VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS

SYLLABUS

MICROECONOMICS II (INE2101-E)

(Issued with the decision no. /QD-DTDH dated )

1. Instructor Information:
1.1. Lecturer 1
Full name: Hoang Khac Lich, Ph.D.
Office: R309 – E4 -VNU campus
Office hours: By appointment
Contact address: R309 – E4 VNU campus
Cell phone: 0978135777
Email: lichhk@vnu.edu.vn

1.2. Lecturer 2
Full name: Trinh Thi Thu Hang, Ph.D.
Office: R309 – E4 -VNU campus
Office hours: By appointment
Contact address: R309 – E4 VNU campus
Cell phone: 0901282828
Email: hangtrinh@vnu.edu.vn

1.3. Lecturer 3

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Full name: Dao Thi Bich Thuy, Ph.D.
Office: R309 – E4 -VNU campus
Office hours: By appointment
Contact address: R309 – E4 VNU campus
Cell phone:
Email: thuydaokt@vnu.edu.vn

1.4. Lecturer 4
Full name: Nguyen Xuan Dong, Ph.D.
Office: R309 – E4 -VNU campus
Office hours: By appointment
Contact address: R309 – E4 VNU campus
Cell phone: 0912876516
Email: nx.dong@gmail.com

2. Course Description:
Prerequisite: Microeconomics I

Number of 4 credits
credits:
Credit hours: 60 credit hours
Course This course provides a more in depth coverage of microeconomics.
description: Theories of consumer demand, production, costs and market failures
are developed further and applied to consumer and firm behavior.
After assessing the welfare implications of a perfect economy with
no market failure, the implications for economic welfare of
externalities, information asymmetry, imperfect market structures
and other instances of market failures are evaluated. Students are

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 assumed to have a basic grasp of microeconomics from a principles
course and adequate calculus ability. In this course we will study
basic microeconomic theory and its application to some selected
problems of both practical and academic interest. Microeconomic
analysis involves problem-solving, which means that most of our
time will be spent setting-up and solving constrained optimization
problems.
Language of instruction and testing: English
Test forms: written test
Learning activities: the course will be conducted in an interactive
manner that requires student’ frequent feedbacks. Learning activities
will include lectures, in-class discussion, case study preparation and
presentation, homework and tests.
Course Our objective in this Microeconomics II course is to cover
objectives: microeconomic theory at the intermediate level. This course’s aim is
to ensure that all students can take standard microeconomic problems
and correctly analyze them. This course builds basic microeconomic
tools, e.g., supply and demand curves, from fundamental concepts.
The primary goal is to teach you how to apply economic reasoning in
a careful, systematic way, to economic issues you will confront in
subsequent university courses and in your post-university careers.
The course is also important to any student who plans to go on to
study economics at the graduate level. It is best seen as a course that
provides the foundations of economic analysis and thereby opens the
doors to other economics courses, both applied and theoretical.
This subject will be used the 4 scales (1: to be able to recall; 2: to be
able to understand and apply; 3: to be able to reason; and 4: to be able
to create) – equivalent to the 6 scales of Bloom’s taxonomy – given

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 in the Appendix to assess the level of proficiency of the students
regarding to their achievement of the expected learning outcomes
thorough the course. Students can also use these 4 scales to assess
themselves the level of proficiency of the expected learning
outcomes.

3. Economic knowledge and reasoning

Students are expected to be able to acquire the knowledge of microeconomics up to the
level of proficiency 3.5 (to be able to reason and to some extent create):

o Understand microeconomics at intermediate level.

o Understand standard economic problems and correctly analyze them.
o Identify and analyze how different kinds of market structures operate: perfect
competition, monopolistic competition, oligopoly and monopoly.
o Understand and analyze economic welfare of externalities, information asymmetry,
imperfect market structures and other instances of market failure.
o Set up and solve economic problems analytically.

Personal and professional skills and attributes:

Through the course the following students’ personal skills are developed and enhanced
between the levels of proficiency 2 (to be able to understand and apply) and 3.5 (to be able
to analyze, evaluate and to some extent create):

o Reasoning and solving economic issues: this includes identifying, formulating and
generalizing economic issues, analyzing the issues/problems both qualitatively and
quantitatively with uncertainty, solving the issues by recommending and giving
solution.
o Researching the knowledge and practice through making hypothesis, reviewing
both print and electronic literature, and searching, collecting, analyzing and

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 handling/processing the information/data, testing hypothesis, doing research and
applying it to the reality.
o Thinking systematically (e.g. thinking holistically, finding economic
problems/issues and their interactions, identifying priority, finding balanced
solutions, analyzing from different aspects).
o Creatively building economic models and use them to solve economic problems.

Students foster and develop personal attributes (e.g. perseverant/patient, flexible, self-
confident, diligent/hard working, creative thinking, critical thinking, and self-esteem) and
skills (e.g. awareness of one’s personal knowledge, skills, and attitudes; time and resource
management; learning and self-learning; and self-management). Students are requires to
acquire a fluent use of Microsoft Word (in submitting homework and projects) and
Microsoft PowerPoint (in the form of case study and project presentation).

Students are fostered and developed professional skills and attributes (e.g. professional
ethics, integrity, responsibility and accountability; task organization and arrangement;
awareness & catch up with modern world’s economy; ability to work independently; and
self-confidence in international working environment).

Interpersonal skills and attributes:

In using the teaching and learning methods such as in-class discussions, case study
preparation and presentation and homework, students are required to develop and enhance
their interpersonal skills and attributes among the levels of proficiency 2 ( to be able to
understand and apply) and 3 (to be able analyze and evaluate): teamwork (forming effective
teams, team operation, team growth and evolution, leadership, ability to work with
different teams), communications (spoken, written and electronic/multimedia
communications, preparation) and communication in English (listening, speaking, reading
and writing).

Ability to apply economic knowledge into practice:

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Through lecture, case studies and homework, students are able to formulate economic ideas
and evaluate economic consequences between the levels of proficiency 2 (to be able to
understand and apply) and 3 (to be able to analyze and evaluate) within the contemporary
societal and external context.

Other course notes: This one of the most difficult courses taught in undergraduate
economics. Reading the assignments in the text, attending lectures, completing of
problems, and studying for the midterms and final exam will require a significant amount
of time, even from top students. You will not do well by skipping the text, going only
occasionally to lecture and cramming for exams. To do acceptably, you need to attend
lectures and discussion sections and keep up with problems sets as we go along.

Assessment and Grading

Attendance; Homework Assignments 10%

Group Presentation 10%
Midterm Exam 20%
Final Exam 60%

4. Summary

This subject provides a more in depth coverage of microeconomics. Theories of consumer

demand, production, costs and market failures are developed further and applied to
consumer and firm behavior. After assessing the welfare implications of a perfect economy
with no market failure, the implications for economic welfare of externalities, information
asymmetry, imperfect market structures and other instances of market failures are
evaluated. Students are assumed to have a basic grasp of microeconomics from a principles
course and adequate calculus ability. In this course we will study basic microeconomic
theory and its application to some selected problems of both practical and academic
interest. Microeconomic analysis involves problem-solving, which means that most of our
time will be spent setting-up and solving constrained optimization problems.

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 5. The content of Microeconomics

Topic 1: Consumer behavior

1.1. Preferences

- Preferences: assumptions and types

- Indifference curves

- Marginal rate of substitutions (MRS)

1.2. Budget Constraints

- Budget set

- Budget lines and changes

- The numeraire

1.3. Utility

- Ordinal utility

- Utility functions

- Cobb-Douglas preferences

Discussions and Practice exercises:

- Discussion

- Practice exercises

Topic 2: Optimal choice

2.1. Choice

- Optimal choice

- Consumer demand

- Implication of MRS conditions

2.2. Demand

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- Income offer curve and Engel curve

- Price offer curve and demand curve

Intertemporal choice

- Budget constraint

- Preferences for consumption

- Present value

Discussion

Topic 3: Consumer choice

3.1. Uncertainty

- Consumption contingency

- Expected utility

- Risk aversion

- Risk spreading

3.2. Market Equilibrium

- Equilibrium

- Inverse demand and supply curve

- Taxes

- Pareto efficiency

Discussions and Practice exercises

- Discussion

- Practice exercises

- case study 1

Topic 4: Technology, cost and profit

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4.1. Technology

- Technological constraints

- Properties of technology

- Technical rate of substitution

- Long run and short run

- Returns to scale

4.2. Cost minimization

- Cost minimization

- Short run and long run costs

- Returns to scale and cost functions

4.3. Cost curves

- Average costs,marginal costs, variable costs

- Long-run costs

4.4. Profit maximization

- Profit maximization in short run

- Profit maximization in the long run

Discussion

Topic 5: Pure Competition

5.1. Firm's supply

- Pure competition and firm's supply

- Long run supply curve of the firm

- Long run constant average costs

5.2. Industry supply

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- Short run industry supply

- Short run and long run industry equilibrium

- Fixed factors and economic rent

Discussions and Practice exercises

- Discussion

- Practice exercises

Topic 6: Monopoly

- Maximizing profit

- Markup pricing

- Inefficiency and deadweight loss of monopoly

- First, second and third degree price discrimination

Discussions and Practice exercises

Topic 7: Oligopoly

- Choosing a strategy

- Cournot model

- Price leadership model

- Quantity leadership model

- Discussion

Topic 8: General Equilibrium

8.1. Production:

- Robinson Crusoe economy

- Decentralized resource allocation

8.2. Exchange

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- Edgeworth box

- Pareto efficient allocation

Discussions and Practice exercises

Case study:

CASE STUDY 1 (topic 3)

1 / Case study objectives

Applying theory to practice.

2 / Describe the situation

3 / Ask questions

4) Leading student discussion (team, study group):

There are two ways such as

- Divide by number of students in class, about 6-8 students a group to discuss, give answers.
The groups present their answers, other groups ask questions, or give opinions to argue.

- In order for students to volunteer for ideas then the whole class argues and teachers conclude
the problem.

5) Conclusion (according to learning objectives).

- Students understand consumers' choices when there are risks

- Students can from the situation of housing insurance to make judgments and thinking about
consumer choice as an economist.

HOUSING PROPERTY INSURANCE

When a person goes to buy a house, he needs to look at the proof of legal ownership
of the house. If ownership is not clear, there will always be a possibility that the seller is not

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the real owner. Or, the seller of the house used this house as collateral for the loan. Or, there
is a legal requirement to limit the use of this property.

Suppose Mr. Peter is willing to buy a house for $ 3 billion but he believes there are 1/20
chances that a thorough investigation will help him discover that the seller does not actually
own the property. This house of course will no longer be worth the price. Without insurance,
people who neglect risk will give the highest price of 2.85 billion (0.95 x 3 billion + 0.05 x
0). However, if the house is considered a great asset, Peter does not like risk, so he only set a
lower price, assuming 2.3 billion. In this situation, the buyer desires to be sure there is no risk
due to lack of ownership. To be sure, buyers will buy housing ownership insurance. The
insurance company will study the history of the asset, check whether the legal status has been
ensured, then the insurance company will bear all the remaining risks. Since the insurance
company is an expert in this field and it is easy to collect information, title insurance costs are
lower than the expected value of the loss. The assumed fee of VND 15 million seems
reasonable even though the expected loss may be many times higher.

Questions to discuss:

1, Consumers like the risk of paying higher or lower than 3 billion if title insurance is
available?

2, Insurance statements (based on fair insurance premiums: premiums equal to expected

compensation value).

CASE STUDY 2 (topic 7)

1 / Case study objectives:

Applying game theory, its reaction to opponent's behavior.

2 / Describe the situation

3 / Ask questions

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4) Leading student discussion (team, study group):

By number of students in the class, about 6-8 students a group to discuss, give answers.

5) Conclusion (according to learning objectives).

- students understand the competitive market monopoly and monopoly in practice

- students can from the telecommunications market situation to make judgments and thoughts
about other markets as an economist.

TELECOMMUNICATION SERVICES IN VIETNAM

In 1993, the cost of using mobile phones in Vietnam was very high. Rates for post-paid mobile
subscribers are 8,000 VND / minute (equivalent to 0.75 USD), and monthly subscription fee
is 20 USD. At that time, mobile phone service was only covered in four cities, namely Hanoi,
Ho Chi Minh (HCM), Bien Hoa and Vung Tau. After nearly 20 years, by 2012, the price of
mobile minutes was only approximately 1,000 VND (equivalent to 0.05 USD), the
subscription fee was only 49,000 VND / month, and the waves were covered all over the
country. Until the early 2000s, Vietnam's mobile market still consisted of only two mobile
service providers, Mobifone and Vinaphone. Mobifone was established in 1993 by Vietnam
Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (VNPT) to become the first mobile network in
Vietnam under GSM technology. Two years later Mobifone cooperated with Comvik
Vietnam AB Company of Kennevik Group in the form of business cooperation contracts
(Business Cooperation Contract - BCC) for development consultancy for Mobifone.
Vinaphone was established in 1996 and is a dependent accounting branch of VNPT. Because
these two suppliers are owned by VNPT, for nearly 10 years (from 1993 to 2003 when the
third mobile service provider appeared), the charge rate only slightly decreased compared to
1993, in when the subscription fee is still VND 200,000 / month. At that time, there were
three charge zones, of which the highest area was 8,000 VND / minute.

Although the birth of S-Fone and Cityphone marked a number of changes in the mobile
service market, it was not until the end of 2004 when Viettel started appearing on the market

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that the breakthrough really took place. out. Viettel is a brand belonging to the Military
Telecom Group, before becoming a mobile service provider that has traded international
telecommunication services such as VoIP, Internet and fixed telephone. Only after 5 months
of birth until the end of 2004, Viettel quickly attracted more than 150,000 subscribers. Under
the pressure of Viettel and S-Fone, Mobifone and Vinaphone have to reduce the charge,
switch to charge for a 30-second block and have only one calling area. The launch of Viettel
started the promotion race for new subscribers with different forms: discounting roaming fee,
giving service subscription fee for postpaid subscribers, giving charge for charging cards for
subscribers First, support the phone purchase or donate the phone when registering the
service. The competition in the mobile services market began to take place drastically in 2005.
On the occasion of this Lunar New Year, operators Vinaphone and Mobifone continued to
lose credibility due to long-running congestion incidents. become worse during Tet. Taking
advantage of this opportunity, both Mobifone and Viettel started network promotion
programs: firstly, quite gently, giving 50% of roaming fee for prepaid and postpaid
subscribers. At the end of the year, Viettel started racing to expand its promotions. Initially,
in September 2005, Viettel launched a 50 million free call promotion: free of charge for the
first in-network call of the day regardless of the call time and start increasing promotion for
new subscribers: free Postpaid roaming charges and duplicating prepaid network accounts.
This great promotion makes Mobifone and Vinaphone publicly criticize Viettel on mass
media, Viettel is dumping phone service. This criticism caused the Ministry of Commerce to
enter, and eventually arbitrate that Viettel did not dump. Since then, both Mobifone,
Vinaphone and S-Fone have expanded their promotions more than before: Vinaphone has
increased the amount of prepaid account money from 50% to 50%, S-Fone is free to give
VND 300,000 to rent How to buy new machines, Mobifone donates money to accounts for
other subscribers. After launching the program of 50 million free calls, Viettel began to
experience network congestion when customers called a lot at night time 19h - 21h, Viettel
had to apologize to customers. In 2006, the competition of network services companies
continued and became more severe: Vinaphone, Mobifone, Viettel reduced the prepaid
roaming fee, donated from 10% - 30% for three to five subsequent recharge cards depending

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on company. Starting from this time, buying a sim and taking a used account is much cheaper
than buying a prepaid scratch card and recharge. By the end of the year, Viettel expanded its
network promotion. For prepaid subscribers, doubling the value of prepaid network set (a
network set of VND 69,000 will have an account of VND 119,000), donating 30,000 to the
account for the next 5 months, doubling three additional recharge cards. according to the. For
postpaid subscribers, no charge for roaming and 6-month subscription fee. Especially in 2006,
when calculating total promotion time in different forms, Viettel had more than 6 months of
promotion over a total of 12 months of a year.

Currently, the quality and price of operators have also changed significantly, which is much
more beneficial for consumers. Mobile penetration rate in Vietnam is also very high compared
to the region. During the nearly 27 years since opening the market, the telecommunications
market has really developed very well.

Discussion questions

1 - The cause of the reduction of rates of Mobifone and Vinaphone when the introduction of
new businesses?

2 - The purpose of networks offering promotion packages?

3 - Why are carriers reluctant to adjust prices on the market today?

6. Textbooks and References:

Please obtain the newest version possible but older versions are ok
too, except that chapter numbers might be different.
Required books: - Varian, Hal (2005), Intermediate Microeconomics: a
Modern Approach, Norton and Company Publisher
Other - Perloff, Jeffrey, “Microeconomics: Theory and
recommended Applications with Calculus,” Pearsin Education
Publisher, 2008

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books and - Pindyck, Robert S. and Daniel L. Rubinfeld,
materials “Microeconomics” Prentice-Hall Publisher. (newest
version is 7th edition 2009)
- Nicholson, W. and C. Snyder, “Intermediate
Microeconomics and Its Applications,” South-Western
Publisher, (newest version is 11th edition 2010)
- Current economic and business periodicals and journals.

7. Course callendar

Week Learning Lecture topics Reading/ Note

Methods Assignments
Week 1 Lecture, Part I: Consumer behavior Before class:
and 2 discussion, Topic 1: Consumer Read: Varian
Q&A, behavior (4 c.h) (C2, 3 and 4)
cases, 1.1. Preferences
practice - Preferences: assumptions
exercises and types (3.1, 3.2) Prepare for
(4 c.h.) - Indifference curves (3.3, 3.4, discussions
3.5)
In class:
- Marginal rate of
Participate in
substitutions (MRS): behavior
discussions
and interpretation , 3.8)
and solve
1.2. Budget Constraints practice
- Budget set (2.1) exercises
- Budget lines and changes
(2.3, 2.4, 2.6)
- The numeraire (2.5)

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 1.3. Utility
- Ordinal utility: (4.0)
- Utility functions: (4.3)
- Cobb-Douglas preferences
(4.3)
Discussions and Practice
exercises: (l c.h.) –(w2)
- Discussion
- Practice exercises
Week Lecture, Topic 2: Optimal choice Before class:
2,3 discussion, (4c.h) Read : Varian
Q&A, 1.1. Choice (C5, 6, 10)
cases, - Optimal choice (5.1)
practice - Consumer demand Prepare for
exercise (5.2, 5.3) discussions
(4 c.h) - Implication of MRS
conditions (5.5) In class:
1.2. Demand Participate in
- Income offer curve and discussions
Engel curve (6.2, 6.3, and solve
6.4) practice
- Price offer curve and exercises
demand curve (6.5,
6.6)
Intertemporal choice
- Budget constraint
(10.1)

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 - Preferences for
consumption (10.2,
10.3)
- Present value (10.6,
10.7)
Discussion (1 c.h)- w3
Week 4 Lecture, Topic 3: Consumer choice (4 Before class:
discussion, c.h) Read : Varian
Q&A, 3.1. Uncertainty (C 12, 16)
cases, - Consumption contingency
practice (12.1) Prepare for
exercises (4 - Expected utility (12.2, 12.3) discussions
c.h.) - Risk aversion (12.5)
- Risk spreading (12.6, 12.7) In class:
3.2. Market Equilibrium Participate in
- Equilibrium (16.1, discussions
16.2, 16.3) and solve
- Inverse demand and practice
supply curve (16.4) exercises
- Taxes (16.6)
- Pareto efficiency
(16.9)
Discussions and Practice
exercises: (l c.h.)
- Discussion
- Practice exercises
- case study 1

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Week 5 Lecture, Part II: Producer Behavior Before class:
discussion, Topic 4: Technology, cost Read : Varian
Q&A, and profit (4c.h) (C19, 20, 21
cases, 4.1. Technology and 22)
practice - Technological Prepare for
exercises (4 constraints (19.2, 19.3) discussions
c.h.) - Properties of technology
(19.4, 19.5) In class:
- Technical rate of Participate in
substitution (19.6, 19.7, discussions
19.8) and solve
- Long run and short run practice
(19.9) excercises
- Returns to scale (19.10)
4.2. Cost minimization
- Cost minimization
(21.1)
- Short run and long run
costs (21.4)
- Returns to scale and
cost functions (21.3)
4.3. Cost curves
- Average
costs,marginal costs,
variable costs (22.1,
22.2, 22.3)
- Long-run costs (22.5,
22.6, 22.7)

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4.4. Profit maximization
- Profit maximization in
short run (20.1, 20.6,
20.7)
- Profit maximization in
the long run (20.8)

Discussion (1c.h)

Topic 5: Pure Competition Before class:

5.2. Firm's supply (w6) Read : Varian,
- Pure competition and C23 and 24
firm's supply (23.2,
23.3, 23.4, 23.5, 23.6)
- Long run supply curve
of the firm (23.8)
- Long run constant
average costs (23.9)
5.3. Industry supply (w7)
- Short run industry
supply (24.1)
- Short run and long run
industry equilibrium
(24.2, 24.3, 24.4)
- Fixed factors and
economic rent (24.6,
24.7)
Discussions and Practice
exercises: ( 1 c.h.) w7

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 - Discussion
- Practice exercises
HW 2 answer
Week 8 Review and Review for Midterm (3c.h.) Before class: Midterm test
discussion, - Class contents from Read class
Q&A, week 1 to week 7 materials
cases, - Practice exercises from week 1
practice - Midterm test to week 7
exercises Student self study (1c.h.) Prepare for
discussions

In class:
Participate
discussion
and solve
practice
exercise

Week 9 Lecture, Topic 6: Monopoly (3c.h.) Before class:

discussion, - Maximizing profit (25.1, Read : Varian
Q&A, 25.2) (25, and 26)
cases, - Markup pricing (25.3) Prepare for
practice - Inefficiency and deadweight discussions
exercises (4 loss of monopoly (25.4, 25.5)
c.h.) - First, second and third In class:
degree price discrimination Participate in
(26.1, 26.2, 26.3, 26.4) discussions
and solve

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 Discussions and Practice practice
exercises: (lc.h.) exercises
- Discussion
- Practice exercises
- Midterm answer
Week Lecture Topic 7: Oligopoly (3c.h.) Before class:
10,11 discussion, Oligopoly Read : Varian
Q&A, - Choosing a strategy (28.1) (C28)
cases, - Cournot model (28.5, 28.6) Prepare for
practice - Price leadership model discussions
(28.3) In class:
- Quantity leadership Participate in
model(28.2) discussions
and solve
practice
exercises
- Discussion
Student self study (1 c.h.)
Case study 2 w11

Week Lecture, Part III: General Before class:

12,13 discussion, Equilibrium Read : Varian
Q&A, Topic 8: General (C32, and 33)
cases, Equilibrium (4c.h) Prepare for
practice 8.1. Production: discussions
exercises - Robinson Crusoe economy
(4 c.h.) (33.1) In class:
Participate in
discussions

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 - Decentralized resource and solve
allocation (33.2, 33.3, 33.4, practice
33.5) exercises
8.2. Exchange
- Edgeworth box (32.1)
- Pareto efficient allocation
(32.2, 32.3)
Discussions and Practice
exercises: (1c.h.)
- Discussion
- Practice exercises
HW4 answer

Week Review Review for Final (2c.h.) Before class:

14, 15 and Group - Class contents from Review the
Presentation week 1 to week 15 course
discussion, - Practice exercises contents
Q&A (4 - Sample exams In class:
c.h.) Group Presentation (2c.h.) Participate in
discussions
and solve
practice
exercises

8. Course policies:

Students are required to complete and submit all the tasks given by the course
instructor(s)/lecturer(s) in time.

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The class will be conducted as an interactive exchange. Students will take an active role in
leading discussion of cases, presenting cases, and providing critical commentary. Each
class will involve discussions and dialogue as major elements in the learning strategy,
although lecture will be utilized to provide grounding for subject content. Individual
participants will be responsible for completing reading assignments and participating in
discussion of those readings.

The Code of Academic Integrity of the University addresses cheating, fabrication of

submitted work, plagiarism, handing in work completed for another course without the
instructor's approval, and other forms of dishonesty. For the first offense, a student who
violates the Code of the University will receive 0 points for the assignment. The violation
will be reported by the instructor(s) to the Dean's Office and recorded in the student's file.
For the second offense, the student will be failed from the course and the reason noted on
the student's official transcript.

Because it is distracting to other students and to me, I ask that you do not carry on private
conversations and keep your cells off during class time. Making a habit of this will reduce
your participation grade. Please be seated before lecture begins, and don't leave early
without prior permission since it is very distracting to me and your classmates. Arriving
late or leaving early without a valid excuse will count as half of an absence.

The text should be used to help you understand the lectures. Therefore, before class, please
prepare by reading ahead in the text. If you have already seen the material, the lectures
will be easier to follow. After class, reread the text. Sometimes the text will explain a
concept better than I did in class.

Internet/Email Requirements: Students are expected to regularly check their email

account. Homework assignments, lecture notes, important information or instructions may
be emailed tc these accounts.

Hints for success: Study! Do your homework! Don't miss an exam! Read the assigned
chapter before coming to the class and before doing the homework. Don't cram all the

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studying in the night before the exam, or you will be too tired to think and process all the
information. Don’t work too much. Get tutoring if you are struggling, or ask the instructor
for help and advice. Finally, studying in groups is highly recommended, as long as each
member of the group pulls his or her own weight, and you each remain responsible for
learning the material. It is OK to discuss homework with your classmates, but copying
somebody else's answers is cheating!

Experiences have shown that to achieve good results for each weekly session, students
need an average of 5-8 hours/week of self-study to prepare, review and complete
homework assignments.

9. About the examinations

Midterm Exam

There will be one midterm exam to be taken in class during Week 8th of the semester.
Midterm accounts for 25% of your overall grade. No make-up midterm are available
unless under very special circumstances. Midterm will be two hours, in class, in written
form, closed book and comprise both multiple-choice questions and short-answer and
problem solving questions. Midterm will only cover the topics discussed in class. For
example, there will be no exam questions on topics that are in the text books or other
materials but not covered in class.

Final Exam

The final exam will take place during the final exam week of UEB. Final exam accounts
for 60% of your overall grade. Make-up exam will follow COE's policies. As with the
Midterm, the Final will be two hours, in class, in written form, closed book and comprise
both multiple-choice questions and short-answer and problem solving questions. Final
exam will be covering the topics discussed in class. For example, there will be no exam
questions on topics that are in the text books or other materials but not covered in class.

Attendance and Participation

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Attendance and participation together account for 5% of your overall grade. Therefore, it
is important that you attend class, and that your mind be engaged in the lectures rather than
drifting off somewhere. I welcome questions, and I don't mind interruption during lecture
time as long as it doesn't get out of hand. I will take attendance every class. I might
occasionally hand out participation exercises that you can turn in.

Each week, there will be a discussion session and practice exercises. You are expected to
participate in discussion sessions by asking questions, participating in the discussions, and
solving exercises on the board. If during these sessions you cannot solve a problem when
asked to do so, explain why you cannot do it, where you get stuck, what is the precise issue
which gives you difficulty, etc. If you have done some preparation you should be able to
do this, which will prove very useful to you and the rest of the class to work through this
together. Understanding why one answer is wrong can be as illuminating as seeing the right
answer. Do not miss the class because you have not understood or prepared the assignment.

Giảng viên Chủ nhiệm bộ môn Chủ nhiệm khoa Phê duyệt

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 COURSE DESCRIPTION

1. Prerequisite: Intermediate Microeconomics

2. Credit hours: 60 credit hours
3. Code: INE2101 – E
4. Language of instruction
and testing: English
5. Lecture Lecturer 1
Full name: Hoang Khac Lich, Ph.D.
Office: R309 – E4 -VNU campus
Office hours: By appointment
Contact address: R309 – E4 VNU campus
Cell phone: 0978135777
Email: lichhk@vnu.edu.vn

Lecturer 2
Full name: Trinh Thi Thu Hang,
Office: Ph.D.
Office hours: R309 – E4 -VNU campus
Contact address: By appointment
Cell phone: R309 – E4 VNU campus
Email: 0901282828
hangtrinh@vnu.edu.vn
Lecturer 3
Full name: Dao Thi Bich Thuy, Ph.D.
Office: R309 – E4 -VNU campus
Office hours: By appointment
Contact address: R309 – E4 VNU campus
Cell phone:

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 Email: thuydaokt@vnu.edu.vn

Lecturer 4
Full name: Nguyen Xuan Dong,
Office: Ph.D.
Office hours: R309 – E4 -VNU campus
Contact address: By appointment
Cell phone: R309 – E4 VNU campus
Email: 0912876516
nx.dong@gmail.com
6. Course objectives: Our objective in this Microeconomics II course is to
cover microeconomic theory at the intermediate
level. This course’s aim is to ensure that all students
can take standard microeconomic problems and
correctly analyze them. This course builds basic
microeconomic tools, e.g., supply and demand
curves, from fundamental concepts. The primary
goal is to teach you how to apply economic
reasoning in a careful, systematic way, to economic
issues you will confront in subsequent university
courses and in your post-university careers. The
course is also important to any student who plans to
go on to study economics at the graduate level. It is
best seen as a course that provides the foundations of
economic analysis and thereby opens the doors to
other economics courses, both applied and
theoretical.

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This subject will be used the 4 scales (1: to be able
to recall; 2: to be able to understand and apply; 3: to
be able to reason; and 4: to be able to create) –
equivalent to the 6 scales of Bloom’s taxonomy –
given in the Appendix to assess the level of
proficiency of the students regarding to their
achievement of the expected learning outcomes
thorough the course. Students can also use these 4
scales to assess themselves the level of proficiency
of the expected learning outcomes.
Economic knowledge and reasoning:
Students are expected to be able to acquire the
knowledge of microeconomics up to the level of
proficiency 3.5 (to be able to reason and to some
extent create):
o Understand microeconomics at intermediate
level.
o Understand standard economic problems and
correctly analyze them.
o Identify and analyze how different kinds of
market structures operate: perfect
competition, monopolistic competition,
oligopoly and monopoly.
o Understand and analyze economic welfare of
externalities, information asymmetry,
imperfect market structures and other
instances of market failure.

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 o Set up and solve economic problems
analytically.

Personal and professional skills and attributes:

Through the course the following students’ personal
skills are developed and enhanced between the levels
of proficiency 2 (to be able to understand and apply)
and 3.5 (to be able to analyze, evaluate and to some
extent create):
o Reasoning and solving economic issues: this
includes identifying, formulating and
generalizing economic issues, analyzing the
issues/problems both qualitatively and
quantitatively with uncertainty, solving the
issues by recommending and giving solution.
o Researching the knowledge and practice
through making hypothesis, reviewing both
print and electronic literature, and searching,
collecting, analyzing and handling/processing
the information/data, testing hypothesis,
doing research and applying it to the reality.
o Thinking systematically (e.g. thinking
holistically, finding economic
problems/issues and their interactions,
identifying priority, finding balanced
solutions, analyzing from different aspects).
o Creatively building economic models and use
them to solve economic problems.

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Students foster and develop personal attributes (e.g.
perseverant/patient, flexible, self-confident,
diligent/hard working, creative thinking, critical
thinking, and self-esteem) and skills (e.g. awareness
of one’s personal knowledge, skills, and attitudes;
time and resource management; learning and self-
learning; and self-management). Students are
requires to acquire a fluent use of Microsoft Word
(in submitting homework and projects) and
Microsoft PowerPoint (in the form of case study and
project presentation).
Students are fostered and developed professional
skills and attributes (e.g. professional ethics,
integrity, responsibility and accountability; task
organization and arrangement; awareness & catch up
with modern world’s economy; ability to work
independently; and self-confidence in international
working environment).
Interpersonal skills and attributes:
In using the teaching and learning methods such as
in-class discussions, case study preparation and
presentation and homework, students are required to
develop and enhance their interpersonal skills and
attributes among the levels of proficiency 2 ( to be
able to understand and apply) and 3 (to be able
analyze and evaluate): teamwork (forming effective
teams, team operation, team growth and evolution,
leadership, ability to work with different teams),

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 communications (spoken, written and
electronic/multimedia communications, preparation)
and communication in English (listening, speaking,
reading and writing).
Ability to apply economic knowledge into practice:
Through lecture, case studies and homework,
students are able to formulate economic ideas and
evaluate economic consequences between the levels
of proficiency 2 (to be able to understand and apply)
and 3 (to be able to analyze and evaluate) within the
contemporary societal and external context.

7. Introduction
This course provides a more in depth coverage of microeconomics. Theories of consumer
demand, production, costs and market failures are developed further and applied to
consumer and firm behavior. After assessing the welfare implications of a perfect economy
with no market failure, the implications for economic welfare of externalities, information
asymmetry, imperfect market structures and other instances of market failures are
evaluated. Microeconomic analysis involves problem-solving, which means that most of
our time will be spent setting-up and solving constrained optimization problems.

8. The lesson per week: 04

9. Learning activities:
The course will be conducted in an interactive manner that requires student’ frequent
feedbacks. Learning activities will include lectures, in-class discussion, case study
preparation and presentation, homework and tests.

10. The method to apprecitate

- Attendance, Homework Assignments 10%

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 - Group Presentation 10%

- Midterm Exam 20%

- Final Exam 60%

11. Textbooks and References

Required books

- Varian, Hal (2005), Intermediate Microeconomics: a Modern Approach, Norton and

Company Publisher.

Others:

Perloff, Jeffrey (2008), Microeconomics: Theory and Applications with Calculus, Pearsin
Education Publisher. - Pindyck, Robert S., D.L. Rubinfeld (2009), Microeconomics,
Prentice-Hall Publisher, (7th edition)

12. Prerequisite requirements: Microeconomics I

13. Contact
13.1 . Lecturer 1
Full name: Hoang Khac Lich, Ph.D.
Office: R309 – E4 -VNU campus
Office hours: By appointment
Contact address: R309 – E4 VNU campus
Cell phone: 0978135777
Email: lichhk@vnu.edu.vn

13.2 . Lecturer 2
Full name: Trinh Thi Thu Hang, Ph.D.
Office: R309 – E4 -VNU campus
Office hours: By appointment
Contact address: R309 – E4 VNU campus
Cell phone: 0901282828

33
Email: hangtrinh@vnu.edu.vn

13.3 . Lecturer 3
Full name: Dao Thi Bich Thuy, Ph.D.
Office: R309 – E4 -VNU campus
Office hours: By appointment
Contact address: R309 – E4 VNU campus
Cell phone:
Email: thuydaokt@vnu.edu.vn

13.4 . Lecturer 4
Full name: Nguyen Xuan Dong, Ph.D.
Office: R309 – E4 -VNU campus
Office hours: By appointment
Contact address: R309 – E4 VNU campus
Cell phone: 0912876516
Email: nx.dong@gmail.com

CHỦ NHIỆM KHOA CHỦ NHIỆM BỘ MÔN

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