INTERMEDIATE MICROECONOMICS

Harvard College
Fall 2015
Maxim Boycko
Location: Emerson 105
Meeting Time: Tuesday, Thursday 10:00 am - 11:30 am.

The course introduces core microeconomic models of consumers, firms, and markets, and
develops their application to a broad range of economic and social issues in the real
world. Prerequisites for this course are Economics 10a and Mathematics 1a or their
equivalents.

The course is designed for sophomores concentrating in economics, but other students are
welcome.

Note: Economics 1010a fulfills the intermediate microeconomic theory requirement for
Economics concentrators. Students may take either Economics 1010a or Economics
1011a for credit. This course, when taken for a letter grade, meets the General Education
requirement for Empirical and Mathematical Reasoning.

The course is taught assuming that students have completed Ec 10a, or an equivalent, and
are familiar with introductory microeconomics, e.g. basic supply and demand model.
Calculus will be used sparingly, but students should have a good grip on the basics.

Course materials

The textbook for the course is Austan Goolsbee, Steven Levitt, and Chad Syverson
Microeconomics, Worth Publishers, 2013. You will need to buy or rent a copy. The 13-
digit ISBN is 978-0716759751, and the 10-digit ISBN is 0716759751.

Course calendar

The class takes place at Emerson 105, 10:00-11:30 a.m., Tue and Thu. We will not take
attendance, but you should be at every lecture. Sections and office hours are weekly,
Wed-Thu-Fri. You will register for sections electronically. There will be two midterms
and a final exam. Detailed course calendar is below.

Grading weights

Weekly multiple choice quizzes 7.5%; weekly long problems 7.5%; first midterm 25%;
second midterm 20%; final exam 40%.

Weekly multiple choice quizzes (MCQs)

There will be eight MCQs. Each MCQ will cover one or several preceding lectures.
MCQs are the best diagnostics of your overall understanding of the course material: you
must work on them by yourself.

Each MCQ will be published on Canvas on Tuesday, at 5 pm and must be submitted

through Canvas by the following Monday, at 5pm. (There will be no MCQ on the weeks
before the midterms). You may start an MCQ any time between when it is published and
the due date. However, each MCQ is a timed quiz and must be completed within 3 hours
of when you choose to start it. If you choose to start an MCQ within 3 hours of the due
date, you only have the time remaining before the due date to submit the MCQ (e.g. if
you start an MCQ at 3:47pm on Monday, you have only 1 hour and 13 minutes to
complete it by the 5pm due date).

The MCQs are graded automatically. Solutions to MCQs could be discussed during
office hours.

To calculate your final MCQ grade, we will throw out the two MCQs on which you
received your two lowest scores and take the average of the remaining six. Attention:
this policy means we will not grant extensions for missed MCQs, whatever the
reason. The best strategy is to do all of them during the course. If something unexpected
prevents you from doing one or two, your grade will not be penalized.

Weekly long problems (LPs)

There will be eight LPs as well. Like an MCQ, each LP will cover one or several
preceding lectures. LPs are crucial to learning how to work with economic
models. Besides, solving LPs is the best training for midterms and the final exam, as
these will be heavily weighted towards similar problems.

To promote exchange of ideas and discussions, you are permitted to consult with your
classmates as you develop your solution to an LP, but this collaboration should be limited
to groups of no more than four students, and each student should not participate in
more than one group. After discussions with peers, make sure that you work through
the problem and write up the solution entirely on your own. Remember: if you do not
learn how to solve LPs on your own, you face huge risk at midterms and final. If you
have collaborated on developing a solution to an LP, you must list the names of all
students with whom you have worked together.

Each LP will be published on Canvas on Tuesday, at 5pm. If you have a clarifying

question about an LP, please email your section leader. Please allow 24 hours for a
response (or 48 hours over the weekend). A printed copy of the solution to the LP must
be dropped off at your section leader's designated box at Littauer the following Monday
before 5pm.
Each LP will be worked out and discussed during your weekly section. Your section
leader will let you know your grade within 7 days after submission. Solutions to LPs will
be published on Canvas the week after submission.

To calculate your final LP grade, once again, we will throw out the two LPs on which
you received your two lowest scores and take the average of the remaining six.
Attention: this policy means we will not grant extensions for missed LPs, whatever
the reason.

Weekly Sections and Office Hours

The purpose of weekly sections is to review complicated course material, ask questions,
and work through solutions to LPs. Attendance is not mandatory, but strongly
recommended. Your section leader will also run office hours where you will have a
chance to ask questions about MCQs and review solutions. The section and office hours
immediately after the midterm will be focused on reviewing the midterm problems.

Missed midterms and final exam

Midterms are NOT optional; you MUST take both. If you miss one midterm without a
legitimate reason, you will get a zero grade contribution to your final grade. If you miss
two midterms without a legitimate reason, you will not be admitted to the final exam and
will have to take the course again.

If you cannot make a midterm because of a legitimate reason (e.g. you are on a Harvard
sports team, or because you are taking part in an out-of-town activity organized by
Harvard, etc) you must bring a note from your Resident Dean or Freshman Dean
certifying your legitimate reason. This note has to be delivered in person to Jeff Picel at
least 24 hours before the midterm. If you had a medical or other emergency, you must
deliver the note within 7 days after the midterm. We will then add the weight of the
missed midterm to the final exam.

Please be aware that the problems at the final exam may be somewhat harder than at the
midterms; this provides an extra incentive not to miss the midterms.

Course policies

The midterms and the final exam should be completely your own work. MCQs are
designed to be done on your own as well.

To promote exchange of ideas and discussions, you are permitted to consult with your
classmates as you develop your solutions to LPs, but for each LP this collaboration
should be limited to groups of no more than four students, and each student should not
participate in more than one group. After discussions with peers, make sure that you
work through the problem and write up the solution entirely on your own. If you
have collaborated on developing a solution to an LP, you must list the names of all
students with whom you have worked together.

During the lectures, no laptops, tablets, mobile phones are allowed.

You are encouraged to use calculators when needed for LPs and during the sections. But
no calculators are allowed at midterms and final exam. However, you may leave some
numerical expressions in your final answers, e.g. Q=2^(0.25)/ln(3).

Student lunches

Please see Lunch Bookings on the course home page.

Course Administration

If you have any questions regarding course administration, please contact Jeff Picel, co-
head TF for the course, at [email protected]
Detailed Course Calendar

Textbook
Lecture Day Date Topic
Chapters
L01 Thu 09/03/15 Introduction
L02 Tue 09/08/15 Supply and Demand GLS 2-3
L03 Thu 09/10/15 Consumer's Choice GLS 4
L04 Tue 09/15/15 Consumer Demand GLS 5
L05 Thu 09/17/15 Production GLS 6
L06 Tue 09/22/15 Costs GLS 7
L07 Thu 09/24/15 Firm and Market Supply GLS 8
L08 Tue 09/29/15 Time and Uncertainty GLS 13
L09 Thu 10/01/15 General Equilibrium GLS 14
L10 Tue 10/06/15 Reserved
L11 Thu 10/08/15 Externalities and Public Goods GLS 16
M1 Tue 10/13/15 Midterm 1; covers L02 - L09
Guest lecture by Professor Andrei Shleifer:
GL1 Thu 10/15/15
Introduction to Law and Economics
L12 Tue 10/20/15 Monopoly GLS 9
L13 Thu 10/22/15 Price discrimination GLS 10
L14 Tue 10/27/15 Imperfect Competition GLS 11
L15 Thu 10/29/15 Game Theory GLS 12
L16 Tue 11/03/15 Asymmetric Information GLS 15
Guest lecture by Professor Jeremy Stein:
GL2 Thu 11/05/15
Introduction to Corporate Finance
Guest lecture by Professor Alberto Alesina:
GL3 Tue 11/10/15
Introduction to Political Economy
L17 Thu 11/12/15 Reserved
M2 Tue 11/17/15 Midterm 2; covers L11-L16
L18 Thu 11/19/15 Factor Markets
Guest lecture by Professor Jeffrey Miron:
GL4 Tue 11/24/15
Economics of Drugs Liberalization
Guest lecture by Professor Lawrence Katz:
GL5 Tue 12/01/15 Introduction to Economics of Labor and
Education
L19 Thu 12/03/15 Behavioral Economics /Conclusion GLS 17