Università Roma Tre

MICROECONOMICS
Prof. A. Trezzini

The Microeconomics course deals with the part of the economic analysis that has as its object the determination of the exchange value of individual goods, as well as the related problem of income distribution.
In the first part of the course the fundamental elements concerning the single productive processes and their mutual relations are exposed.
The second part of the course considers how the problem of the exchange value of goods and the distribution of the product has been dealt with within the theoretical framework of classical economists.
The third part of the course examines the basic elements of the marginalist microeconomics. The theory of production and firms in perfect competition and the theory of consumer and exchange are analysed.
The fourth part of the course is dedicated to theories of firm and individual industry in monopoly and oligopolistic conditions.
A fifth concluding part will be dedicated to a comparison between the two alternative approaches to the problems of value and distribution: the classic one and the marginalist one.

Dispensa n.1 Elementi di teoria della produzione (materiale didattico redatto dal Prof. R: Ciccone in collaborazione con il Dott. Trezzini)
Dispensa n.2 La teoria classica della distribuzione e dei prezzi relativi (materiale didattico redatto dal Prof. R: Ciccone in collaborazione con il Dott. Trezzini) compresa l'Appendice A ed esclusa l'Appendice B.
Dispensa n.3 La teoria marginalista della distribuzione e dei prezzi relativi (materiale didattico redatto dal Prof. R: Ciccone in collaborazione con il Dott. S. Fratini) pagine 1-11
H.R.Varian, Microeconomia, Cafoscarina, settima edizione.

Elements of the theory of production
- inputs, outputs and production methods
- the subsistence economy
- the economy with a surplus
The surplus approach to commodity value and income distribution
- the relevance of social and institutional elements to income distribution
- the explanation of the real wage rate
- the "core" of the classical approach
- the link between profit rate and relative prices
- the price equations
- the classical theory of rent
The theory of consumer choice
- budget set and budget constraint
- preferences
- consumer choice
- consumer-good demand curves
The theory of firm choice
- the function of production
- profit maximisation
- isoquants and isocosts
- the output expansion path and long-term cost curves
Production factors and the marginalist explanation of income distribution
- marginal and average productivity of factors
- the demand curves of factors of production
- equilibrium between supply and demand for factors of production
Market forms
- perfect competition
- monopoly
- Cournot oligopoly
- Stackelberg oligopoly
Introduction to the welfare economics
- allocations and Edgeworth box
- Pareto improvements and Pareto optima
- first theorem of welfare economics

i) "Elementi di teoria della produzione", Appunti per il corso di Microeconomia - Dispensa n. 1 (teaching material written by R. Ciccone, S.M. Fratini e A. Trezzini).
ii) "La teoria classica della distribuzione e dei prezzi relativi", Appunti per il corso di Microeconomia - Dispensa n. 2 (teaching material written by R. Ciccone, S.M. Fratini e A. Trezzini).
iii) "La teoria marginalista della distribuzione e dei prezzi relativi", Appunti per il corso di Microeconomia - Dispensa n. 3 (teaching material written by R. Ciccone, S.M. Fratini e A. Trezzini).
iv) R.H. Frank, Microeconomia. McGraw-Hill Libri Italia, Milano. 2017.
v) "Glossario ed Esercizi Svolti di Microeconomia" (teaching material written by S.M. Fratini e D. Pignalosa).

The first part of the course will introduce consumption and production theories. These theories are the fundamental components of equilibrium theory in perfectly and imperfectly competitive markets and in monopoly, and they will be analyzed in the second part of the course. The third and final part of the course will address issues such as the analysis of information asymmetries, externalities and public goods.

Frank R.H. e Cartwright E., Microeconomia, Mc Graw-Hill, 7a edizione, 2017.