Main themes

This course will take the basic microeconomic learning that students have learned on preparatory courses as the starting-point. It will focus on the elements of economic theory that (i) form the basis of the commercial and financial management models developed on degree courses and (ii) enable students to understand the economic realities confronting enterprises.

Content and teaching methods

Content
The following areas are covered in particular:
1. the intertemporal choices of households and enterprises (e.g. savings, investment, loans, and nominal and real interest rates) (this part of the course will provide the microeconomic bases of the financial management courses);
2. the theory and applications of demand for final goods (the measurement and determinants of demand);
3. kinds of market other than that of perfect competition (discrimination of prices, product selection and oligopolistic situations) (the content of these two sections is linked to issues of commercial management);
4. the role of the state and the public sector in a market economy, and a normative analysis of their decisions (e.g. the notion of efficiency and equity, a surplus of consumers and producers, and pricing of (and investment in) public services (and of natural monopolies)).

Other credits in programs