Course Description
This introductory course was taught by professor Ricardo Serrano-Padial during his time in UW-Madison. The TA material found here was put together by several TA’s. The formatting is mine. Students learned the core concepts in economics starting from demand and supply and exploring deeper into producer and consumer theory. Students learned both about competitive, well-functioning markets as well as settings where markets fail or are characterized by market power.
Material
| Topics | Handout | Solutions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discussion 1 | Preliminaries, Positive Vs. Normative | Handout 1 | Solutions 1 |
| Discussion 2 | Opportunity costs, efficiency and comparative advantage | Handout 2 | Solutions 2 |
| Discussion 3 | Demand and Supply | Handout 3 | Solutions 3 |
| Discussion 4 | Price controls and social welfare | Handout 4 | Solutions 4 |
| Discussion 5 | Quotas, tariffs and taxes | Handout 5 | Solutions 5 |
| Discussion 6 | Economic profit and marginal analysis | Handout 6 | Solutions 6 |
| Discussion 7 | Consumer Theory | Handout 7 | Solutions 7 |
| Discussion 8 | Producer theory | Handout 8 | Solutions 8 |
| Discussion 9 | Competitive markets I | Handout 9 | Solutions 9 |
| Discussion 10 | Competitive markets II and Monopoly | Handout 10 | Solutions 10 |
| Discussion 11 | Price discrimination and oligopoly | Handout 11 | Solutions 11 |
| Discussion 12 | The labor market | Handout 12 | Solutions 12 |
| Discussion 13 | Extra practice problems | Handout 13 | Solutions 13 |
Disclaimer
- Some of the exercises are inspired in published work. The selection of questions was meant to assist students in their learning process. I do not claim property rights of the ideas presented.
- I appreciate the collaboration of former students in identifying mistakes in the problems or solutions. I constantly keep them updated. If you find an error, please contact me.