This covers a series of courses I taught at University College Cork. The content relates to undergraduate microeconomics, and was taught to students studying economics, finance, and commerce. Relevant materials can be made available upon request, but click the link in the title to see an overview of the course contents.

Introductory Microeconomics

These courses start by introducing fundamental economic principles at the individual level, focusing on supply, demand, market equilibrium, opportunity costs, elasticity, and the rational agent. The material then evolves to emphasize consumer and producer behaviour under different conditions and within different markets.

These courses then pivot to consider the role of firms and governments in the microeconomic environment. Of particular interest here is the efficient allocation of resources and leads students to a more nuanced understanding of how policies such as taxation, subsidies, and regulations affect market outcomes.

In University College Cork, I have been involved in the following courses which fit this description in different capacities:

1. EC1117 (Markets and Governments: An Introduction to Economics)
2. EC1213 (Microeconomic Reasoning and Practice)
3. EC1202 (Economic Reasoning For Business)
4. EC1212 (Economics of Business 1)
5. EC1500 (Ethics and Economic Decision Making in Food Business)

Intermediate Microeconomics

These courses build upon introductory material by focusing on the interactions between producers and consumers within different types of markets. In particular, entrepreneurship, the competitive process and technological change, the determination of the relative prices of goods, and factors of production under various types of market structure are all covered.

These courses then pivot in three distinct directions to focus on the government, the firm, and labour market. We consider the role of government in achieving social goals and public policy objectives. Students examine how government actions impact resource allocation, income distribution, and overall welfare. For the firm, we focus on budgets, risk and uncertainty, revenue functions, alongside production and cost analysis. While in labour markets, we emphasize the factors driving labour supply and demand, the acquisition of training and skills, technology and decision making, alongside government intervention in such markets, such as through minimum wages and taxation.

In University College Cork, I have been involved in the following courses which fit this description in different capacities:

1. EC1121 (Markets, Governments, and The Economics of Social Issues)
2. EC2200 (Economics of Managerial Decision Making)
3. EC3127 (Economics of The Labour Market)
4. EC4211 (Economics of The Labour Market)

Recommended Readings and Literature

1. Microeconomics by N. Gregory Mankiw and Mark P. Taylor
2. Microeconomic Foundations I: Choice and Competitive Markets by David M. Kreps
3. Microeconomic Foundations II: Imperfect Competition, Information, and Strategic Interaction by David M. Kreps
4. Chicago Price Theory by Sonia Jaffe, Robert Minton, Casey B. Mulligan, and Kevin M. Murphy
5. Microeconomic Theory by Andreu Mas-Collel, Michael Whinston, and Jerry Green
6. The Great Economists: How Their Ideas Can Help Us Today by Linda Yueh