Study Programmes 2015-2016
GCER0110-1  
Economics (Introduction to Macroeconomics and Microeconomics)
Duration :
45h Th
Number of credits :
Executive Master in industrial Management7
Lecturer :
Tran Van Tan
Language(s) of instruction :
English language
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite :
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Course contents :
  • Introduction of economics:
- Economics, Scarcity and choice
- The world of Economics
- Why study Economics?
- The methods of Economics
- How to study Economics?
- The concept of opportunity cost
- Economic systems
- Specialization and exchange

  • Supply and Demand
- Markets
- Demand
- Supply
- Putting supply and demand together
- What happens when things change?
- Government intervention in markets
- Price elasticity of demand
- Other demand elasticities
III. Consumer choice
- The budget constraint
- The consumer’s goal
- Preferences
- Consumer decision making
- What happens when things change?
- Consumers in market
  • Production and cost
- The nature of the firm
- Thinking about production
- Production in the short run
- Thinking about cost
- Cost in the short run
- Production and cost in the long run
  • How firms make decisions: profit maximization
- The goal of profit maximization
- Understanding profit
- The firm’s constraints
- The profit - maximizing output level
- The importance of marginal decision making: a broader view
- Dealing with losses
- The goal of the firm revisited
  • Perfect competition
- What is perfect competition?
- The perfectly competitive firm
- Competitive markets in the short run
- Competitive markets in the long run
- What happens when things change?
VII. Monopoly
- What is a monopoly?
- The source of monopoly
- Monopoly goals and constraints
- Equilibrium in monopoly markets
- What happens when things change?
- Price discrimination
- The decline of monopoly
VIII. Monopolistic competition and oligopoly
- The concept of imperfect competition
- Monopolistic competition
- Oligopoly
  • The labor market
- Factor markets in general
- Labor markets in particular
- Demand for labor by a single firm
- The market demand for labor
- Labor supply
- Labor market equilibrium
- What happens when things change?
  • Income inequality
- Why do wages differ?
- Discrimination and wages
- Measuring income inequality
- Income inequality, fairness, and economics
Learning outcomes of the course :
Through the study of Economics, students will develop:
- Knowledge and understanding about:
- The basic concepts of Economics including micro and macro economics
- The economic behavior of individuals, firms, institutions and governments
- The function and operation of markets
- The operation and management of economics
- Contemporary economic problems and issues facing individuals, firms and governments

- Skills to:
- Investigate and engage in effective analysis, synthesis and evaluation of economic information from a variety of sources
- Communicate economic information, ideas and issues in appropriate forms
Prerequisite knowledge and skills :
Planned learning activities and teaching methods :
Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning) :
Recommended or required readings :
- Economics - Principles and Applications - Robert E. Hall and Lieberman
Assessment methods and criteria :
- Participation: 15%
- Assignment: 15%
- Midterm Exam: 20%
- Final Exam: 50%
Work placement(s) :
Organizational remarks :
...
Contacts :
Tran Van Tan, Faculty of Construction Economics and Management,
National University of Civil Engineering, Room 308, A1 Building,
Email: tvtandhxd@gmail.com