Firm Level Economics Consumer and Producer Behavior

All goods and services are subject to scarcity at some level, which requires that society develop some allocation mechanism to determine who gets what. Over recorded history, these allocation rules were usually command based, meaning that the king or the emperor would decide. In contemporary times, most countries have turned to market-based allocation systems. In markets, prices act as rationing devices, encouraging or discouraging production and encouraging or discouraging consumption to find an equilibrium allocation of resources. To understand this process, businesses construct demand curves to capture consumer behavior and consider supply curves to capture producer behavior. The resulting equilibrium price “rations” the scarce commodity.You will be able to: • Describe consumer behavior as captured by the demand curve and producer behavior as captured by the supply curve • Define equilibrium and explain the impact of taxes and price controls on market equilibrium • Explain elasticity of demand • Describe cost theory and how firms optimize given the constraints of their own costs and an exogenously given price This course is part of Gies College of Business’ suite of online programs, including the iMBA and iMSM. Learn more about admission into these programs and explore how your Coursera work can be leveraged if accepted into a degree program at https://degrees.giesbusiness.illinois.edu/idegrees/ .

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Syllabus

Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
Week 1
Course Orientation
Module 1: Scarcity, Allocation, and Markets
You will become familiar with the course, your classmates, and our learning environment. The orientation will also help you obtain the technical skills required for the course.
Week 2
Module 2: Government Intervention in Markets
The fundamental problem of scarcity challenges us to think about an allocation mechanism to determine what is produced and who consumes it. We will discuss scarcity and allocation mechanisms. In this course, we will focus on markets and prices as the solution to this resource allocation problem.
Week 3
Module 3: Firms, Production, and Costs
Markets are frequent targets of governments. This module will introduce government policy intervention into the market. This intervention can be direct control of prices or it could be indirect price pressure through the imposition of taxes or subsidies. Both forms of intervention are impacted by elasticity.
Week 4
Module 4: Firm Behavior
This module will introduce cost theory. Firms are interested in producing profits, which are the residuals when costs are subtracted from revenue. Earlier modules constructed demand curves. They give us an idea of how many units of product we can sell at different prices; this would be firm revenue. We will work to understand inputs, production, and costs.

FAQ

When will I have access to the lectures and assignments?

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When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free.

Is financial aid available?

Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.

Reviews

Professor DeBrock is one of the best teachers I have ever encountered. He makes a daunting subject understandable. I can't wait for more of the same in the next microeconomics course.

Though being a student in technical field, i was easy for me to become familiar with the subject, as all basics were point to point explained. Larry sir was amazing xD. "I have got the pen"

In the beginning I thought this was going to be a very basic course, but the way the professor explained the topics really make it interesting a practical, going beyond the classical economic theory.

Professor Larry DeBrock has a very hands on approach to the concepts of economics. He integrates theoretical content with relevant practical examples , helping to understand the framework easily.