INTERMEDIATE MICROECONOMICS 2 - 2021/2

Module Overview

This module on Intermediate Microeconomics focuses primarily on market failures. This module considers a number of cases where the conditions required for perfectly competitive markets fail to hold. These cases include consumption and production externalities, public good, uncertainty and asymmetric information. This module examines how agents behave in these settings and how methods of consumer choice are applied to these cases.

Module provider

Economics

Module Leader

BLOW Laura (Economics)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 5

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None

Module content

Indicative content includes:

• Welfare


• Externalities


• Public goods


• Uncertainty


• Asymmetric information


• Auction theory

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

Not applicable

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of how the economic (theoretical) frameworks they have studied in the course help to explain important issues such as welfare, externalities, public goods and imperfect information.

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

• One coursework test (30% of the final mark) held in the class and a final exam (70% of the final mark).


• The coursework test consists of multiple choice questions and short answer essay and/or problem solving questions (usually held in week 6).


• The final exam consists of multiple choice questions and essay and/or problem solving questions, with topics covering all 11 weeks or material.


• The multiple choice test allows students to demonstrate their further understanding of microeconomics, and their ability to correctly describe concepts and solve mathematical problems.


• The essay and problem solving questions allow students to show in greater depth their verbal and analytical skills to explain and discuss microeconomic theory.

Formative assessment and feedback

Students receive verbal feedback during lectures and workshops/tutorials. They have fortnightly feedback sessions. For these, students are being provided with a set of exercises relating to the lecture material which they solve independently or in teams. In the feedback sessions, they receive feedback on their answers, and guidance on how these answers could be improved. For both the coursework test and the exam, sample questions are made available for students so that they can familiarise themselves with the setup. Model answers and feedback are also provided for these mock exams. Questions can also be posted on the module webpage discussion board.

Module aims

• To investigate a number of deviations from the perfectively competitive case.
• To promote an understanding of how agents behave when markets are limited or non-existent. 
• To investgate ways in which such market failures can be addressed in order to improve economic outcomes.

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to:

• enhance skills in applying techniques of consumer choice to different situations such as choice under uncertainty or choice of a social planner,


• enhance understanding and intuition of microeconomic theory


• enhance skills in applying mathematical methods to microeconomic theory

The learning and teaching methods include:

• 2 hour lecture per week x 11 weeks


• 1 hour feeback session per week x 5 weeks

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: ECO2051

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2021/2 academic year.