Semester 1
Dr Virginie Masson
Office Hours: TBA in MyUni
Office location: Room 4.08, 10 Pulteney Street
Telephone:  8313 4930
Email: virginie.masson@adelaide.edu.au

Preferred method of contact: email. Do not call unless absolutely necessary.



Semester 2
Dr Duygu Yengin
Office hours: TBA in MyUni
Office location: Nexus 10 Building, Level 4, Room 4.48
Telephone: 8313 4500
duygu.yengin@adelaide.edu.au

On successful completion of this course students will be able to:

1	Explain consumers’ and firms’ behaviour using mathematical tools
2	Understand the advantages and limits of economic theory
3	Develop communications skills through the presentation of your work, interactions during tutorial sessions, and appropriate use of the discussion board
4	Apply economic theory to diverse real-world situations
5	Analyse economic problems and prescribe solutions
6	Model economic situations in a logical, rigorous, and precise manner

Textbook:
Intermediate Microeconomics: A Modern Approach. Hal R. Varian. 9th Edition. W.W.Norton

Exercise Book:
Workouts in Intermediate Microeconomics. Theodore C. Bergstrom. 9th Edition. W.W.Norton

Microeconomic References:

The following textbook cannot be used as a substitute for the Varian book. But it may be used as a complement to it, providing further examples and explanations.
"Microeconomics and Behavior", by Robert H. Frank, McGraw-Hill, 7th Editionor focus.

Math References:

“Mathematics for Economists”, by Carl P. Simon and Lawrence Blume (Norton), 2nd Edition
“Fundamental Methods of Mathematical Economics” by Kevin Wainwright and Alpha C. Chiang, McGraw-Hill, 2004 Edition.
“Fundamental Methods of Mathematical Economics” by Alpha C. Chiang, McGraw- Hill, 1993 International Edition.
"Essential Mathematics for Economic Analysis" by K. Sydsaeter and P. Hammond, Prentice Hall, 2006 Edition.

This course uses MyUni intensively and you are required to check the website regularly.
https://myuni.adelaide.edu.au/webapps/login/ 

Course material such as lecture notes, lecture recordings, quizzes, quiz answers and supplementary material for developing your mathematical skills are available on MyUni. Also, a discussion board will be available for questions you may want to ask the lecturer, tutors or other classmates.

The lecture recordings should be used as a complement to, rather than a substitute for, attending lectures, as lectures will be interactive.

Also, Be aware that sometimes due to technical problems recordings may not be available.

The lectures will provide you with the necessary understanding of the material to be able to solve the exercises you will be given during tutorial, assignments or exams. Some examples will be given to llustrate the concepts presented in this course.

The tutorials will be organised as follows:

• Your tutor will present the solutions for one of the tutorial exercises you were asked to prepare to illustrate what is expected from you in solving these kinds of problems.
• Students will then be asked to come to the board and present their work and answers to some of the tutorial exercises. Your tutor will provide assistance if needed and questions and comments from other students are strongly encouraged.
• At the end of the tutorial, you will be given a short quiz that lasts about 15 minutes.

Diverse learning styles will be supported by the provision of course materials in a variety of formats. The lecture sessions will be recorded providing an audio-visual resource that can be utilized by students, as
well as the written resources of the lecture notes and the textbooks.

The practical learning approach will be incorporated through the tutorials as described above, as well as through the provision of additional resources such as past-semester assessment tasks.

The University expects full-time students (i.e. those taking 12 units per semester) to devote a total of 48 hours per week to their studies. This translates to 12 hours per week for a semester long 3-unit course.

The tentative lecture schedule is presented below. Any major changes to this schedule will be announced in class and on MyUni.

The text chapters given are for the main text by Varian. The chapter numbers given here are only an indication of relevant readings.

Lecture Schedule

Week 1	Budget Constraints, Preferences, Axioms	Chapter 2,3
Week 2	IC, MRS and Utility	Chapter 3,4
Week 3	Specific Cases of Utility	Chapter 4
Week 4	Choice	Chapter 5
Week 5	Demand	Chapter 6
Week 6	Slutsky Equation	Chapter 8
Week 7	Mid-semester Test
Week 8	Technology Profit Maximization	Chapter 18,19
	Mid-Semester Break
Week 9	Cost Minimization Cost Curves Firm Supply	Chapter 21,22,23
Week 10	Monopoly Monopoly Behaviour	Chapter 25,26
Week 11	Oligopoly	Chapter 28
Week 12	Game Theory	Chapter 29

• Mid-Semester Test 27%
• Tutorial Participation 3%
• Tutorial Quizzes 5%
• Assignment 1 10%
• Assignment 2 10%
• Final Exam 45%

1.  Legible hand-writing and the quality of English expression are considered to be integral parts of the assessment process. Marks may be deducted in the midterm and final examinations because of poor hand-writing.

2. Only the best nine of eleven quizzes will count.

If there is a public holiday on a tutorial day, for that tutorial’s students, the best 8 of 10 quizzes will be counted, due to a public holiday reducing the number of classes.

If you provide an appropriate medical certificate to justify your absence in one of your tutorial quizzes, your grades will be adjusted accordingly.

3. If you miss a quiz, the midterm, or do not submit the assignment in due time, there will not be a replacement assessment. If a proper medical certificate is presented, or in case of compassionate reasons, formal evidence is provided, then the weight of the missed midterm or assignment will be added to the final examination. 

Mid semester test (Week 7) – 9 September, During lecture time, same location
This test will assess the topics of Weeks 1-5 (inclusive). It will be 1 hour 50 minutes in length.
It will consist of mathematical problems and short answer questions, and may also include multiple choice questions.

The midterm test is redeemable, which means that if the grade you obtained for the final examination is higher than the one you obtained for the midterm, the final examination grade will account for 72% of your overall grade.
Failure to sit the midterm test will result in receiving zero points, whether a medical certificate is provided or not. The grade of the final examination will then account for 70% of the overall grade.

Final Exam 45%There will be a 3 hour exam. The final exam is comprehensive, i.e. it can cover ALL the topics of this course. It will consist of mathematical problems and short answer questions, and may also include multiple choice questions.

Assignment 1 10% Due Date: 3.00 pm on Friday 9 October (week 9)
This assignment will assess the topics of the first 6 weeks.
It will consist of mathematical problems, and short discussion questions.

Assignment 2 10%Due Date: 3.00 pm on Monday 26 October (week 12)
This assignment will mainly assess the topics of weeks 8-10 (inclusive) but may also include material from earlier topics.
It will consist of mathematical problems, and short discussion questions.

Tutorial Quizzes -- 5%
Weekly – except week 1
The tutorial quizzes component of the assessment will be based on marks received for short quizzes that will occur in each tutorial (except for the tutorials in week1). Only the best nine of eleven quizzes will count.

If there is a public holiday on a tutorial day, for that tutorial’s students, the best 8 of 10 quizzes will be counted, due to a public holiday reducing the number of classes.

If you provide an appropriate medical certificate to justify your absence in one of your tutorial quizzes, your grades will be adjusted accordingly.
Tutorial Exercises -- Non-graded
Weekly – except week 1
Tutorial exercises will be made available on MyUni during the week prior to the tutorial. You will be asked to prepare some exercises before going to your tutorial. Please be aware that this preparation is important as it will improve your learning during the tutorial and will contribute towards a dynamic environment where students and tutor will interact more actively with one another. These exercises are not to be submitted or graded.


Tutorial Participation -- 3%
Weekly Opportunities (To be done once throughout the semester by each student)
You are required to present the solution to one of the tutorial exercises on the board to receive this grade. You will receive the following marks according to your performance, based on effort and presentation, as well as correctness: 0-no participation, 1-poor, 2-fair, 3-excellent.

Here is some clarification on how the tutorial participation marks are to be
assessed.

The tutor will solve one assigned question for each week (which I will
choose). For each additional question, the tutor asks for a volunteer to
solve it on the board. After each student presents the question in the
tutorial, the tutor will record the student's grade in his/her grade book,
and also write the grade on a piece of paper to show the student her grade
when the student is done solving on the board.

Suppose no student who has not yet presented volunteers to present a
question. Only in this case will we allow a student who has already
presented to volunteer and come up to the board. The student then has a
chance to raise her grade. This is due to time constraints, as we may not
have enough questions for every student in the class to present multiple
questions for the chance to raise her grade.

In general, it is voluntary for students to come and solve a question.
However, if there is absolutely no student who wants to solve a particular
question (either has or has not presented before), then the tutor will
arbitrarily pick a student who HAS NOT presented before to solve the
question.

1- No late assignment accepted. Exceptional circumstances will be evaluated by the lecturer in charge on a case-by-case basis and should be discussed whenever possible at least 48 hours before the due date. Failure to hand in an assignment on time will lead to a zero mark.

2 – Extensions and alternative assessment conditions for students with disabilities:
It is your responsibility to contact lecturer, in the first 2 weeks of the semester and provide them with a copy of your Access Plan.
You do not have an automatic right to extensions for assignments. You must apply for extensions in the designated way at least 2 weeks before the due date for the assignment. The usual extensions available to students with disabilities is 2 days over the regular due date of the assignments.

3 – Assignments have to be handed in at the Professions Student Support Hub, located at Nexus 10 (corner Pulteney Street and North Terrace). No assignment will be collected by the lecturer in charge or any of the tutors.

4 – Each assignment should be accompanied by a cover sheet.

5 – Quizzes will be handed back during tutorial times. If you were not present during that time, please email your tutor to arrange the collection of your assignment or quiz. 

6- Medical reports from only Australian registered medical practitioners are accepted.See for the list of acceptable medical practitioners: www.ahpra.gov.au.

Additional Assessment

If a student receives 45-49 for their final mark for the course they will automatically be granted an additional assessment. This will most likely be in the form of a new exam (Additional Assessment) and will have the same weight as the original exam unless an alternative requirement (for example a hurdle requirement) is stated in this semester’s Course Outline. If, after replacing the original exam mark with the new exam mark, it is calculated that the student has passed the course, they will receive 50 Pass as their final result for the course (no higher) but if the calculation totals less than 50, their grade will be Fail and the higher of the original mark or the mark following the Additional Assessment will be recorded as the final result.