INTERMEDIATE MICROECONOMICS (ECON 2301) (6 ECTS)

Fall 2017
Section A: Monday & Wednesday, 10:00-11:15
Section B: Monday & Wednesday, 11:30-12:45

Instructor: Dr. Azar Abizada

Email: aabizada@ada.edu.az
Office: SB 334 (Building A 334), 3rd Floor
Office Hours: Monday & Wednesday 14:45-16:00.

Teaching Assistant: Natig Tofiqzade (BSE2018), Azar Aliyev (BSE2018), Shamil Polukhov
(BSE2018).

Course Materials: Hal R. Varian, (2014), Intermediate Microeconomics, 9th (or 8th) edition.
Course Description
This course is designed to give deeper understanding of consumer theory, budget
constraint, utility maximization, individual demand, income and substitution effects; market
demand; firm theory, profit maximization, cost minimization; firm supply; market supply;
general equilibrium; consumer and producer surplus; Walrasian equilibrium; efficiency and
equilibrium; welfare theorems; monopoly; market failures. This course also covers topics on
public goods; externalities; inefficiency in monopoly; price discrimination; policy, regulation
and role of government; oligopoly. Finally, this course will give basic understanding of game
theory covering topics like static games under complete information: dominated strategies, Nash
equilibrium, dynamic games: backward induction.

Position in the Curriculum and Prerequisites

This is a core course for Bachelor of Science in Economics students at ADA University.
Its prerequisite is ECON 100 Principles of Microeconomics.

Communication
I will regularly send all course documents (syllabus, problem sets) and announcements
via email. You can still email me personally should you have any questions.

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Course Objectives and Learning Outcomes
After completing the course, students should be able to:
1) Understand the consumer behavior and the way consumption decisions are made.
2) Understand how the producer’s choice on profit maximizing and cost minimizing
strategies.
3) How the market equilibrium is achieved under perfect competition, monopoly and
oligopoly. Understanding the concept of General Equilibrium.
4) Understand the basics of game theory: games of complete and incomplete information,
auctions, and matching markets.

Teaching Methodology
Since the course mostly consists of theoretical knowledge, it will be taught through
lectures, discussions, and problem solving. The course will employ student-and learning centered
approach. There will be two class meetings per week 75 minutes each. I also plan to hold
optional review classes before midterm and final exams.
Assessment

Final course grade will be based on the following components:

• Problem Sets……..…………………………………..….……………...20%
• Random Quizzes………………..………………………………………10%
• Midterm exam ……...…………………………………………………..30%
• Final exam ………...……………………………………………………40%

Exams: Exam questions may include any of the following: multiple choice, true/false, problem
solving and short essays. Final exam will be comprehensive, i.e. it will include all the topics but
most of the exam (around 85-90%) will be from the topics covered after the midterm exam.
There will be no make-up exam unless there is emergency issue (proof needs to be provided).
Problem Sets: Important and useful tool to succeed in this course. There will be four problem
sets throughout the semester. Problem sets will include both numerical problems and news
analyses.
Quiz: There will be 3 unannounced quizzes throughout the semester. There is no make-up or
excuse for the quizzes. Therefore, in case you miss any quiz, you will get zero from it. However,
I will drop one lowest quiz and only count 2 of them for your final grade.

Assessment Scale
I will follow the following grading scale, as suggested by ADA University Executive
Regulations. Your course grade is the sum of the points you score on grading components above
each multiplied by their relative weight.

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Attendance
In compliance with Azerbaijani legislation, instructors are required to monitor attendance
and inform the Registrar and the Dean of the student’s respective School when students miss
significant amounts of class time. Azerbaijani legislation mandates that students who fail to
attend at least 75% of classes will fail the course.

Honor Code
Each member of the ADA community has to comply with the Honor Code of ADA
University. I will not tolerate any violation of the Code including cheating, plagiarism and other
forms of academic dishonesty. You must carefully each article of the Code, which is available on
the ADA web site.

Grade Appeal

The responsibility to assign grades lies with the course instructor. Students who contend that
their grade is not an accurate reflection of their accomplishments in a class should first discuss
their grade assessment with the instructor. If after discussing the grade with the instructor the
student remains dissatisfied, it is possible to initiate a grade appeal. This appeal is admissible in a
case where the student feels the instructor's grade is in error. A grade appeal must be filed within
five working days after the reception of the final grade. The appeal must be sent to the Dean
of the college in which the course is offered and must include a detailed description of why the
student feels the grading assessment was in error. For further information on Grade Appeal,
please take a look into ADA University policy document available on ADA University website.

Disability Policy
ADA University provides upon request appropriate academic accommodations for qualified
students with documented disabilities. Any student who feels s/he may need an accommodation
based on the impact of a disability should notify the Office of Disability Services about his/her
needs before the start of the academic term. Please contact Mr. Elnur Eyvazov, Lead
Coordinator of the Office of Disability Services; Phone: 4373235/ext249;
Email: eeyvazov@ada.edu.az.

Short bio of the instructor

Dr. Azar Abizada earned his BA degree with honors in Business Administration from
Bogazici University, Turkey, where he received "Best Foreign Student of the Year" award. He
received his PhD in Economics from University of Rochester, NY, USA. Dr. Abizada's fields of
interest are: Game Theory, Mechanism Design, Decision Theory, and Auction Theory. For more
information about his research you may visit https://sites.google.com/site/azarabizada/

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NOTE: The course syllabus is a general plan for the course; deviations announced to the class
by the instructor may be necessary.

GOOD LUCK FOR THE SEMESTER!

Tentative Schedule

DATE WEEKLY TOPICS CHAPTER

WEEK 1 Introduction Chapter 1

WEEK 2 Preferecnces/Utility/ Budget Constraint Chapter 2, 3, 4

WEEK 3 Choice/ Revealed Preferences Chapter 5, 7

WEEK 4 Demand/Market Demand/ Slutsky Equation Chapter 6, 8, 15

WEEK 5 Technology/ Cost Curves/ Cost Minimization Chapter 19,21,22

WEEK 6 Firm Supply and Pure Competition Chapter 23

WEEK 7 Review and MIDTERM EXAM Midterm Date:

27.10.2017

WEEK 8 Consumer’s and Producer’s Surplus/ Equilibrium Chapter 14, 16

WEEK 9 Monopoly/ Monopoly Behavior Chapter 25,26

WEEK 10 Monopsony/ Oligopoly Chapter 27, 28

WEEK 11 Oligopoly/ Game Theory Chapter 28, 29

WEEK 12 Game Theory/ Game Applications Chapter 29, 30

WEEK 13 Exchange Economy Chapter 32

WEEK 14 Exchange Economy Chapter 32

WEEK 15 REVIEW FOR FINAL

Last day to WITHDRAW from the course is November 17th, 2016