Principles of Microeconomics

Course Instructor: Dr Khadija Bari

Email: kbari@iba.edu.pk;

Course Description

Principles of Microeconomics introduces students to the fundamental concepts and principles that
govern individual economic behavior and the interactions between consumers, firms and markets.
This course explores how individuals make choices an a world of scarcity, how firms make
production and pricing decisions, and how market forces influence economic outcomes. Students will
also learn practical applications for microeconomics in their personal and professional lives through
assimilation of fundamental concepts and analysis of actual economic events in this course.

This course covers four main topics that you will need to understand in order to have a good grasp o
of principles of microeconomics:

• basic concepts of the market – demand, supply and equilibrium

• principles underlying consumer demand
• principles underpinning the theory of the firm
• concept of market structures, especially competitive and monopolistic
• apply economic concepts to real-world issues and problems.

Course Content

Topic 1 Introduction to Microeconomics

• Definition and scope of microeconomics

• Scarcity, choice, and opportunity cost
• Models in economics
• The role of assumptions in economic analysis

Topic 2 Supply and Demnd

• Law of Demand and Supply
• Market equilibrium
• Shifts in demand and supply
• Price elasticity of demand and supply

Topic 3 Consumer Behavior and Utility Maximization

• Utility and preferences
• Income and substitution effects
• Budget constraints and consumer choice
• Consumer surplus

Topic 4 Production and Costs

• Production functions
• Costs of production
• Short-run cost curves
• Long-run cost curves

Topic 5 Market structures

• Perfect competition
• Monopoly
• Monopolistic Competition
• Oligopoly
• Introduction to game theory

Topic 6 Government and special topics

• Price Controls
• Taxes and Subsidies
• Regulation and antitrust policies
• Externalities and Public goods

Office Hours:

I will be available an hour before and after your regular class timings. If you want to meet me
other than these timings, you can email me and we can set up a different time.

Grade Distribution:

Quizzes : 20 marks

Mid-Term exams: 40 marks

Final Exam: 40 marks

Text books:

Karl E Case, Ray C Fair and Shannon Oster (2008), Principles of Microeconomics, Ninth edition,
Prentice Hall

Campbell R. McConnell and Stanley L. Brue (2021), 21 st edition, McGraw-Hill Education.

N.Gregory Mankiv (2021), Principles of Microeconomics, Eighth edition, Prentice Hall

Robert Pindyck, Daniel Rubinfeld and Prem Mehta (2009) Microeconomics, Seventh edition, Upper
Saddle River New Jersey USA: Pearson Education International