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.

Successful completion of a mid-term assignment, which includes 4-5 exercises and to be carried out individually or in groups of up to three students. In order to take the final exam, the assignment must be approved by the instructor. Students who fail to qualify, will be given another opportunity to submit a new or improved solution to the mid-term assignment.

Journalism is changing and so is investigative journalism. Amongst the factors that affect investigative journalism are emerging digital media and changing technology. This course aims to encourage investigative journalism in digital times and gives students the opportunity to collaborate across borders using digital technology. A rising trend within international investigative journalism is to collaborate across borders and exchange useful information and data. Similarly, investigative journalists increasingly work in interdisciplinary teams drawing on expertise from such fields as law, economy, information technology and social science. The course seeks to deepen the understanding and knowledge of such investigative journalism.

The course will emphasize digital ways to investigate data. Students will learn principles of big data harvesting and analysis, and they will collaborate internationally with other students either on analyses of digital working methods or on doing more practical research related to investigative stories.

Another important aspect will be securing digital life and protecting sources when doing collaborative investigations across borders.

None

Letter grading A-F.

Written assignments based on the reading list or workshops given during the course.There are seven assignments, out of which four must be approved in order to qualify for the exam. All assignments are connected to workshops where students will work in groups with support from experienced journalists, accountants and digital safety experts to learn skills and acquire knowledge necessary to do cross border investigative journalism. All assignments must be written in English. The assignments will be discussed in groups with other students and a teacher. The student will then have the opportunity to improve the assignments before the final handing in.

The details of the assignments will be given in the beginning of the semester. The length of each assignment is 3 - 5 pages. If an assignment is not approved, the student may hand in a new, improved version within a set deadline. In the case of illness or other valid reasons for absence, an individual deadline can be set by the teacher. If the student does not meet the set deadline for at least four of the assignments, the student loses the possibility to hand in the assignment, and thereby loses to right to sit for the exam.

The exam is a 4 days written individual home examination of 8 -10 pages. The paper may be written in either English or Norwegian (or another Scandinavian language). Font and font size: Arial/Calibri 12 points. Line spacing: 1.5.