SUS 6020 - Managerial Economics

(4 units)

This course is a one-semester introduction to the fundamentals of managerial economics, focusing on microeconomics. It has three primary objectives: provide an understanding of the standard or neoclassical microeconomic model and how this model relates to, and is useful for, business decision-making; provide a critique of this model and present a more heterodox view of economics; and provide a variety of quantitative skills that are useful for economic analysis as well as other aspects of managerial decision-making. The course will cover basic economic relationships, focusing on analysis at the margin, supply and demand theory, production theory, capital theory, profit maximization and cost minimization, firm structure, and types of markets. The critical aspect of the class will both consider how the neoclassical model is unrealistic, and therefore of limited value, and how this model is problematic in terms of sustainability. Quantitative skills developed include linear algebra, statistics, graphing, linear programming, and game theory.