PD:Microeconomia

Teaching plan for the course unit

Català

Castellano

English

General information

Course unit name: Microeconomics

Course unit code: 363650

Academic year: 2025-2026

Coordinator: Miquel Juan Ferrer

Department: Department of Economics

Credits: 6

Single program: S

Estimated learning time

Total number of hours 150

Face-to-face and/or online activities	60
(With the exception of GIE groups, which have 30 hours of face-to-face/distance learning.)

	- Lecture with practical component	Face-to-face		45
	- Problem-solving class	Face-to-face		15

Supervised project

Independent learning

Recommendations

It is advisable to have completed Introduction to Economics before taking this subject.

Competences / Learning outcomes to be gained during study

-	Capacity for learning and responsibility (capacity for analysis and synthesis, to adopt global perspectives and to apply the knowledge acquired/capacity to take decisions and adapt to new situations).

-	To identify the economic agents that make up an economy and to understand how they interrelate so as to take economic decisions with full awareness of their effects.

Learning objectives

Referring to knowledge

— Understand the tools and models behind the decisions taken by economic agents: consumers (demand) and companies (supply).

— Understand how markets operate and how equilibrium is determined in perfect competition markets and monopoly markets.

— Discuss the conditions that justify possible public sector intervention in markets and analyse the consequences.

Referring to abilities, skills

— Determine market equilibrium.

— Quantify consumer surplus and producer surplus and changes in welfare in different situations.

— Calculate the market effects of a tax, subsidy or duty.

— Learn the relationships between the production functions of a company and its total, average and marginal costs.

— Understand how a competitive company maximizes profits.

Referring to attitudes, values and norms

— Acquire regular work habits through continuous assessment.

— Develop greater critical skills through critical analysis of the models studied.

Teaching blocks

1. Market, state and welfare

1.1. Market equilibrium
1.2. Efficiency, equity and welfare
1.3. State intervention
    1.3.1. Controls on prices
    1.3.2. Taxes and subsidies
    1.3.3. Tariffs
1.4. Market failure
    1.4.1. Externalities
            1.4.1.1. Definition and typology
            1.4.1.2. Correcting externalities
    1.4.2. Public goods
            1.4.2.1. Demand for public goods vs. demand for private goods
     1.4.3. Imperfect competition (see block 5)

2. The consumer

2.1. Budgetary restrictions
2.2. Consumer preferences: indifference curves
2.3. Consumer equilibrium
2.4. The price–consumption curve (PCC) and deduction of consumer demand
2.5. The income–consumption curve (ICC) and Engel curves
2.6. The substitution effect and income effect

3. The company: production and costs

3.1. The production function
3.2. Total, average and marginal production
3.3. Short-term production and long-term production
3.4. Cost curves
3.5. The relationship between production functions and cost functions
3.6. Short-term costs and long-term costs
3.7. Business benefits

4. Perfect competition

4.1. Different market structures
4.2. Short term
     4.2.1. Profit maximization of a competitive company
     4.2.2. Demand and price acceptance
     4.2.3. Supply
4.3. Long term
     4.3.1. Industry inputs and outputs
     4.3.2. Operating optimum
     4.3.3. Industry supply

5. Imperfect competition

5.1. Monopoly
     5.1.1. Equilibrium
     5.1.2. Loss of welfare
     5.1.3. Price discrimination
5.2. Monopolistic competition
5.3. Introduction to oligopoly: the prisoner’s dilemma

Teaching methods and general organization

This subject is taught through three main types of activities, following the teaching model adopted by the Faculty of Economics and Business.

Students attend 60 hours of two types of face-to-face sessions per semester:

a) Theory lectures, during which the lecturers present the concepts of each topic and the theoretical tools for analysing them. These last between 1.5-hour and 3 hours per week.

b) Practical sessions, which are used to work through different types of activities: continuous assessment activities, problem-solving and discussion of texts related to the content covered in class. Students are expected to prepare the texts in advance. There is at least 1 hour of these sessions per week. Lectures and practical sessions make up 60 hours of class during the course.

Secondly, students are required to carry out directed learning activities (outside class hours) (40 hours per semester), which should include reading through the recommended bibliography and completing exercises and assignments set in class.

Thirdly, students should also conduct independent study (50 hours per semester), including revision of lecture notes, reviewing and assimilating key concepts, reading complementary texts and materials and preparing for continuous assessment tests and the final examination.

Student work for this subject is divided in roughly equal parts for each type of activity, corresponding to a dedication of 3–4 hours per week for each of the three activities.

The practical component of the subject may include service-learning activities (APS), which require students to complete work with external social entities, institutions or centres. At the teacher’s discretion it may also include team-based learning (TBL), based on the flipped classroom concept, where students present independent work and evaluate themselves, both individually and as a team.

GIE, EUS and English-language groups follow a different methodology, described in detail in the subject’s programme.

Official assessment of learning outcomes

Face-to-face continuous assessment

Students are automatically entered for continuous assessment unless they do not sit the continuous assessment tests (CAT), in which case they are entered for single assessment.

Students who sit and pass the two mid-term exams on the contents of the subject are not tested again on these contents.

Continuous assessment consists of two sections that comprise the following activities each:

A continuous assessment test (CAT1 and CAT2), with 20–30 multiple-choice questions (4 possible answers and incorrect answers deduct 1/4 of the mark awarded to each question), short-answer theoretical and practical questions, and problem-solving activities. The weighting given to each CAT is equivalent to that given to each part of the single assessment examination.
Activities proposed by the lecturer on the topics included in each section of the continuous assessment. Assessment follows the criteria established by the lecturer of the group.

The date and contents (the topics included in each section) are announced via the Virtual Campus in advance.

Final exam for single assessment:

Students with an average final grade of 5 out of 10 or higher obtain a pass grade for the subject and do not need to sit the final exam for single assessment. However, a minimum mark of 4 out of 10 in each section is required. The final grade is the weighted average between both continuous assessment tests (80%) and the activities proposed by the lecturer (20%).
Students who obtain a mark lower than 4 out of 10 in a CAT and a mark higher than 5 out of 10 in the other, or who do not achieve a minimum average mark of at least 5 out of 10, need only repeat assessment of the part (PAC1 or PAC2) they have not passed with a mark lower than 5.

Continuous assessment may include, as determined by the teacher, an individual or group project requiring practical application of the subject matter. This project may take different formats. One of the options are the tasks deriving from the student’s participation in a service-learning proposal.

Continuous assessment may also take into account team-based learning (TBL) or the flipped classroom concept, with evaluations in class through multiple-choice tests completed both individually and in groups.

Examination-based assessment

Face-to-face single assessment

All students have the right to single assessment, consisting of a final exam on the whole contents of the subject.

This exam consists of two sections with specific conditions and weighting:

1st part: multiple-choice test with 20–30 questions (correct answers: +1 point, answers left blank: 0 points, and incorrect answers: -0.25 points). A minimum mark of 3.5 out of 10 in this first section is required to be eligible for weighting. Otherwise, the mark obtained in this first part is the final grade for the subject. This part is worth 40% of the mark for the final exam.
2nd part: short-answer theory and practical questions and problem-solving questions. This part is worth 60% of the mark for the final exam.

Students who have passed one of the sections in continuous assessment need only answer the questions on the other section and obtain a minimum mark of 5 out of 10 to pass the subject. The final grade for the subject is the average of the two marks. If they wish to, students who have passed one of the sections are also entitled to answer all the questions in the final exam.

Face-to-face repeat assessment

This exam follows the same structure, requirements and weighting as the final exam for single assessment. It is the same for all students and all the questions must be answered, regardless of whether students have passed one of the sections in continuous assessment.

GIE, EUS and English-language groups follow a different methodology, described in detail in the subject’s programme.

Reading and study resources

Check availability in Cercabib

Book

HORTALÀ, J. Microeconomia: Teoria econòmica. Barcelona: Vicens Vives, 2011.

Catàleg UB

KRUGMAN, P. R.; WELLS, R. Microeconomía: introducción a la economía. 3a ed. Barcelona: Reverté, 2015.

Catàleg UB

MANKIW, N.G. Principios de economía. 7ª Ed. Madrid: Paraninfo, 2018.

Catàleg UB