6 ECTS credits
150 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 1021576BNR for all students in the 2nd semester at a (B) Bachelor - advanced level.

Semester
2nd semester
Enrollment based on exam contract
Impossible
Grading method
Grading (scale from 0 to 20)
Can retake in second session
Yes
Enrollment Requirements
Students who want to enroll for this course, must have passed for ‘Mathematics for Business and Economics I' and 'Introduction to Microeconomics' and must have obtained at least 30 ECTS-credits on bachelor level.
Taught in
English
Faculty
Faculty of Social Sciences & SolvayBusinessSchool
Department
Applied economics
Educational team
Stijn Van Puyvelde (course titular)
Activities and contact hours

24 contact hours Lecture
24 contact hours Seminar, Exercises or Practicals
138 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study
Course Content

The course focuses on micro-economic behaviour by consumers and firms. The starting point is a rational actor that minimizes (or maximizes) an objective function subject to constraints. Rational consumers maximize utility under a budget constraint. Rational firms maximize profit (or another objective) under technological and market constraints. This starting point is applied in many contexts. Strengths and weaknesses of the economic method are treated explicitly. Consumer behaviour is analyzed in an intertemportal setting, in asset markets, in situations of uncertainty, ... The limits of standard micro-economic thinking are explicitly treated by focussing also on alternative frameworks like Behavioural Economics. Producer behaviour is analyzed in different market structures (monopoly, oligopoly, monopolistic competition, perfect competiion) and under hypotheses of symmetric and asymmetric information. Game theoretical insights are introduced.

Course material
Handbook (Required) : Microeconomics, Robert S. Pindyck & Daniel L. Rubinfeld, ninth edition (global edition), Pearson Educated Limited, 9781292213316, 2018
Digital course material (Required) : Slides and documents on Canvas, Canvas
Additional info

Not applicable.

Learning Outcomes

General Competences

The purpose of this course is to provide students with the competences:

  • to obtain insight in the economic analysis of consumer and producer behaviour (as in the interaction between these)
  • to learn how these insights (see above) can be improved through fromal-mathematical analysis thus augmenting their analytical problem solving skills
  • to learn the strengths and weaknesses of the economic method (by contrasting it to alternative approaches like behavioural economics).

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Written Exam determines 100% of the final mark.

Within the Written Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

  • Written Exam with a relative weight of 100 which comprises 100% of the final mark.

Additional info regarding evaluation

Not applicable.

Allowed unsatisfactory mark
The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context

This offer is part of the following study plans:
Bachelor of Business Economics: Startplan Business Economics
Bachelor of Business Economics: Business and Technology
Bachelor of Business Economics: International Business
Preparatory Programme Master of Science in International Business: Default track
Preparatory Programme Master of Science in Business Engineering: Business and Technology: Default track