Teaching code

4S00239

Academic staff

Giam Pietro Cipriani, Simona Fiore

Coordinatore

Giam Pietro Cipriani

Credits

9

Language

Italian

Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD)

SECS-P/01 - ECONOMICS

Period

Primo semestre (lauree) dal Sep 19, 2022 al Jan 13, 2023.

Lessons timetable Moodle Seminars

Learning objectives

This unit should enable students to understand how firms and consumers take their decisions and how markets are organized. Recent developments in economic theory, useful to prepare students for applied economic courses, will also be presented. The teaching methods adopted consist of lectures and exercise classes. By the end of this course, students will know how to apply the toolbox of microeconomics to analyze markets and consumers’ and firms’ behavior.

Prerequisites and basic notions

There is no mandatory requirement. However, knowledge of basic mathematical concepts is required.

Program

Consumer choice
Production and costs
Perfect competition
Monopoly
Imperfect competition and strategic behaviour
General economic equilibrium
Decision-making with risk
Asymmetric information
Textbooks
either
H.R. Varian, Intermediate Microeconomics: A Modern Approach
or
D.A. Besanko & R.R. Braeutigam, Microeconomics
Exercises can be found in many textbooks. An Italian textbook is: G.P. Cipriani & T. Fioroni, Esercizi di Microeconomia, Giappichelli, 2020.

Bibliography

Didactic methods

There are 56 hours of lessons and 24 hours of practice. In addition, a tutoring will be organized to assist students in carrying out the exercises. All the slides used in class, the teaching material used in the exercises and in the tutoring and links to any recorded lessons will be published on the university's e-learning platform. Students will also be invited to carry out and deliver exercises directly on the e-learning platform.

Learning assessment procedures

The examination is the same for attending, non-attending and Erasmus students. About halfway through the semester, there will be an optional intermediate assessment test. Only attending students who have passed at least 3 out of 5 tests assigned during the course on the e-learning portal will be able to access the intermediate test. The mid-term exam focuses on consumer theory and is in written form. In particular, it consists of exercises and theory questions also formulated through a multiple choice test. The test aims to verify the knowledge of the different topics of the program, while the exercises aim to verify the methodological application of the acquired knowledge. The mark will be averaged with the vote of the final exam, which will take place in the same way and which will be held in the first session of the official session. In this completion test, the part of the program already examined in the mid-term test will not be asked. During the course, exercises to be carried out on the e-learning portal may be proposed and the outcome of these tests will be taken into account for the attribution of bonus points for the intermediate or final exam. Students who choose not to take the intermediate test, or who have obtained a grade lower than 16/30 in this test, will have to take the exam in a single solution on the whole program during the ordinary exam sessions. This exam will also consist of exercises and theory questions also formulated through a multiple choice test. In the evaluation of multiple choice tests, a negative score is assigned for each incorrect answer. The exam is considered not passed if the test grade is less than 10/30. If it is higher than 10/30, the test grade is worth 30% of the test assessment and the exercise grade and any open questions the remaining 70%. In the event of a remote exam, the verification of the methodological application of the acquired knowledge, which is ascertained with the written performance of exercises in the face-to-face mode, will also take place through an oral test. Therefore, in the remote mode, the exam will take place through a test with multiple choice questions and calculated numerical answers, after which you will access a subsequent oral exam.

Evaluation criteria

In the multiple choice test the wrong answers are penalized and a null score is given for those not given. The penalty is such that the expected score from random answers is null. In the exercises carried out, the correctness of the procedure and the accuracy of the explanations (when requested) are also assessed.

Criteria for the composition of the final grade

50% intermediate exam (if passed), 50% final exam. Any additional bonus points for exercises carried out during the course.

Exam language

Italiano