Where are We in the Course? We are working on the 1st of the 3 components of microeconomics: Consumer behavior, production theory, and market. There are three elements of consumer behavior: budget constraint, preference, and choices
Chapter one Introduction: 1.1 Defining Microeconomics 1.2 Economic Theories and Models(经济理论与模型) 1.3 The Mathematics of Optimization(数学最优化) 1.4 Demand-Supply Model Chapter 2 Consumer Behavior and Demand Theory 2.1 Preference and Utility 2.2 Utility Maximization and Choice 2.3 Income and Substitution Effects 2.4 Market Demand and Elasticity
Primary Readings: DL-Chapter 4; JR-Chapter 3; Varian-Chapter 7 In most economic models, we start with an agent's utility function. The utility function basically maps from bundles that the agent might choose, to the real line. The utility function is quite convenient: it can be maximized and manipulated using mathematical tools. But the question is are we imposing some hidden or desirable assumptions when we take this approach ?prefeent's