MRes Microeconomics 2025-26

ECON0106 is the core microeconomics course in the doctoral sequence in economics. Term 1 provides an introduction to the analysis of behaviour, both in individual choice contexts, as well as in settings of strategic interaction.
In the first half of the term, we will lay out the foundations for the analysis of choice and examine the behavioural implications underlying specific preference representations, which we will then connect with the study of consumer theory. We then turn to choice under risk and under uncertainty.
In the second half of the term, we will focus on modeling of behaviour of interacting agents.

Syllabus

Meeting Times:
Time: Monday 13:00-15:00 and Tuesday 10:00-12:00
Location: 222 Euston Road, room G01

Meeting Dates: 29 September – 9 December 2025

Lecture Notes, Slides, and Other Resources: Materials will be posted below as the course progresses.

• 1. Choice, Preferences, Utility.   Notes. Slides.
• 2. Structural Properties of Utility Representations.   Notes. Slides.
• 3. Optimal Choice and Consumer Theory.   Notes. Slides.
  Other resources: Notes on Correspondences.

Problem Sets: You are encouraged to work with your classmates in solving them, but you must write up and turn in your own answers. You are not allowed to use AI-powered engines to solve the questions. All work is to be handwritten by you and delivered to my mailbox in the faculty common room before the lecture starts; late submissions will not be accepted.
Please put your problem sets in my mailbox in the faculty common room by Monday 12:30.

• Problem Set 1. Due 6 October 2025.

Test: An in-person test will take place in the last class of the term (9 December 2025). This is a closed-book/closed-notes individual test.

Written Assignment: Please submit your written assignment here.
The due date is TBD. Do try to have it done earlier so that you can account for unforeseeable situations; there will be no extensions.
You will need to type your assignment using LaTeX. Please submit a single .zip file with a .pdf file typed in LaTeX along with .tex file and any other files necessary to compile it. I recommend using https://www.overleaf.com. Note that I will also check the source file.

Additional instructions
A. A recap of the main substantive points:

• The expectation is that you are able to present the motivation behind the topic, summarize the main results and recent developments, and possibly discuss how to advance the literature.
• The assignment is mostly open-ended: its purpose is to get you started in thinking about how to use what you learn for your own research.
• You are not expected to master all the related literature, but rather to find, present, and discuss some relevant literature.
• The written assignment is individual, so everyone needs to choose a different topic.
• You should find a topic related to class material that inspires you. The topic is either one from the list with pre-approved topics or some other topic that was discussed with me and approved.
• While you can mention empirical applications, the assignment should focus on theory papers. The exception is naturally papers that test theory, in which case you need to discuss both the theory and the experiments/evidence.

B. Up to 5 pages means up to 5 pages (plus references). In other words:

• 5 pages is a strict upper bound. More is not always better. The 5 pages upper bound includes everything but references.
• Please have (i) between-line spacing of at least 1.35; (ii) a font size of 12; (iii) margins of 2cm; (iv) some font that is easy/pleasant to read (NOT Times New Roman); and (v) ideally some between paragraph spacing.