MRes Microeconomics 2026-27

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: B06 Drayton House

Meeting Dates: 5 October – 15 December 2026

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

Tests: In-person tests will take place during lecture or tutorial time. These are closed-book/closed-notes individual tests. The tentative dates for the tests are:

• 22 October (50min, during tutorial); 10 points.
• 5 November (50min, during tutorial); 15 points.
• 30 November (1h50min, during lecture); 20 points.
• 15 December (1h50min, during lecture); 35 points.

Written Assignment: Please submit your written assignment here.
The due date is 22 December 2025, 16:00 UK time. 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 your chosen topic, summarise the main results and recent developments, and possibly discuss how to advance the literature.
• The assignment is deliberately 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 theme/topic.
• You should find a topic related to class material that inspires you. The topic is either one from the list with pre-approved theme or some other topic that was discussed with me and I approved.
• While you can mention empirical applications, the assignment should focus on theory papers or papers testing 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.