Econ 1902

Temple University

Department of Economics

Spring 2011

Economics 1902, Section 001

Principles of Microeconomics (Honors)

MWF 10:00 -- 10:50 AM

Ritter 107

Textbook: Strategies and Games: Theory and Practice, Prajit K. Dutta, MIT Press, 1999

Please scroll down to the material at the bottom of the syllabus for information about course and university policies, contact information, textbook and grading.

Date (Week of)	Topic	Text	Hwk; Due on the date shown
January 19 (W) and January 21 (F)	1) Production Possibilities Frontier Production Possibility Frontiers Remarks i) Characteristics ii) Benefits from Specialization iii) Benefits from Trade iv) Supply Curve from the PPF: Opportunity Cost: Individually and Collectively v) T, P and N's demand for fish: Marginal Benefit: Individually and Collectively	Schenk
January 24 (M), 26 (W), and 28 (F)	2) Supply and Demand: Supply and Demand: Equilibrium, Taxes, Surpluses and Shortages i) Equilibrium ii) The gain from trade: Economic Surplus (a) Price = Social MC = Social MB (b) Consumer Surplus (c) Producer Surplus	Schenk on Consumer Surplus Schenk on Producer Surplus Total Surplus	Production Possibilities, due January 26 Answer Key
January 31 M, February 2 W, and February 4 F Monday, January 31, Last Day to Drop	iii) Inefficiencies and Market Failure Price Ceilings and Floor Price Ceiling Price Floor (a) Taxes: Excise and Ad Valorum An example exercise Taxes: Who Pays? Taxes and Elasticities (b) Imperfections on the Supply Side 1. Monopoly A simple example 2. Labor Mkts	Schenk on floors and ceilings Schenk on elasticity Schenk on Monopoly	Price ceilings and floors, due February 4 Answer Key
February 7, February 9 and February 11	(c) Imperfections in the Goods Offered 1. Externalities	Schenk on Externalities: Pt 1 and Pt 2	Imperfect Labor market, due February 11 Answer Key
February 14 and February 16	2. Excludability and Rivalry in Consumption A Public Goods Exercise i. Private Goods, ii. Commons Goods, iii. Collective Goods and iv. Public Goods The Invisible Hand & Pigou	Public Goods Commons Goods Club Goods	Fibonacci Pizza due February 14. An answer key. Externalities and Efficiency due February 16 An answer key
February 18, Friday, First mid-term exam	EXAM 1		Fall 2009 Answer Key Part I and Part II
February 21, February 23 and February 25	Game Theory 1) Introduction Introduction to game theory 2) Solving Games a) Dominant Strategies Strategic Form games b) Iterative Elimination of Dominated Strategies Dominance Solvability Bertrand Competition: An Example of Dominance Solvability
February 28, March 2 and March 4	c) Best Response and Nash Equilibrium Nash Equilibrium Examples: Felix and Oscar and Pan Pizza and Zero Sum Games The Cola Wars The Tragedy of the Commons Movie Critique A Beautiful Mind d) Some Classic Strategic Form Games ClassicGames.htm		Solutions and Equilibria Hwk due on February 28 Answer Key
March 7, March 9 and March 11	Spring Break
March 14, March16 and March 18	1) Mixed Strategies a) An Introduction to Probability Probability Notes b) Mixed Strategies in Normal Form Games Mixed Strategies Mixed Strategy Applications Mixed Strategy Applications Battling Brewers Battle of the Sexes Monopoly: The Browser Wars		Solution Strategies due on March 14 Key to Solution Strategies
March 21, 23, 25	2) Extensive Form Games Solving extensive form games Kuhn's Theorem IEDS and Backward Induction More Backward Induction Perfect Information in Extensive Form Poison Pills a) Sub-games and sub-game perfection PlayBox and X-Station Sub-game perfect equilibrium Sub-game perfection: George and Gina Buck's Bolts b) Threats and Commitments Soda and dating Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson Browser Wars Again	A Practice Problem: Kathie Lee and Frank Publishing: Lex and Thea Market Niche	Mixed Strategy Hwk due on March 21 Answer Key Career Decisions: An Extensive Form Game due on March 23 Answer Key
			Hwk Sub-Game Perfection Due on March 25 and Key. Ooops. We decided this would be due on 0401/2011. It turns out that the Raider and Target hwk already due on that day is identical to the one I had here.
March 28, Monday, Second mid-term exam	2nd Exam
March 29, Last Day to Withdraw March 30 and April 1	1) Games with ~~Imperfect~~ Incomplete Information a) Static Incomplete Information - - Statics Another Static Information Example A prior problem set. Don't submit this!		Raider and Target: due on April 1
April 4, April 6 and April 8	b) Dynamic Incomplete Information -- Dynamics The market for lemons Harry Sells Edith His Car Amanda Reckonwith Hires Angie O'Plasty		International Trade due on April 6 and key
April 11, 13 and 15	Auctions Revelation and Purification Auctions Glossary Loretta Mester on Auctions An Excellent Review Article Vickrey Auctions and Stamps		Caveat Emptor: Rob R Baron and Bea Ware due April 13
April 18, 20 and 22			Harry and Edith due on April 22
April 25, 27 and 29	Bargaining Notes	William Spaniel on Take-it-or-leave-it games.	An All-Pay Auction due on April 27 Get thekey.
Monday May 2	This is a cushion to give us the time to either finish up or review. Play and the Evolution of Fairness by Marc Bekoff
Friday, May 6, 8 -10 AM	Final Exam		Get the 2011 key

Contact:

buck@temple.edu
215-204-1985
831 Ritter Annex

Office Hours:

MWF, 2 PM - 4 PM

University Policies

Academic Freedom, Rights and Responsibilities: Freedom to teach and freedom to learn are inseparable facets of academic freedom. The University has adopted a policy on Student and Faculty Academic Rights and Responsibilities (Policy # 03.70.02) which can be accessed through the following link: http://policies.temple.edu/getdoc.asp?policy_no=03.70.02.

Disability Statement: This course is open to all students who meet the academic requirements for participation. Any student who has a need for accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact the instructor privately to discuss the specific situation as soon as possible. Contact Disability Resources and Services at 215-204-1280 in 100 Ritter Annex to coordinate reasonable accommodations for students with documented disabilities.

Policy on Cell Phones: Cell phones, pagers and beepers must be turned off during class except with special permission from your instructor.

Attendance Policy: As you can see from the Class Participation and Course Grading Formulas, attendance is very important to your success in this class. Absence due to illness still means that you are not participating in class If you are sick, you will need to provide a note from the doctor. Students with an emergency (e.g., death in the family, illness, automobile accident) may have an excused absence, but if such absences amount to more than 20% of class hours for the semester, students should consider the possibility of withdrawal from the class.

Plagiarism and Cheating: Temple University believes strongly in academic honesty and integrity. Plagiarism and academic cheating are, therefore, prohibited. Essential to intellectual growth is the development of independent thought and a respect for the thoughts of others. The prohibition against plagiarism and cheating is intended to foster this independence and respect.

Plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of another person's labor, another person's ideas, another person's words, another person's assistance. Normally, all work done for courses -- papers, examinations, homework exercises, laboratory reports, oral presentations -- is expected to be the individual effort of the student presenting the work. Any assistance must be reported to the instructor. If the work has entailed consulting other resources -- journals, books, or other media -- these resources must be cited in a manner appropriate to the course. It is the instructor's responsibility to indicate the appropriate manner of citation. Everything used from other sources -- suggestions for organization of ideas, ideas themselves, or actual language -- must be cited. Failure to cite borrowed material constitutes plagiarism. Undocumented use of materials from the World Wide Web is plagiarism.

Academic cheating is, generally, the thwarting or breaking of the general rules of academic work or the specific rules of the individual courses. It includes falsifying data; submitting, without the instructor's approval, work in one course which was done for another; helping others to plagiarize or cheat from one's own or another's work; or actually doing the work of another person.

Students must assume that all graded assignments, quizzes, and tests are to be completed individually unless otherwise noted in writing in this syllabus. I reserve the right to refer any cases of suspected plagiarism or cheating to the University Disciplinary Committee; I also reserve the right to assign a grade of "F" for the given paper, quiz or test.