The course will focus on Microeconomic theory as an approach to organizing economic ideas through modelling.

This course will examine some basic components of economic theory concerning the allocation of scarce resources:individual non-strategic decision making by consumers and firms, Markets and General Equilibrium, Game Theory for extending the models of consumers and producers to strategic settings (with an emphasis on asymmetric information and mechanism design), and models of how decisions are made in non market settings through political institutions or within firms.

Along the way we will consider how to include uncertainty in models and how to establish the existence of equilibria/optima and the comparative static properties of these predicted outcomes.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

1. Individual Decision Makers: State and prove the fundamental properties of consumer and producer behaviour in neoclassical economics
2. Markets: explain and apply the results of, Game Theory and General Equilibrium in understanding the properties of basic market structures.
3. Mechanism Design: use mechanism design techniques to establish the structure of optimal incentive contracts and apply contract design to solve economic problems.
4. Uncertainty: explain and apply the results of, and methods used in, expected utility theory
5. Non-market allocation: state and prove the fundamental results of social choice, voting and managerial hierarchies; know the characteristics of some practical solutions to non-market allocation systems.
6. Modelling: Describe relevant economic situations as games or optimization problems.
7. Solving: Use curvature and monotonicity properties to establish the solutions and comparative static properties for relevant economic models.

Research-Led Teaching

The course covers concepts, methodologies and techniques that form the foundation of modern research in all fields of economics.

Examination Material or equipment

Non-programmable calculators are permitted in exams.

Recommended Resources

Recommended Textbooks

• D.M. Kreps, Microeconomic Foundations I: Choice and Competitive Markets, Princeton University Press, 2013
• A. Mas-Colell, M.D. Whinston, and J.R. Green, Microeconomic Theory, Oxford University Press, 1995
• I. Gilboa, Theory of Decision under Uncertainty, Cambridge University Press, 2009
• M.J. Osborne, and A. Rubinstein, A Course in Game Theory, MIT Press 1994
• M. Maschler, E. Solan, and S. Zamir, Game Theory, Cambridge University Press, 2013
• T. Börgers, An Introduction to the Theory of Mechanism Design, Oxford University Press, 2015

See the following ANU Library reading list for available textbooks and additional readings:

http://library.anu.edu.au/search/r?search=econ8011

Staff Feedback

Students will be given feedback in the forms of verbal feedback during and after lectures and tutorials, and individual feedback and help with lecture material and tutorial problems, as well as discussions of solutions to assignments, during office hours.

Student Feedback

ANU is committed to the demonstration of educational excellence and regularly seeks feedback from students. Students are encouraged to offer feedback directly to their Course Convener or through their College and Course representatives (if applicable). The feedback given in these surveys is anonymous and provides the Colleges, University Education Committee and Academic Board with opportunities to recognise excellent teaching, and opportunities for improvement. The Surveys and Evaluation website provides more information on student surveys at ANU and reports on the feedback provided on ANU courses.

Other Information

Attendance

This is an on-campus course. Students are expected to regularly attend all lectures and tutorials. Lecture recordings are not a substitute for class attendance.

Scaling

Your final mark for the course will be based on the raw marks allocated for each of your assessment items. However, your final mark may not be the same number as produced by that formula, as marks may be scaled. Any scaling applied will preserve the rank order of raw marks (i.e. if your raw mark exceeds that of another student, then your scaled mark will exceed the scaled mark of that student), and may be either up or down.

Class Schedule

Week/Session	Summary of Activities	Assessment
1	Preferences and choice under certainty
2	Choice under risk and uncertainty
3	Strategic games and existence of Nash equilibrium
4	Bayesian games
5	Extensive games with imperfect information
6	Mechanism design (time permitting)

Tutorial Registration

No tutorial enrolment is required.

Assessment Summary

Assessment task	Value	Due Date	Return of assessment	Learning Outcomes
Weekly assignments - 30%	30 %	04/03/2019	06/06/2019	1,2,3,4,5,6,7
Final Examination - 70%	70 %	06/06/2019	04/07/2019	1,2,3,4,5,6,7

* If the Due Date and Return of Assessment date are blank, see the Assessment Tab for specific Assessment Task details

Policies

ANU has educational policies, procedures and guidelines, which are designed to ensure that staff and students are aware of the University’s academic standards, and implement them. Students are expected to have read the Academic Misconduct Rule before the commencement of their course. Other key policies and guidelines include:

• Student Assessment (Coursework) Policy and Procedure
• Special Assessment Consideration Policy and General Information 
• Student Surveys and Evaluations
• Deferred Examinations
• Student Complaint Resolution Policy and Procedure

Assessment Requirements

The ANU is using 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. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website. Students may choose not to submit assessment items through Turnitin. In this instance you will be required to submit, alongside the assessment item itself, hard copies of all references included in the assessment item.

Moderation of Assessment

Marks that are allocated during Semester are to be considered provisional until formalised by the College examiners meeting at the end of each Semester. If appropriate, some moderation of marks might be applied prior to final results being released.

Assessment Task 1

Weekly assignments - 30%

• Students are required to submit written solutions to weekly assignment/tutorial problems, with the exception of week 1 and week 7 of the semester. The 8 highest marks out of these 10 assignments, will be used to compute the 30% assignment component of your final grade. You may discuss the assignment problems with other students, but each student is required to submit their own written solutions.
• Solutions are due at 3:30pm on Wednesdays, and new assignment problems will be released after lecture on Thursdays of the week before the due date. Late submissions of assignments will NOT be accepted, as the solutions will be discussed in class on Wednesdays after the submission deadline. Assignment marks will be released on Wattle after the assignments are graded, approximately one week after the submission dates.
• Solutions to assignments must be deposited in the appropriately labelled submission box (course code ECON4411/8011), located to the left on the inquiries desk on Level 1 of the HW Arndt Building (No. 25A). Solutions must include the cover sheet that can be downloaded from https://www.rse.anu.edu.au/media/720171/Assignment-Cover-Sheet.pdf. Please keep a copy of your answers for your records.

Assessment Task 2

Final Examination - 70%

The final exam will be comprehensive, in the sense that questions may be drawn from all the topics discussed during the semester.

The exam will be scheduled during the end-of-semester examination period, and will consist of 15 minutes reading time and 3 hours writing time.

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is a core part of our culture as a community of scholars. At its heart, academic integrity is about behaving ethically. This means that all members of the community commit to honest and responsible scholarly practice and to upholding these values with respect and fairness. The Australian National University commits to embedding the values of academic integrity in our teaching and learning. We ensure that all members of our community understand how to engage in academic work in ways that are consistent with, and actively support academic integrity. The ANU expects staff and students to uphold high standards of academic integrity and act ethically and honestly, to ensure the quality and value of the qualification that you will graduate with. The University has policies and procedures in place to promote academic integrity and manage academic misconduct. Visit the following Academic honesty & plagiarism website for more information about academic integrity and what the ANU considers academic misconduct. The ANU offers a number of services to assist students with their assignments, examinations, and other learning activities. The Academic Skills and Learning Centre offers a number of workshops and seminars that you may find useful for your studies.

Online Submission

You will be required to electronically sign a declaration as part of the submission of your assignment. Please keep a copy of the assignment for your records. Unless an exemption has been approved by the Associate Dean (Education) as submission must be through Turnitin.

Hardcopy Submission

For some forms of assessment (hand written assignments, art works, laboratory notes, etc.) hard copy submission is appropriate when approved by the Associate Dean (Education). Hard copy submissions must utilise the Assignment Cover Sheet. Please keep a copy of tasks completed for your records.

Late Submission

No submission of assessment tasks without an extension after the due date will be permitted. If an assessment task is not submitted by the due date, a mark of 0 will be awarded.

Referencing Requirements

Accepted academic practice for referencing sources that you use in presentations can be found via the links on the Wattle site, under the file named “ANU and College Policies, Program Information, Student Support Services and Assessment”. Alternatively, you can seek help through the Students Learning Development website.

Returning Assignments

Extensions and Penalties

Extensions and late submission of assessment pieces are covered by the Student Assessment (Coursework) Policy and Procedure. The Course Convener may grant extensions for assessment pieces that are not examinations or take-home examinations. If you need an extension, you must request an extension in writing on or before the due date. If you have documented and appropriate medical evidence that demonstrates you were not able to request an extension on or before the due date, you may be able to request it after the due date.

Privacy Notice

The ANU has made a number of third party, online, databases available for students to use. Use of each online database is conditional on student end users first agreeing to the database licensor’s terms of service and/or privacy policy. Students should read these carefully. In some cases student end users will be required to register an account with the database licensor and submit personal information, including their: first name; last name; ANU email address; and other information.
In cases where student end users are asked to submit ‘content’ to a database, such as an assignment or short answers, the database licensor may only use the student’s ‘content’ in accordance with the terms of service – including any (copyright) licence the student grants to the database licensor. Any personal information or content a student submits may be stored by the licensor, potentially offshore, and will be used to process the database service in accordance with the licensors terms of service and/or privacy policy.
If any student chooses not to agree to the database licensor’s terms of service or privacy policy, the student will not be able to access and use the database. In these circumstances students should contact their lecturer to enquire about alternative arrangements that are available.

Distribution of grades policy

Academic Quality Assurance Committee monitors the performance of students, including attrition, further study and employment rates and grade distribution, and College reports on quality assurance processes for assessment activities, including alignment with national and international disciplinary and interdisciplinary standards, as well as qualification type learning outcomes.

Since first semester 1994, ANU uses a grading scale for all courses. This grading scale is used by all academic areas of the University.

Support for students

The University offers students support through several different services. You may contact the services listed below directly or seek advice from your Course Convener, Student Administrators, or your College and Course representatives (if applicable).

• ANU Health, safety & wellbeing for medical services, counselling, mental health and spiritual support
• ANU Diversity and inclusion for students with a disability or ongoing or chronic illness
• ANU Dean of Students for confidential, impartial advice and help to resolve problems between students and the academic or administrative areas of the University
• ANU Academic Skills and Learning Centre supports you make your own decisions about how you learn and manage your workload.
• ANU Counselling Centre promotes, supports and enhances mental health and wellbeing within the University student community.
• ANUSA supports and represents undergraduate and ANU College students
• PARSA supports and represents postgraduate and research students