Microeconomics I

the nature and methods of economics; supply and demand; market equilibrium; supply and demand elasticity; total and marginal utilities; consumer equilibrium; indifference curve and budget line; substitution and income effect; consumer's supply; determinates of consumer choice; production function; isoquant; production costs; firm's production costs; short run and long run; market structure: perfect competition, monopoly, monopolistic competition and oligopoly; optimization in different market models; resource market; perfect competition and monopsony model.

NB! This course will take place in autumn semester 2025/2026 which starts on 1st of September and ends on 25th of January (you can find that information under Start date section). TalTech's timetables for Autumn semester 2025 will be published at the end of June via tunniplaan.taltech.ee. Switch the page to English and use "Search" and "Open detailed search" to find your course. NB! Some courses are taught by several lecturers during the same semester. Make sure that the course name and lecturer/teacher infromation of your course match with the information given in the Course Catalogue.

On the successful completion of the course students are able to:

• understand fundamental economic concepts and theories;
• perform visual analyses of economic models and solve basic microeconomic problems (market equilibrium with externalities, consumer and producer optimization problems, consumer and producer surplus, deadweight loss, etc.);
• analyse the effects of government interventions, market regulations or external shocks on economic outcomes;
• relate the basic economic theories to real-world microeconomic problems;
• demonstrate proficiency, in both written and verbal communication, using up-to-date economic terminology.

Final assessment can consist of one test/assignment or several smaller assignments completed during the whole course. After declaring a course the student can re-sit the exam/assessment once. Assessment can be graded or non-graded. For specific information about the assessment process please get in touch with the contact person of this course. For specific information about grade transfer please contact your home university

Basic mathematics.

• Pindyck-Rubinfeld – Microeconomics (9th edition or a newer edition)
• Mankiw, Principles of Economics (7th edition or a newer edition)

lectures, exercises