A Short Course in Intermediate Microeconomics with Calculus

This book provides a concise treatment of the core concepts of microeconomic theory at the intermediate level with calculus integrated into the text. The authors, Roberto Serrano and Allan M. Feldman, start with consumer theory and then discuss preferences and utility, budget constraints, the consumer's optimal choice, demand and the consumer's choices about labor and savings. They next turn to welfare economics: when is one policy better for society than another? Following are chapters presenting the theory of the firm and profit maximization in several alternative and partial equilibrium models of competitive markets, monopoly markets and duopoly markets. The authors then provide general equilibrium models of exchange and production and analyze market failures created by externalities, public goods and asymmetric information. Finally, they offer introductory treatments of decision theory under uncertainty and game theory. Graphic analysis is presented where necessary but distractions are avoided.

Table of Contents:
Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. Preferences and utility; 3. The budget constraint and the consumer's optimal choice; 4. Demand functions; 5. Supply functions for labor and savings; 6. Welfare economics i: the one-person case; 7. Welfare economics ii: the many-person case; 8. Theory of the firm i: the single-input model; 9. Theory of the firm ii: the long run, multiple-input, single-output model; 10. Theory of the firm iii: the short run, multiple-input, single-output model; 11. Perfectly competitive markets; 12. Monopoly and monopolistic competition; 13. Duopoly; 14. Game theory; 15. An exchange economy; 16. A production economy; 17. Externalities; 18. Public goods; 19. Uncertainty and expected utility; 20. Uncertainty and asymmetric information.

About the Author :
Roberto Serrano is Harrison S. Kravis University Professor at Brown University, Rhode Island, and Research Associate at the Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies, Spain. He has contributed to different areas in microeconomic theory and game theory and his research has been published in leading journals including Econometrica, the Journal of Political Economy, the Review of Economic Studies, the Journal of Economic Theory, Games and Economic Behavior and the SIAM Review. He has received prestigious fellowships and prizes, including the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship in 1988 and the Fundación Banco Herrero Prize in 2004, awarded to the best Spanish economist under forty. He is managing editor of Economics Letters and the associate editor of the International Journal of Game Theory and Mathematical Social Sciences. At Brown, he was director of graduate studies from 2006 to 2012 and has served as economics department chair since 2010. Allan M. Feldman is Professor Emeritus of Economics at Brown University. His research has appeared in the Review of Economic Studies, Econometrica, the American Economic Review, Public Choice, the Journal of Economic Theory, the American Law and Economics Review and other journals. He is co-author (with Roberto Serrano) of Welfare Economics and Social Choice Theory, 2nd edition (2006). Professor Feldman taught economics at Brown University for thirty-eight years, including the intermediate microeconomics course. He was director of undergraduate studies in the Economics Department at Brown for nearly fifteen years.

Review :
'This is an excellent text on intermediate microeconomics, one of the very best I have seen for some time. I am particularly impressed by the clarity of the presentation of the material. This is not surprising, given that this text is written by two top scholars. I anticipate it will be a huge success.' Abhinay Muthoo, University of Warwick 'Roberto Serrano and Allan Feldman have done it again. Having already written a leading text on welfare economics and social choice, they have now produced a beautifully clear and concise book on intermediate microeconomics. Textbooks, however necessary, are not always a pleasure to read. This one is.' Eric S. Maskin, Nobel Laureate in Economics, Harvard University 'Students who are comfortable with simple calculus will have access in this textbook to sophisticated microeconomic concepts and results usually confined to graduate teaching. With consummate pedagogical talent, carefully designed exercises, and no compromise on intellectual rigor, Serrano and Feldman bring to life the Slutsky equation, Walrasian equilibrium, strategic competition, asymmetric information, the axiomatization of expected utility, and much more. Professional economists will love the opportunity to teach closer to their actual craft.' Hervé Moulin, Rice University 'The book is very well written. It is elegant and precise and it touches on all that should be touched. There is quite a large consensus about what an intermediate microeconomics course should include and this manuscript, happily, follows this consensus.' David Pérez-Castrillo, Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona