Economics 425: Mathematical Economics

• Textbooks: (all of them are optional and none are required for this course

  Carl P. Simon and Lawrence Blume (1994) Mathematics for Economists W.W. Norton and Company (new retail price: $120: cheaper used texts are available for about $40-$50 on various sites such as Amazon). (a remedial text for those rusty on their math)

  M. Miranda and P.L. Fackler (2002) Applied Computational Economics MIT Press. (a good book for students interested in using computers and Matlab to solve economic models)

  Jerome Adda and Russell Cooper (2003) Dynamic Economics: Quantitative Methods and Applications (a good intro to the theory and applications of dynamic programming in economics)

  Prajit K. Dutta (199) Strategies and Games Theory and Practice MIT Press. (a good intro to game theory with lots of examples and case studies)

  Philip Reny and Geoffrey Jehle (2011) Advanced Microeconomic Theory (3rd Edition) Prentice Hall (a more advanced graduate level book on microeconomics)

  Note: textbooks are optional! All reading material will be provided for free as pdf files (lecture slides) via the Econ 425 website.

• Overview: Economics 425 is an intermediate level course on microeconomic theory. It provides a more rigorous and advanced
  exposition of concepts introduced in Economics 200, Principles of Microeconomics.

• Prerequisites: Economics 305 or 306 and 405 or 406 and Math 220 or 140. Calculus and other mathematical tools will be used in this course!

• Grades: Course will be graded on an A-F scale based on: problem sets (40% of grade), 1 midterms (20% of grade), a choice between a final exam or class project (40% of grade)

• Exam Schedule: The final exam is scheduled by the University and cannot be changed.

  Students who do not show up for an exam will get a zero on that exam, unless a written excuse is provided and the excuse satisfies the University policy for excused absences. *** NO OTHER EXCEPTIONS ALLOWED! ***

  1. The midterm will be held in class on
     Thursday October 13, 2011.

  2. The final exam (for those who choose to take it) will be in class on
     Thursday DEcember 15, 2011 from 8:00 to 10:00am.

• Tentative Lecture Schedule

• Course Readings and Syllabus

• Current Assignments