The course is designed to familiarize students with selected important topics in microeconomic theory, including consumer theory and producer theory. As a preparatory course, the class environment will be structured to help students become familiar with the ANU teaching environment, resources available to students, and requirements of formal coursework. In-class exercises are an important component of teaching in the course. Student participation in discussion of issues in microeconomics and study at ANU more broadly is also highly encouraged. An objective of the course is to provide students with an understanding of their strengths and weaknesses in microeconomics and help provide a strategy for students to improve on any weaknesses.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:
On successful completion of this course, students should:1. understand basic concepts of consumer theory, including preferences, axioms of rational choice, and representation of preferences through utility;
2. understand the concept of an indifference curve and its properties;
3. be familiar with the concept of marginal rate of substitution and be able to calculate the marginal rate of substitution under various function form assumptions for utility;
4. be able to represent relative price, a consumer’s budget constraint, and a consumer’s optimal bundle of consumption on a graph;
5. be able to represent the consumer’s optimisation problem in algebraic form and use constrained optimisation techniques to solve basic problems in consumer theory;
6. use the Lagrange method to calculate the indirect utility function and Marshallian demand, and understand the concept of Roy’s Identity;
7. be familiar with the concept of expenditure minimisation as the dual to utility maximization;
8. understand the concept of Hicksian demand and how it can be derived using Shephard’s lemma;
9. understand the basics of producer theory, including different types of production functions, marginal rate of technical substitution, and returns to scale;
10. be able to solve profit maximisation problems and understand the duality with cost minimisation;
11. be familiar with the basics of game theory and the concept of Nash equilibrium in pure strategies, particularly in the context of the prisoner’s dilemma game.
Indicative Assessment
A range of formative and summative assessment tasks will be used to aid student learning. Feedback will be provided on all tasks. Completion of all tasks is required.The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.
Workload
Approximately 30 hours class, with an equivalent number of hours in self studyFees
Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.
If you are a domestic graduate coursework or international student you will be required to pay tuition fees. Tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.
- Student Contribution Band:
- 2
- Unit value:
- 0 units
If you are an undergraduate student and have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). You can find your student contribution amount for each course at Fees. Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.
| Units | EFTSL |
|---|---|
| 0.00 | 0.00000 |
Course fees
- Domestic fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2016 | $00 per unit |
- International fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2016 | $00 per unit |
Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links
ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.
Summer Session
| Class number | Class start date | Last day to enrol | Census date | Class end date | Mode Of Delivery | Class Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1389 | 04 Jan 2016 | 05 Feb 2016 | 05 Feb 2016 | 12 Feb 2016 | In Person | N/A |
