ECON321-13S1 (C) Semester One 2013

Mathematical Techniques in Microeconomics

15 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 18 February 2013
End Date: Sunday, 23 June 2013
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Friday, 1 March 2013
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Friday, 17 May 2013

Description

The course will discuss several of the principal mathematical tools that are now in standard use in microeconomic theory. The course builds upon the mathematics offered at stage 1, and upon the particular usages of mathematics in Intermediate Microeconomics. Above all, the objective is to equip students with the necessary toolkit to successfully tackle higher study in microeconomic theory, although an underlying objective is to get students to see the importance of some of the mathematical modelling that was used in intermediate microeconomics. Throughout, each of the mathematical techniques that is introduced will be supplemented with concrete examples of their use in microeconomics.

Learning Outcomes

Learning outcomes and goals:
1. Demonstrate an understanding of how to set up and analyse a microeconomic problem    mathematically.
2. Identify and explain the principal mathematical elements that determine the relationships between variables.
3. Understand and be able to solve problems in higher dimensions.
4. Be able to use mathematical techniques to analyse constrained optimisation problems in detail.

Prerequisites

(1) ECON230 or ECON231 or ECON202 or ECON207. (2) MATH108 or MATH102 or MATH199; (3) 15 points from STAT courses or ECON212

Restrictions

Course Coordinator / Lecturer

Richard Watt

Lecturer

Rua Murray

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage  Description
Assignments 20% A series of four assignments will make up a maximum of 20% of the final grade.
Final Exam 50%
Mid-term test 30%


There will be a test at the end of each of the two terms, and 5 weekly assignments in each of the two terms.  The assignments are worth 20% of your final grade, and they may be co-authored in groups of no more than 3 students.  The tests will be weighted at 50% for your best grade and 30% for the other.

Textbooks / Resources

Recommended Reading

Hoy, Michael; Mathematics for economics ; 3rd ed; MIT Press, 2011.

Course links

Course Outline

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $682.00

International fee $3,000.00

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.

For further information see Department of Economics and Finance .

All ECON321 Occurrences

  • ECON321-13S1 (C) Semester One 2013