ECON1001 – INTRODUCTION TO MICROECONOMICS
Introduction
to the Course
Welcome to the course! Is this your first time at
economics? I didn’t think so. Even if you have never
formally studied economics, at some point you have
been involved in the discipline. Virtually everyone has
some idea about economics since we all engage in
activities that are at the core of the study of
economics.
As
human beings we all have needs and wants, some of which
we consider more important than others: we need to feed
our families daily, we need to upkeep the family car, we
want to buy a carnival costume next year, we want to go
on that round-the-world trip. The problem though is
that we cannot satisfy all these needs and wants. Why?
Because we do not have an infinite amount of resources
at our disposal to meet them. The basic idea then is
that resources are limited, yet needs
and wants are unlimited. Resources are
said to be scarce in relation to our wants.
Since all needs or wants cannot be satisfied, choices
must be made. Choice means selecting from among
alternatives. The overriding question is – how do I use
my limited resources in the most efficient or best
possible way? Economics attempts to inform that
decision.
The study of economics is normally divided into two
broad branches, namely microeconomics and
macroeconomics. The prefixes ‘micro’ and ‘macro’
are derived from Greek and mean ‘small’ and ‘large’
respectively. Microeconomics seeks to explain economic
activity at the level of the day-to-day operations of
consumers and firms. Macroeconomics goes for the big
picture, seeking to understand trends at the level of
the economy taken as a whole.
Course Overview
The focus of this course is the study of
microeconomics. Specifically, the course aims to
provide you with the essential tools for studying this
branch of the discipline. The first unit of the course
sets the stage with an introduction to the core economic
concepts, while each of the other eight develops on some
critical microeconomic issue.
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Course Content
The course is divided into nine units:
Unit 1 - Laying
the Groundwork: What is Economics?
Unit 2 - Demand
and Supply
Unit 3 -
Combining Demand and Supply
Unit 4 -
Elasticity
Unit 5 - The
Theory of Consumer Behaviour
Unit 6 - Costs
of Production
Unit 7 - The
Theory of Perfect Competition
Unit 8 - The
Theory of Monopoly
Unit 9 -
Government and Public Policy
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