Microeconomics with Spreadsheets

Microeconomics studies the choices made by individuals under conditions of scarcity of resources and time and the interaction between different decision makers. Scarcity forces economic actors to choose one opportunity among many. Microeconomics with Spreadsheets starts with the mathematical preliminaries and covers consumer theory, producer theory, general equilibrium, game theory, market structure and economics of information.

The reader will use numerical tools to analyse problems that cannot be analysed analytically. There is a natural synergy between rigorous proofs and numerical methods, since before using a numerical method one should also prove that a solution exists and analyse whether it is unique, and therefore be able to interpret properly the output of a program.

Contents:

• Mathematical Preliminaries:

  • Constraint Optimization

• Market Interactions:

  • The Consumer Theory
  • The Producer Theory
  • General Equilibrium
  • Choice and Uncertainty

• Strategic Interactions:

  • Game Theory
  • Theory of Imperfect Competition and Industry Structure

• The Economics of Information:

  • Hidden Information Models
  • Hidden Action
  • Introduction to Auctions

• Mathematical Appendix:

  • The Formal Logic
  • Basics of Set Theory
  • Solutions of Some Equations Systems of Simultaneous Equations
  • Basics of Calculus

Readership: Third year undergraduate and honours students along with postgraduate students taking advanced courses and modules on microeconomics.
Key Features:

• The book is based on an actual lecture course, so the material is well suited for teaching
• The main innovation that distinguishes it from the other texts is the inclusion of Excel based exercises, which will allow the students to master Solver and learn to develop spreadsheets, while learning economic theory