufficiency has been set equal to the value of 18.

Other information

- - -

2030 agenda goals for sustainable development

- - -