COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 

School of International and Public Affairs

U8213 Colloquium on Policy Analysis                           Fall 2001 Saturday 11:00am-12:50pm

Stephen Cameron  1309B IAB  854-4818

Office Hours:  Saturday 1-2pm, or by appointment

TA: Sangeeta Goyal, [email protected]. Sangeeta will run a weekly help session on the problem sets and other course work as well as hold office hours.  If you are struggling, you will want to visit him often.

Texts:  Pindyck and Rubinfeld, Microeconomics, 4th edition.  A study guide is available as well.  I recommend it due to our limited class time.  If you have not have economics recently, I also recommend picking up a new or used introductory economics textbook.   In addition, Weimer and Vining=s Policy Analysis: Concepts and Practice is recommended.

Grading:  Grades are based on six problem sets (25%), a take-home midterm exam  (30%), and a final (50%).  Failure to complete the midterm, the final, or the problem sets will result in a failing grade. All problem sets must be handed in on time, though you may skip one.  If you turn in all problem sets, the grade on the lowest one will be counted as extra credit (worth up to 2% of the final grade).  Exceptional performance on the problem sets, the midterm, or the final will cause your grade to be rounded up one step if your overall grade is below par.

READINGS and PROBLEM ASSIGNMENTS:

____________________________________________________________________________________SEPT   8: Preliminaries.  Why study Micro? Inflation adjustments & introduction to

supply and demand.  PR Ch.s 1 and 2.                                                                WEEK 1

______________________________________________________________________________15:       Supply and demand (continued).  Consumer theory.  PR Ch. 3.                           WEEK 2

______________________________________________________________________________22:       Consumer choice/math review  PR Ch. 4.  Problem Set #1 assigned.                        WEEK 3

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29:       Individual demand & market demand.                                                                 WEEK 4

____________________________________________________________________________________OCT.   6:        Individual demand & market demand. 9:          

(i) Finish demand.  (ii) Labor supply  Handout.                                                              WEEK 5Problem Set #2 assigned.

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14:       (i) Labor supply (continued).

(ii) Exchange & welfare theorem. PR 16.1-16.2, 16.6-16.7 (skim 16.4-16.5).               WEEK 6                         Problem Set #3 assigned.

______________________________________________________________________________20:       (i) Finish exchange.

(ii) Time, discounting, & the basics of private cost-benefit                                WEEK 7

analysis.  PR Ch 15.1-15.4, 15.6, 15.8..          

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27:       (i) Finish discounting & time.

            (ii) Behavior in uncertain environments.  PR Ch. 5.                                         WEEK 8

____________________________________________________________________________________NOV.  3:        No Class (university holiday).  TAKE-HOME MIDTERM EXAM.

                                                                                                                        WEEK 9

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10:       (i)  Finish uncertainty.

(ii)  Asymmetric uncertaintyCinsurance markets, problems of                         WEEK 10                          management; how an information scarcity can hinder market efficiency. 

PR Ch. 17.  Problem Set #4 assigned.

______________________________________________________________________________17:       (i) Asymmetric uncertainty.

(ii) Firms:  the supply side of goods &services markets.  PR. Ch. 6 & handout.          WEEK 11

Problem Set #5 assigned.

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24:       No Class.                                                                                                          WEEK 12

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DEC    1:        Production in the short-run & long-run..  PR.  Ch. 7 and 8.

                        Problem Set #6 assigned.                                                                                 WEEK 13

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 8:        Various measures of firm costs:  opportunity, total, average, variable, marginal,

fixed, & sunkCwhich measures do we care about? (Continued next semester)    WEEK 14

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15:       FINAL EXAM                                                                                                           WEEK 15

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