I don’t remember how this particular course outline came into my possession during my graduate student days. I presume my sticky fingers together with an early manifestation of a propensity to hoard papers resulted in these four-pages finding their way into my files of teaching material. Now decades later, this applied microeconomics outline from Daniel McFadden’s first semester on the M.I.T. faculty is digitised. Only wish I had the eight problem sets too…
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14.03
APPLIED MICROECONOMICS
Daniel McFadden
Fall 1978
MWF 11-12
16-134
General Information:
14.03 is organized around a set of applied microeconomic problems. It is not a course in economic theory, but theoretical topics will be treated as they arise in the applications. Students are expected to know basic microeconomics as taught in 14.01 or another course at the level of R. Leftwich’s The Price System and Resource Allocation. Students are also expected to be able to use calculus with ease. The textbook for 14.03 is Microeconomic Theory: Basic Principles and Extensions, 2nd ed., by Walter Nicholson (Dryden Press, 1978). Various other readings will be assigned.
Problem sets will be handed out on Wednesday and will be due the following Wednesday in class. They will be graded and returned on Friday. Generally, Monday and Wednesday will be devoted to lectures, and Friday to discussion and review, including discussion of the answers to the problems. Every student is expected to complete every problem set within the allocated time. There will be three quizzes in class. Problem sets will account for 40% of the course grade, the quizzes for 30%, and the final for 30%.
I will be available in E52-274B on Wednesday afternoons, and by appointment at other times; my phone is 253-3378. Generally, you should take questions about problem sets and grading to the teaching assistant (his name will be announced later) and questions about the lectures to me.
The problems to be covered are:
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- the demand for energy,
- the demand for air conditioners,
- the supply of electricity,
- the market for natural gas,
- the market for automobiles,
- pricing of tugboat services and the anti-trust law,
- costs and risks of nuclear and non-nuclear energy development,
- public investment in transportation.
The schedule of quizzes is:
Quiz 1—October 11, covering problems 1 & 2.
Quiz 2—November 1, covering problems 3 & 4 plus preceding material.
Quiz 3—November 29, covering problems 5, 6, 7 plus preceding material.
READINGS AND SCHEDULE
- The demand for energy.
Lectures: Sept. 13, 15, 18, 20.
Discussion: Sept. 22, 29.
Problem Set 1: out Sept. 20; due Sept. 27.
Read: Nicholson 3, 4, 5 (skim 6).
L. Taylor, “The demand for electricity: A survey,” BELL JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS 6 (Spring 1975), 74-110.
D. McFadden et al., “Determinants of the long-run demand for electricity,” PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN STATISTICAL ASSOCIATION,
A TIME TO CHOOSE, Energy Policy Project of the Ford Foundation (Ballinger, 1974), Chap. 5 and Appendices A, B.
- The demand for air conditioners.
Lectures: Sept. 25, 27.
Discussion: Oct. 6.
Problem Set 2: out Sept. 27; due Oct. 4
Read:
J. Hausman, “Consumer choice of durables and energy demand,” MIT, mimeo., 1978.
A. Goett, “Appliance fuel choice: An application of discrete multivariate analysis,” manuscript, 1978.
- The supply of electricity.
Lectures: Oct. 2, 4, 13, 16.
Discussion: Oct. 20.
Problem Set 3: out Oct. 11; due Oct. 18.
Read: Nicholson 7, 8, 9.
D. Pearl and J. Enos, “Engineering production functions and technological progress,” JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL ECONOICS 24 (1), (Sept. 1975), 55-72.
L. Wipf and D. Bowden, “Reliability of supply equations derived from production functions,” AMERICAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 51 (February 1969), 170-78.
M. Nerlove, “Returns to scale in electricity supply,” in MEASUREMENT IN ECONOMICS, C. Christ (ed.), (Stanford Univ. Press, 1963), pp. 167-98.
T. Cowling, “Technical change and scale economies in an engineering production function: The case of steam electric power,” JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL ECONOMICS 23 (1974-75), 135-52.
- The market for natural gas.
Lectures: Oct. 18, 23, 25.
Discussion: Oct. 27.
Problem Set 4: out Oct. 18; due Oct. 25.
Read: Nicholson, Part IV, Chap. 10, 11, 12, 13 (skim 14, 15, 16).
P. MacAvoy and R. Pindyck, “Alternative regulatory policies for dealing with the natural gas shortage,” BELL JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS 4 (Autumn 1973), 454-98.
R. Hall and R. Pindyck, “The conflicting goals of national energy policy,” PUBLIC INTEREST 47 (Spring 1977), 3-15.
- The market for automobiles.
Lectures: Oct. 30, Nov. 3.
Discussion: Nov. 10.
Problem Set 5: out Nov. 1; due Nov. 8.
Read: Nicholson 17.
G. Akerlof, “The market for ‘lemons’: Qualitative uncertainty and the market mechanism,” QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS 84 (1970), 488-500.
Z. Griliches, PRICE INDICES AND QUALITY CHANGE (Harvard, 1971), Introduction and Chap. 3.
R. P. Smith, CONSUMER DEMAND FOR CARS IN THE USA (Cambridge, 1975), pp. 1-88.
- Pricing of tugboat services and the anti-trust law.
Lectures: Nov. 6, 8.
Discussion: Nov. 17.
Problem Set 6: out Nov. 8; due Nov. 15.
Read: Nicholson 18, 19, 20.
P. Areeda and D. Turner, “Predatory pricing and related practices…,” HARVARD LAW REVIEW 88 (1975), 697-733.
F. Scherer et al., “Predatory pricing and the Sherman Act, “ HARVARD LAW REVIEW 89 (1976), 868-902.
D. McFadden and R. Palmer, “The economic foundation for liability and damages from predatory pricing,” manuscript, 1978.
S. Goldman, “Industrial concentration and economic welfare: Some theoretical observations,” Working Paper IP-251 in Economic Theory and Econometrics, Berkeley, October 1977.
- Benefits and risks of nuclear and non-nuclear energy development.
Lectures: Nov. 15, 20, 22.
Discussion: Nov. 27.
Problem Set 7: out Nov. 15; due Nov. 22.
Read: Nicholson 6, 18, 19, 20.
S. Rosen and Thaylor, reference to be supplied.
A. Tversky, SCIENCE 185 (Sept. 27, 1974), 1124-31.
Joel Yellen, “The nuclear regulatory commission’s reactor safety study,” BELL JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS 7 (1) (Spring 1976), 317-39.
- Public investment in transportation.
Lectures: Dec. 1, 4, 6, 11.
Discussion: Dec. 8.
Problem Set 8: out Nov. 29; due Dec. 6.
Read: Nicholson 21, 22, 23.
D. McFadden, “Revealed preferences of a government bureaucracy: Theory,” BELL JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS 6 (Autumn 1975), 401-16.
D. McFadden, “Criteria for public investment,” JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY 80 (1972), 1295-1305.
T. Keeler et al., THE FULL COSTS OF URBAN TRANSPORT,
M. Webber, “The BART experience—What have we learned,” PUBLIC INTEREST 45 (Fall 1976), 79-108.
Final review: December 13.
Source: Personal copy of Irwin Collier.
Image Source: Gonçalo L. Fonseca’s “Daniel McFadden profile page” at The History of Economic Thought Website.