Page Last Updated: 11/2/13

ECON 320B: General Equilibrium and Welfare (08 03189). SPRING TERM 2013.

Time and venue:

Mondays 16-18 in Law Building LT1

The course runs for ten weeks, beginning Monday the 7th of January 2013.

 

Lecturer: Dr. Martin Kaae Jensen. Homepage (includes contact information and office hours).

Email: m.k.jensen[at]bham.ac.uk

 

Please press the buttons below for further information:

General Info        General information about the course (topics, method of assessment, course material, etc.).

Reading List        Detailed reading list. Includes homework assignments, deadlines, etc.

Handouts        Handouts.

Test and Exam        Information about the 2013 Midterm and Exam.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE COURSE (ECON320B)

 

Economics 320B is a third year BA course in the economics department.

 

Short description: The course examines the working of the market mechanism, in positive as well as normative terms. The various ways societal welfare can be determined and the problems involved with deriving social preferences from individual preferences are also treated. Specific results which are included: The first and second theorems of welfare economics in economies with an without production; existence of general equilibrium; WEAs are the core (in an exchange economy); social choice including Arrow's impossibility theorem and cardinal utility functions. 

Necessary qualifications: Second year microeconomics at the Univ. of Birmingham or a similar course. A solid background in quantitative methods (specifically mathematics, statistics/econometrics is not used in Econ320B).

Method of assessment: 1 problem solving exercise (20%), 1 test (20%), and a two hour examination (60%).

 List of topics (not in chronological order and subject to slight modifications)

  1. General equilibrium in exchange economies. Properties of excess demand functions. Existence of equilibrium. Efficiency.
  2. General Equilibrium with production in private ownership economies and under lump-sum transfers.
  3. The welfare theorems. The core of a competitive economy.
  4. Limitations of classical welfare analysis.
  5. Social choice theory

Course material:

Jehle and Reny, Advanced Microeconomic Theory, chapter 5 (will be given to you as a handout at the lectures).

Lecture notes on social choice theory (available under "handouts")

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HANDOUTS ECON320B

All files are in pdf format.

 

Assignments:

Can be found on the reading list under the date the assignment was handed out.

Lecture notes (Note: The date is the typesetting date, these are valid for 2013 also):

Set 2, Set 3, Set 4, Set 5  (Set 1 can be downloaded from the readling list, as can the pdf slide shows presented at the lectures)

"Summary on the welfare theorems" (for week 6)

Lecture notes on social choice (weeks 6-10)