From a technical perspective, economics is the study of how various alternatives or choices are evaluated to best achieve a given objective. The domain of economics is the study of processes by which scarce resources are allocated to satisfy unlimited wants. Ideally, the resources are allocated to their highest valued uses. Supply, demand, preferences, costs, benefits, production relationships and exchange are tools that are used to describe and analyze the market processes by which individuals allocate scarce resources to satisfy as many wants as possible. This increasingly narrow focus is the domain of modern, “neoclassical,” microeconomic analysis. This approach is typical of most economists and is referred to as orthodox economics.

The five basic questions that are asked in the study of the allocation problem are: 1) What to produce? 2) How many to produce? 3) How to produce? 4) When to produce? 5) Who gets it? Provisioning should seek to understand the nature of wants or objectives. Provisioning is the process of framing the approaches to the allocation problem.

Develops facility with concepts, language, and analytical tools of economics. Covers microeconomics, macroeconomics, and international trade and payments. Emphasizes integration of theory, data, and judgment in the analysis of corporate decisions and public policy, and in the assessment of changing US and international business environments. Restricted to Sloan Fellows. The fact of scarcity forces individuals, firms, and societies to choose among alternative uses -- or allocations -- of its limited resources. Accordingly, the first part of this summer course seeks to understand how economists model the choice process of individual consumers and firms, and how markets work to coordinate these choices. It also examines how well markets perform this function using the economist's criterion of market efficiency. Overall, this course focuses on microeconomics, with some topics from macroeconomics and international trade. It emphasizes the integration of theory, data, and judgment in the analysis of corporate decisions and public policy, and in the assessment of changing U.S. and international business environments.

This course is designed to extend the student's knowledge of the basic microeconomic principles that will provide the foundation for their future work in economics and give them insight into how economic models can help us think about important real world phenomena. Topics include supply and demand interaction, utility maximization, profit maximization, elasticity, perfect competition, monopoly power, imperfect competition, and game theory. Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to: Explain the standard theory in microeconomics at an intermediate level; Explain and use the basic tools of microeconomic theory, and apply them to help address problems in public policy; Analyze the role of markets in allocating scarce resources; Explain both competitive markets, for which basic models of supply and demand are most appropriate, and markets in which agents act strategically, for which game theory is the more appropriate tool; Synthesize the impact of government intervention in the market; Develop quantitative skills in doing economic cost and consumer analysis using calculus; Compare and contrast arguments concerning business and politics, and make good conjectures regarding the possible solutions; Analyze the economic behavior of individuals and firms, and explore how they respond to changes in the opportunities and constraints that they face and how they interact in markets; Apply basic tools that are used in many fields of economics, including household economics, labor economics, production theory, international economics, natural resource economics, public finance, and capital markets. (Economics 201)

This half-semester course provides an introduction to microeconomic theory designed to meet the needs of students in an economics Ph.D. program. Some parts of the course are designed to teach material that all graduate students should know. Others are used to introduce methodologies. Students should be comfortable with multivariable calculus, linear algebra, and basic real analysis.

Russell Cooper and Andrew John have written an economics text aimed directly at students from its very inception. You’re thinking, “Yeah, sure. I’ve heard that before.”This textbook, Microeconomics: Theory Through Applications, centers around student needs and expectations through two premises:• Students are motivated to study economics if they see that it relates to their own lives.• Students learn best from an inductive approach, in which they are first confronted with a problem, and then led through the process of solving that problem.Many books claim to present economics in a way that is digestible for students; Russell and Andrew have truly created one from scratch. This textbook will assist you in increasing students’ economic literacy both by developing their aptitude for economic thinking and by presenting key insights about economics that every educated individual should know.How? Russell and Andrew have done three things in this text to accomplish that goal:1. Applications Ahead of Theory: They present all the theory that is standard in Principles books. But by beginning with applications, students get to learn why this theory is needed.The authors take the kind of material that other authors put in “applications boxes” and place it at the heart of their book. Each chapter is built around a particular business or policy application, such as minimum wages, the stock exchange, and auctions.Why take this approach? Traditional courses focus too much on abstract theory relative to the interests and capabilities of the average undergraduate. Students are rarely engaged and the formal theory is never integrated into the way students think about economic issues. And traditional books are organized around theoretical constructs that mean nothing to students. The authors’ applications-first approach ensures that students will not see chapters with titles like “Cost Functions” or “Short-Run Fluctuations”. They introduce tools and ideas as and when they are needed. Each chapter is designed with two goals. First, the application upon which the chapter is built provides a “hook” that gets students’ attention. Second, the application is a suitable vehicle a vehicle for teaching the principles of economics.2. Learning through Repetition: Important tools appear over and over again, allowing students to learn from repetition and to see how one framework can be useful in many different contexts.Each piece of economic theory in this text is first introduced and explained in the context of a specific application. Most are re-used in other chapters, so students see them in action on multiple occasions. As students progress through the book, they accumulate a set of techniques and ideas. These are collected separately in a “toolkit” that provides students with an easy reference and also gives them a condensed summary of economic principles for examination preparation.3. A Student’s Table of Contents vs. An Instructor’s Table of Contents: There is no further proof that Russell and Andrew have created a book aimed specifically at educating students about economics than their two tables of contents.The Student’s Table of Contents speaks to students, piquing their interest to involve them in the economics, and a Instructor’s Table of Contents with the economics to better help you organize your teaching—and frankly, you don’t need to get excited by economics, you already are.

Principles of Microeconomics covers the scope and sequence of most introductory microeconomics courses. The text includes many current examples, which are handled in a politically equitable way. The outcome is a balanced approach to the theory and application of economics concepts.

The purpose of this course is to provide the student with a basic understanding of the principles of microeconomics. At its core, the study of economics deals with the choices and decisions that have to be made in order to manage scarce resources available to us. Microeconomics is the branch of economics that pertains to decisions made at the individual level, i.e. by individual consumers or individual firms, after evaluating resources, costs, and tradeoffs. "The economy" refers to the marketplace or system in which these choices interact with one another. In this course, the student will learn how and why these decisions are made and how they affect one another in the economy. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: Think intuitively about economic problems; Identify how individual economic agents make rational choices given scarce resources and will know how to optimize the use of resources at hand; Understand some simplistic economic models related to Production, Trade, and the Circular Flow of Resources; Analyze and apply the mechanics of Demand and Supply for Individuals, Firms, and the Market; Apply the concept of Marginal Analysis in order to make optimal choices and identify whether the choices are 'efficient' or 'equitable'; Apply the concept of Elasticity as a measure of responsiveness to various variables; Identify the characteristic differences amongst various market structures, namely, Perfectly Competitive Markets, Non-Competitive Markets, and Imperfectly Competitive Markets and understand the differences in their operation; Analyze how the Demand and Supply technique works for the Resource Markets. (Economics 101; See also: Business Administration 200)

The Principles of Microeconomics course was developed through the Ohio Department of Higher Education OER Innovation Grant. This work was completed and the course was posted in December 2019. The course is part of the Ohio Transfer Assurance Guides and is also named OSS004. For more information about credit transfer between Ohio colleges and universities, please visit: www.ohiohighered.org/transfer.Content ContributorsKen Fah                                             Ohio Dominican UniversityJohn Fiske                                         Ohio Dominican UniversityJoe Nowakowski                                Muskingum UniversityLibrarianNathan Wolfe                                     Kenyon CollegeReview TeamMolly Cooper                                     Ohio State University Subbu Kumarappan                          Ohio State University ATI 

This lesson discusses why and how consumers make certain choices.  Based on standard neoclassical theory, students are introduced to the concept of utility, budget constraints, and indifference curves.  Given market prices and utility information, students will understand the implicit thought processes that lead to total utility maximization.  In cases when individual behaviors do not adhere to the predictions of standard economic theory, the lesson employs behavioral economics to explain how and when consumer choices might be different under certain conditions including limited information, psychological pricing, bounded rationality, nudges, and loss aversion. 

This topic examines income inequality, poverty, and discrimination in the U.S. and around the world. The focus is on the U.S. with comparative discussion on other select nations. It provides evidence on poverty trends and a discussion on the causes of poverty. It also provides evidence on income distribution and a discussion on the causes of income inequality. The impact of discrimination on wage earnings is examined. There is an emphasis on policy measures to address poverty and income inequality. 

Principles of Microeconomics is an introductory undergraduate course that teaches the fundamentals of microeconomics. This course introduces microeconomic concepts and analysis, supply and demand analysis, theories of the firm and individual behavior, competition and monopoly, and welfare economics. Students will also be introduced to the use of microeconomic applications to address problems in current economic policy throughout the semester.

Principles of Economics covers scope and sequence requirements for a two-semester introductory economics course. The authors take a balanced approach to micro- and macroeconomics, to both Keynesian and classical views, and to the theory and application of economics concepts. The text also includes many current examples, which are handled in a politically equitable way.

Principles of Microeconomics for AP Courses covers the scope and sequence for a one-semester Advance Placement Microeconomics course. The book is on the example textbook list for the AP course here. The text also includes many current examples, including; the Keystone Pipeline, Occupy Wall Street, and debates over the minimum wage.

This subject is on regional energy-environmental modeling rather than on general energy-environmental policies, but the models should have some policy relevance. We will start with some discussion of green accounting issues; then, we will cover a variety of theoretical and empirical topics related to spatial energy demand and supply, energy forecasts, national and regional energy prices, and environmental implications of regional energy consumption and production. Where feasible, the topics will have a spatial dimension. This is a new seminar, so we expect students to contribute material to the set of readings and topics covered during the semester.