Class Time and Location

The class meets on Tuesday and Thursday from 2:00pm to 3:15pm in the seminar room, DM-323.

Course Description

This is the second course of the graduate microeconomics sequence. It focuses on competitive markets and general equilibrium. This includes not just the traditional static model, but also general equilibrium over time and with financial markets, focusing on the construction of consistent general equilibrium models, and the characterization of their solutions. The course also examines welfare analysis, both within general equilibrium models, and through the development of empirical measures of economic welfare.

Textbook

Many of the topics in the manuscript are also covered in MWG. The course outline shows the relevant chapter correspondences between MWG and my manuscript.

Slides

Slides will be made available after we cover the relevant material. FYI. For those who read ahead, read my manuscript. The slides are edited selections from it.

  1. Chapter 3.
  2. Chapter 7.
  3. Chapter 9.
  4. Chapter 10.
  5. Chapter 6.
  6. Chapter 13.
  7. Chapter 14.
  8. Chapter 15.
  9. Chapter 16.
  10. Chapter 19.
  11. Chapter 20.
  12. Chapter 21.
  13. Chapter 22.
  14. Chapter 23.
  15. Chapter 25.
  16. Chapter 27.
  17. Chapter 28.

Office Hours and Contact Info

If you have questions, you may ask immediately after class, or come to my office. Regular office hours are 12:45-1:45pm and 3:30-4:45pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I will be happy to make an appointment for another time if that is more convenient. My office is DM-311A, my phone number is 305-348-3287, and my email is <boydj@fiu.edu> or <John.Boyd@fiu.edu>.

Exams and Homework

The take-home midterm will be worth 35% of your grade. The final is worth 50% of your grade.

The mid-term was on Tuesday, March 7. See answers below with the old midterms.

The final is officially scheduled for 12 noon, Thursday, April 27. Like the mid-term, it will be a take-home final that I will make available by noon on April 27. You will have until midnight to complete it.

Sample Exams

The material covered varies from year to year and some of the questions on previous exams may not be relevant for the material we cover this year. A few of the answers contain minor errors.

Old Midterms Old Finals
2011 with answers. 2011 (answers).
2012 with answers. 2012 with answers.
2013 with answers. 2013 with answers.
2014 with answers. 2014 with selected answers.
2015 with answers. 2015 (answers).
2016 with answers. 2016 with answers.
2017 with answers. 2017 with answers.
2018 with answers. 2018 with answers.
2019 with answers. 2019 with answers.
2020 with answers. 2020 with answers.
2021 with answers. 2021 with answers.
2022 with answers. 2022 with answers.
2023 with answers. 2023 with answers.

Homework

Homework assignments will count for the remaining 15% of your grade. Homework assignments will appear here as they are made.

Homework Assignments

Homework assignments and answers will appear below. Please email me your homework answers by the due date. I strongly prefer you send me a single PDF containing all the answers for the problem set.

  1. Problems 3.1.6, 3.2.2, 3.3.6, 3.4.4, and 3.4.5 from my manuscript were due on Tuesday, February 7. Click here for the answers.
  2. Problems 7.4.1, 9.1.5, 9.1.8, 9.2.2, and 9.4.2 from my manuscript were due on Tuesday, February 14. Click here for the answers.
  3. Problems 10.3.2, 6.1.2, 6.2.2, 13.4.2, and 13.5.2 were due on Thursday, February 23. Click here for the answers.
  4. Problems 15.3.2, 15.4.4, 19.2.2, 19.2.6 and 19.3.1 were due on Tuesday, March 28. Click here for the answers.
  5. Problems 20.4.2, 20.4.5, 21.2.1, 21.2.6, and 22.4.2 were due on Thursday, April 6. Click here for the answers.
  6. Problems 22.4.3, 22.6.3, 22.6.4, 23.1.4, and 23.3.4 were due on Thursday, April 13. Click here for the answers.
  7. Problems 25.2.6, 25.2.7, 25.5.2, 27.2.2, and 27.3.2 were due on Thursday, April 20. Click here for the answers.

Course Outline

You are responsible for the material covered in any sections of the manuscript mentioned in the outline.

I strongly recommend that you make sure you are familiar with the material in the non-starred sections of chapters 1-2 and 4-6 of the manuscript. Much of this should be familiar from Fundamentals Micro, and a bit of it appeared in Math Methods.

The table lists the closest corresponding chapter in Mas-Colell, Whinston, and Green (MWG). In some cases, the correspondence is not very close. We will not cover all of the material in the manuscript. I will occasionally update the list to reflect material actually covered.

Week Dates Manuscript
Chapter		 Subject MWG
Chapter
1 Jan. 10, 12 3 Homotheticity and Separability N/A
2 Jan. 17, 19 3 No Class -- Illness N/A
3 Jan. 24 3 Homotheticity and Separability N/A
3-4 Jan. 26, 31 7 Convex Analysis N/A
4 Feb. 2, 7 9-10 Theory and Measurement N/A
4 Feb. 9 6 Production of a Single Good 5
5 Feb. 14 13 Production Sets and Profit 5
5 Feb. 16, 21 14 Firm and Market Supply 5
6 Feb. 21, 23 15 Competitive Equilibrium 15
7 Feb. 23 16 Equilibrium Existence I 17A-C
- Feb. 27-Mar. 3 -- No Class! Spring Break
8 Mar. 7 Midterm Midterm (thru Chap. 14)  
8 Mar. 9 16 Equilibrium Existence II 17A-C
9 Mar. 14 19 Pareto Optimality I 16
9 Mar. 16 20 Economic Welfare 16
10 Mar. 21, 23 21 The Edgeworth Conjecture 18
10 Mar. 28, 30 22 Preferences and Risk 6
11 Mar. 30, Apr. 4 23 Attitudes toward Risk 6
12 Apr. 4, 6 25 Equilibrium over Time 20
13 Apr. 11, 13 27 Equilibrium in Complete Asset Markets 19
14 Apr. 18, 20 28 Radner Equilibrium 19
15 Apr. 27 Final Takehome Exam