Microeconomics

Students learn about scarcity, opportunity costs, and production possibilities; the supply and demand behavior of markets; and optimal behavior of consumers and producers under market structures perfect competition, monopoly, and monopolistic competition. Students learn about how labor markets behave, including an understanding of how labor demand and labor supply curves are derived, and how government intervention can influence employment and wages. Students learn conditions for optimality of unregulated markets, and examine roles for government intervention concerning market failures such as externalities and public and common goods.