Course Catalogue

View Specification Document | Reading List

The course presents issues at the research frontier of microeconomic theory. Topics will vary from year to year to reflect the evolution of contemporary research, and will address for instance: decision under uncertainty, behavioural economics, game theory and its applications, general equilibrium, the economics of information, mechanism design, etc. The content of this course will be complementary with Topics in Microeconomic Theory 2.

20 hours of lectures (2 hours per week, during 10 weeks)

Completion of the 1st year MRes in Econometrics, or equivalent qualification as decided by the course instructor

None

None

ILOs are assessed through a 2-hour degree exam (100%).

The assessment will be based on specific models and/or articles and will involve in depth critical analysis of their assumptions and conclusions.

The course introduces students to the current issues in microeconomic theory, as a stepping stone toward the development of their own research agenda. Emphasis will be placed on full technical treatment of the material and critical reading of current literature.

By the end of the course students will be able to

1.  Demonstrate detailed knowledge and understanding of one or more state of the art research topic in microeconomics at the forefront of current research

2.  Identify, conceptualise and define open research questions and topics for further research in the covered sub-fields of microeconomics

3.  Demonstrate extensive, detailed, and critical understanding of the technical aspects of the presented models

4.  Undertake critical evaluation of the scientific contribution of a given research sample chosen from a wide range of microeconomic literature

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components of the course's summative assessment.