August 22 Announcement: Starting August 25, we will meet in RH 205.
August 27 Announcement: Starting August 27, we will meet in RH 213.
PART I: Language and Mathematics Review
August 18 Set
Readings: Lecture 1 (Section 1 and 2)
Additional Readings: [O] A.1, [D] 1.1, 1.2, [JR] A1.2
August 20 Logic
Readings: Supplement on Logic
Additional Readings: [JR] A1.1
August 25 Logic and Linearity
Readings: Supplement on Logic (on De Morgan Law, and contrapositive), Lecture 2 (Section 1.1, Section 2.1)
Additional Readings: [SB] Chapter 6,8,10,11; [O] Chapter F
August 27 Geometry and Convexity
Readings: Lecture 3 (Section 1.1,1.2, Section 2 before the start of Section 2.1)
Additional Readings: Supplement on Dot Product, [O] A.4, G, [K] Appendix 3, [SB] 21, [JR] A1.4
Mandatory Assignment A (Due on September 10, Optional Submission), Solution
September 1 Linear Independence, Matrix Sign, Convexity, and Linear Programming
Readings: Lecture 2 (Section 1.2, 2.2), Section 3 (Section 2.1), Supplement on Dot Product and Linear Programming
Additional Readings: Section 2 (Section 1.3,1.4, 2.3) , [O] A.4, G, [K] Appendix 3, [SB] 21, [JR] A1.4S
September 3 Multivariate Calculus and Optimization (Part I)
Readings: Lecture 5 (Before section 2.2.1) , Lecture 6 (Section 1, Section 2.1)
Additional Readings: [JR] A2.1, [SB] Chapters 2-5, 14, 16, [JR] A2.2-A2.4, [SB] Chapters 17-19, [K] Appendix 5
September 8 Optimization (KKT)
Readings: Lecture 5 (After section 2.2.1), Lecture 6 (Section 2.3)
Additional Readings: [JR] A2.2-A2.4, [SB] Chapters 17-19, [K] Appendix 5
September 10 Constraint Qualifications and Slater's Condition
Readings: Lecture 6 (Section 2.1,2.2)
Additional Readings: [JR] A2.2-A2.4, [SB] Chapters 17-19, [K] Appendix 5
Mandatory Assignment B (Due on September 24, Optional Submission), Solution
PART II: Consumer Theory
September 17 Consumer's Problem
Readings: Lecture 7 (Section 1, 2.1, 2.2)
Additional Readings: [D] Ch 2,4 [B] Ch 6 [JR] 1.1-1.3, 1.5 [K] Ch 3 [OR] 5.1-5.3
Reference: Why wages don't fall during a recession?
September 22 Utility Maximization
Readings: Lecture 6 (Section 2.3), Lecture 7 (Section 2.3 and 3)
Additional Readings: [D] Ch 2,4 [B] Ch 6 [JR] 1.1-1.3, 1.5 [K] Ch 3 [OR] 5.1-5.3
September 24 Cost Minimization
Readings: Lecture 8
Additional Readings: [B] Ch 6 [JR] 1.4 [K] Ch 10
Assignment 1 (Due on October 13), Solution
September 29 Comparative Statics
Readings: Lecture 9
Additional Readings: [JR] 1.5, 2.1 [K] Ch 10, 11, [OR] 5.6
October 1 Welfare
Readings: Lecture 10
Additional Readings: [JR] 4.3, [K] 12.2
PART II: Choice And Revealed Preference
October 6 Preference and Utility Presentation
Readings: Lecture 1, Lecture 12
Additional Readings: [JR] Ch 3, [K] Ch 9, [OR] Ch 6
October 8 Preference and Utility Presentation
Readings: Lecture 12
Additional Readings: [JR] Ch 3, [K] Ch 9, [OR] Ch 6
October 13 Choice and Revealed Preference
Readings: Lecture 13
Additional Readings: [D] 4.4-4.7, [JR] 1.2, [K] Ch 1 - 2, [OR] Ch 1,4
Assignment 2 (Due on October 27), Solution
PART III: Choice Under Uncertainties
October 15 Uncertainty and Expected Utility
Readings: Lecture 14
Additional Readings: [K] Ch 5, [JR] 2.4, [OR] 3.1-3.4, [O] H.1
October 20 Uncertainty and Expected Utility
Readings: Lecture 14
Additional Readings: [K] Ch 5, [JR] 2.4, [OR] 3.1-3.4, [O] H.1
October 22 Expected Utility
Readings: Lecture 14
Additional Readings: [K] Ch 5, [JR] 2.4, [OR] 3.1-3.4, [O] H.1
Part IV: Topics
October 27 Attitude towards Risk
Readings: Lecture 15
Additional Readings: [JR] 2.4, [OR] 3.5
Assignment 3 (Due on November 10), Solution
October 29 Attitude towards Risk and Marriage Problem
Readings: Lecture 15, Lecture 20
PART IV: Why are we working so hard on such a "technical" course?
November 3 No Meeting
November 5 Marriage Problem (continued) + Presentations
Readings: Lecture 20
Income Tax Evasion (Sergio Diaz Medina)
Development & Institutions: Elites’ Decisions to Block Innovation (Mariana Rivero Moles)
The effect of ambiguity about risk on choice (Ana Cecilia Vazquez Alfaro)
November 10 TBD + Presentation
Fines or policing? Modelling crime deterrence (Eduardo Alfonso Montoya Avila)
November 12 TBD
Looting: Bankruptcy For Profit (Ana Paula Del Campo Vallejo)
November 17 No Meeting
November 19 Presentations
The Power of a Penny (Lucia Zanella Prado)
The Economics of Credence Goods (Fausto Emiliano Barajas Rangel)
Money-Metric Utility Function (Alisson Contreras Burelo)
Is There a Politically Optimal Level of Judicial Independence? (Nayeli Monserrat Enriquez Flores)
November 24 Presentations
Self-Control and The Theory of Consumption (Santiago Ahuad Duran)
Luxury and Wealth (Fabiola Lopez Luevano)
The Economics of Willpower (Maria Coral Canto)
November 26 Presentations
Mental Accounting in Individual Investment Choices (Mariano Francesco Del Rizzo Gonzalez)
Modeling Medical Decision Making (Luis Enrique Luna Moctezuma)
The Economics of Self-Control: Understanding Present Bias (Maximiliano Huitron Rodriguez)
(Rational) Crime and punishment under uncertainty. An individual decision model of legal and illegal legal effort (Felipe Monreal Hernandez)
December 1 Presentations
Monotone threshold representations (Emilio Vargas Hernandez)
So many choices that it is now an economic problem (Xalli Velasco Charfen)
Rethinking Consumer Decisions: Why Mean Consumption Tells the Whole Story (Luis Victoria Teran)
December 3 Presentations + Concluding Remarks
Prices vs. Quantities (Abraham Perez Velazquez)
Consumer Rationality and Demand Theory (Alejandro Alcocer Cervera)
A statistical theory of optimal decision in sports betting (Emilio Quintana Guerrero)
Final Paper (Due at 11 am on December 13)
Additional Reference:
For consumer and producer theory:
[K] David M. Kreps, Microeconomic Foundations I: Choice and Competitive Markets (Princeton University Press, 2013)
[OB] Osobrne, M. and Rubinstein, A., Models in Microeconomic Theory (Open Book Publishers, 2020)
[JR] Geoffrey A. Jehle and Philip J. Reny, Advanced Microeconomic Theory (3rd edition, Prentice Hall, 2011)
For mathematics:
[O] Efe OK, Real Analysis with Economic Applications (Princeton University Press, 2007)
[SB] Carl Simon and Lawrence Blume, Mathematics for Economists (Norton, 1994)
For general equilibrium theory:
[D] Gerard Debreu, Theory of value: An axiomatic analysis of economic equilibrium. (Yale University Press, 1959)
[B] Truman Bewley, General Equilibrium Theory, Overlapping Generations Models, and Optimal Growth Theory (Harvard University Press, 2010)