ØASØK4100 Microeconomics Course description

Knowledge and understanding of microeconomic theories are essential for managerial decision making, to design and analyse public policies, and more importantly, to understand the functioning of a modern market economy. This course is an advance course in Microeconomics that analyses the theories of consumer and producer behaviours in detail and exposes students to new topics, including general equilibirum analysis, pricing strategies of firms with market power, competitive strategy, and roles of information, externality and uncertainty.

No prerequisites.

Knowledge

The student has knowledge of

• economic theories of consumers' and producers' behaviours
• analysis of pricing strategies of firms with varying degrees of market power
• general equilibrium analysis of a market economy
• concepts and results of non-cooperative game theory

Skills

The student can

• apply economic theories to analyse complex decision-making problems of consumers and firms
• formulate strategic behaviours of firms and analyse market outcomes
• analyse and interpret public policies targeted to address market inefficiencies

Competence

The student can

• develop insights to apply economic reasoning to address business-related problems
• communicate with practitioners and policy makers to design and analyse public policies for effective functioning of the market
• engage in analytical discussions of economic reports, research articles and policy paper

The course material is discussed in lectures.

This course focuses on individuals' needs for information and their information seeking behaviour.

No prerequisites.

Knowledge

The student has

• advanced knowledge of information needs as well as of use of information and knowledge in different contexts such as everyday life, working life, research and education, etc.
• good overview and specialized knowledge of the role of various channels for satisfying the information needs and their prominence for seeking and sharing information and knowledge
• advanced knowledge of the theoretical models for understanding seeking and sharing of information and knowledge
• advanced understanding of the relationship between human information behaviour and methods of information and knowledge management

Skills

The student is able to

• use empirical and theoretical models on information behaviour and information mediating institutions' role in information seeking processes to design research projects
• reflect upon how information needs and information use is affected and changed by political, demographic, cultural and technological changes, the emergence of new forms of learning and experience, etc.
• plan, develop and lead information and knowledge management in practice with reference to in-depth knowledge of information needs and information seeking behaviour

The course is organized as a series of three three-day sessions.

The course is given either in Scandinavian languages with occasional English contributions, or exclusively in English.

No course requirements.

The assessment consists of a written term paper. The term paper may be written individually (approximately 15 pages), or in groups of 2-3 students (approximately 20 pages).

Students who have failed the regular examination are entitled to submit a revised version of the term paper for re-examination. If a term paper is written by a group, all group members are requested a re-examination at fail.