Structure Money equivalent of utility gains to trade Consumer's' surplus Changes in consumer's' surplus Compensating and equivalent variations Producer's' surplus
Structure Describing technologies Production set or technology set Production function Isoquant Marginal product Returns to scale Technical rate of substitution well- behaved technologies Long run and short run
Mission of Economists Gary Becker: believe that the main purpose of economics is to understand and help to alleviate poverty\ Who are the poor? How can one help?
Information in Competitive Markets In purely competitive markets all agents are fully informed about traded commodities and other aspects of the market. What about markets for medical services, or insurance, or used cars?