Economics Course

Lesson 1 • Thinking Like an Economist

Economic models and ceteris paribus reasoning are introduced as analytical tools. Students distinguish positive from normative statements.

Lesson 2 • Production Possibilities and Efficiency

The production possibilities frontier illustrates efficiency and growth constraints. Students interpret points on, inside, and beyond the frontier.

Lesson 3 • Scarcity and the Economic Problem

Scarcity as the root of all economic decisions is examined. Students connect unlimited wants to limited resources as the driver of choice.

Lesson 4 • Economic Systems and Institutions

Market, command, and mixed economies are compared by how they allocate resources. Institutions shaping incentives are introduced.

Lesson 1 • Price Controls and Market Interventions

Price ceilings and floors create predictable distortions analyzed with supply-demand tools. Students evaluate efficiency losses from intervention.

Lesson 2 • Elasticity of Demand and Supply

Elasticity measures responsiveness of quantity to price and income changes. Applications include revenue implications and tax burden distribution.

Lesson 3 • Supply: Concepts and Determinants

The law of supply and producer behavior are analyzed. Students separate price-driven quantity changes from curve-shifting supply determinants.

Lesson 4 • Market Equilibrium and Price Signals

Equilibrium price and quantity emerge where supply meets demand. Price signals coordinate decentralized decisions without central direction.

Lesson 1 • Consumer Surplus and Welfare

Consumer surplus measures the net benefit buyers receive above the price paid. Changes in surplus evaluate welfare impacts of price and policy changes.

Lesson 2 • Income and Substitution Effects

Price changes split into income and substitution effects to explain consumer response. Giffen goods are identified as an exception to normal demand behavior.

Lesson 3 • Utility and Consumer Preferences

Total and marginal utility measure satisfaction from consumption. Diminishing marginal utility explains downward-sloping demand.

Lesson 1 • Long-Run Costs and Scale Economies

All costs become variable in the long run, enabling firms to choose optimal plant size. Economies and diseconomies of scale shape the long-run average cost curve.

Lesson 2 • Profit Maximization Principles

Firms maximize profit where marginal revenue equals marginal cost. The shutdown condition distinguishes short-run losses from exit decisions.

Lesson 3 • Production Functions and Returns

Production functions relate inputs to maximum output. Diminishing marginal returns in the short run are distinguished from long-run scale effects.

Lesson 4 • Cost Minimization and Input Choices

Isoquants and isocost lines identify the least-cost input combination. Firms adjust input ratios when relative input prices change.

Lesson 1 • Oligopoly and Strategic Interaction

Oligopolists are interdependent, making game theory essential for predicting behavior. Collusion, price leadership, and the kinked demand model are examined.

Lesson 2 • Perfect Competition Analysis

Price-taking firms in perfectly competitive markets earn zero economic profit in the long run. Short-run supply and long-run equilibrium are derived.

Lesson 3 • Monopoly Pricing and Output

Monopolists set price above marginal cost, creating deadweight loss. Sources of monopoly power and regulatory responses are evaluated.

Lesson 4 • Price Discrimination Strategies

Firms with market power extract consumer surplus through price discrimination. First-, second-, and third-degree strategies are compared by feasibility and welfare effects.

Lesson 1 • Cost-Benefit Analysis for Policy

Cost-benefit analysis quantifies net social welfare from policy interventions. Discounting, distributional weights, and uncertainty are incorporated into evaluation.

Lesson 2 • Public Goods and Common Resources

Non-excludable, non-rival goods are under-provided by markets. Common resources face overuse without property rights or regulation.

Lesson 3 • Information Asymmetry and Market Failure

Adverse selection and moral hazard arise when one party has superior information. Signaling and screening mechanisms partially restore market efficiency.

Lesson 4 • Externalities and Corrective Mechanisms

Externalities cause market output to diverge from the social optimum. Taxes, subsidies, and regulation are compared as corrective instruments.

Lesson 1 • Unemployment: Types and Measurement

Unemployment is classified by cause to distinguish cyclical from structural and frictional forms. The natural rate of unemployment anchors full-employment analysis.

Lesson 2 • Price Levels and Inflation Measurement

Price indices track changes in the cost of living over time. CPI, PPI, and GDP deflator are compared by scope and construction method.

Lesson 3 • National Income Accounting Identities

Accounting identities link saving, investment, and the current account in an open economy. Students use these identities to trace macroeconomic imbalances.

Lesson 4 • Business Cycles and Economic Fluctuations

Business cycles describe recurring expansions and contractions in economic activity. Leading, lagging, and coincident indicators are used to identify cycle phases.

Lesson 1 • Money, Banking, and Credit Creation

Commercial banks create money through lending against fractional reserves. The money multiplier links reserve requirements to the money supply.

Lesson 2 • Inflation-Unemployment Trade-offs

The Phillips curve depicts the short-run trade-off between inflation and unemployment. Expectations-augmented analysis explains stagflation and long-run neutrality.

Lesson 3 • Fiscal Policy: Tools and Multipliers

Government spending and taxation shift aggregate demand through multiplier effects. Automatic stabilizers are distinguished from discretionary fiscal actions.

Lesson 4 • Aggregate Demand and Supply Model

The AD-AS model integrates goods, money, and labor markets into a macroeconomic framework. Short-run and long-run equilibria are distinguished by price flexibility.