Classroom: KAPLAN A65 TU TH 9:30 MAP TA sections: Friday 9:00 and 10:00 Bunche 2168 This Masters level course is designed to give students a strong understanding of micro-economic concepts and models without delving too deeply into high-tech formalizations of economic theory. Some students will have a very strong mathematical background. Everyone will have a good grasp of calculus. But whichever group you think you may be in, I urge you to spend time developing your ability to use the kind of mathematics that economists most commonly use. To help you review your understanding of mathematics, I have provided nine modules on the use of calculus in economics. (Click on Preparing above.) Please review them carefully. Do not feel you need to get too much into technical details on the first reading. What I really want you to do is work through the exercises provided with each module. Answers are also provided but please do not look at an answer before really trying hard to answer the question yourself. Doing that will turn active learning into passive learning and the former is much more powerful. Suppose you look up an answer and realize that your answer is different. If you are not convinced that I am correct please email me immediately and we will figure out the truth together! I can be contacted at riley [at] econ [dot] ucla [dot] edu. Since this is my first year teaching the course, any communication wih incoming students will be very helpful and much appreciated. Studying graduate level economics involves understanding how and why models work and how to extract economic insights from them. Problem solving using calculus is necessary to understanding maximizing behavior. The only way to develop this skill is to practice and practice. Thus homework exercises will play a very important role in this course. In the course you will also use Excel to solve problems that are too complex to anaytically. The note "Thinking on the margin" is an introduction to solving numerically. It explains how to load and make use of Excel's optimization package called "solver". I encourage you to see how this works using your own laptop. Some of you may be thinking of this course as a stepping stone in possibly applying to doctoral programs in economics. If so, you may wish to look at my textbook "Essential Microeconomics" Cambridge University Press. However this is a more advanced text than will be required for this course.
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