Every day, we make economic decisions: where to shop, how to spend our time, and what subjects to learn. Markets influence everything we do. Prices have an impact on our choices, market signals tell us where to invest, and they help firms produce particular goods. All around us, economics is everywhere. This course introduces you to microeconomic theory, including how markets work and why they exist. The concept of scarcity will be discussed and we'll discuss how the specialization based on comparative advantage can help us accomplish more than what is possible by ourselves. We will then model an example using Supply and Demand and discover what working markets can do and their limits. The final part of the course examines government intervention in perfect markets. These examples are drawn from our daily lives, which include the goods and services we use and purchase. Weekly exercises will help us apply this theory to policy discussions and current events. You will be able to think critically and become an informed market analyst who is able to analyze, evaluate, and interpret the outcomes of markets.
