For your primary text, you may choose between Kreps, MasCollel-Whinston-Green (M-W-G), and Varian. I would recommend purchasing two of the three, which should serve you through the core micro sequence and after. Kreps is the most intuitive, M-W-G the most comprehensive and mathematically detailed, and Varian is the most concise. Students vary as to which approach works for them; you may find you like different books for different topics. Nicholson is an intermediate undergraduate text, which I use for 14.03; if your economics background is weak, you may find Nicholson easier going for getting the main ideas without as much mathematical detail. However, the level of detail in Nicholson will not be sufficient for this course. Lecture notes will serve as a guide as to which topics are required and which are not; not all topics will be covered in the texts.
Kreps, D., A Course in Microeconomic Theory, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990).
MasCollel, A., M. Whinston, and J. Green, Microeconomic Theory (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995).
Varian, H., Microeconomic Analysis (3rd edition) (New York: Norton, 1992).
Nicholson, W. Microeconomic Theory: Basic Principles and Extensions, Sixth ed. (New York: Dryden Press, 1995).
All reading outside of the texts is optional except as indicated in class. Readings will be placed on reserve in the library, and are also available from my secretary (Michael Kreutz, E52-251 cubicle).
Varian, Chapters 26 and 27. Concise and comprehensive reference.
M-W-G, Mathematical Appendix. Provides more detail than other sources (and more than is required for this six week course).
Kreps Appendix 1. Intuitive explanation of optimization with multiple constraints.
Nicholson Chapters 1 and 2. Good elementary introduction; includes most important topics.
Varian, Chapters 7-10.
M-W-G Chapters 1-4.
Kreps Chapters 2.
Nicholson Chapters 3-7.
Deaton, A. and J. Muellbauer, Economics and Consumer Behavior, Cambridge University Press, 1980.
Houthakker, H., "The Present State of Consumer Theory," Econometrica, October 1961.
Houthakker, H., "Additive Preferences," Econometrica, April 1960.
Samuelson, P., Foundations of Economic Analysis, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1947, Chapter 5.
Liebenstein, H., "Bandwagon, Snob, and Veblen Effects in the Theory of Consumers' Demand," Quarterly Journal of Economics 64 (May 1970): 183-207.
Simon, H., "Theories of Economic Decision-Making in Economics and Behavioral Science," American Economic Review, XLIV, 3, June 1959.
Simon, H., "Rationality as Process and Product of Thought," American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings, (May 1978), p. 1-14.
Stigler, George, "Development of Utility Theory," Journal of Political Economy 59, pts 1-2 (August-October 1950), pp. 307-327, 373-396.
Tversky, A. and D. Kahneman, "The Forming of Decisions and the Psychology of Choice," Science 21 (30), January 1981, pp. 453-58.
Bloackorby C. et al, "Homothetic Separability and Consumer Budgeting," Econometrica 38 (3), May 1970, pp. 468-72.
Dwyer, G.P. and C.M. Lindsey, "Robert Giffen and the Irish Potato," American Economic Review (March 1984): 188-192.
Koo, A.Y.C. and Georg Haverkamp, "Structure of Revealed Preference: Some Preliminary Evidence," Journal of Political Economy, July/August 1972, 724-744.
Congressional Budget Office, Federal Tax of Tobacco, Alcoholic Beverages, and Motor Fuels, August 1990.
Diamond, Peter and Dan McFadden, "Some Uses of the Expenditure Function in Public Finance," Journal of Public Economics, 3 (1974): 3-21.
Hausman, Jerry, "Labor Supply," in Henry Aaron and Joseph A. Pechman, How Taxes Affect Economic Behavior (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1981), p. 54-.
Smeeding, Timothy, "The Anti-Poverty Effectiveness of In-Kind Transfers," Journal of Human Resources 12, no. 3 (Summer 1977): 365-378.
Berndt, Ernst R., Griliches, Zvi, and Rosett, Joshua G., "Auditing the Producer Price Index: Micro Evidence from Prescription Pharamceutical Preparations," Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, July 1993, 11 (3), 251-64.
Blackorby, C. and P.R. Russell, "Indices and Subindices of the Cost of Living," International Economic Review 19 (1), February 1978.
Boskin, Michael, et al, "Toward a More Accurate Measure of the Cost of Living," Interim Report to the Senate Finance Committee from the Advisory Commission to Studythe Consumer Price Index, September 15, 1995.
Braithwait, S.D., "The Substitution Bias of the Laspeyres Price Index: An Analysis Using Estimated Cost of Living Indices," American Economic Review (March 1980): 70-.
Fisher, F. and K. Shell, Economic Theory of Price Indices, New York: Academic Press, 1972, Essay I.
Lau, L.J., "On Exact Index Numbers," Review of Economicsand Statistics 61 (1) February 1979, pp. 73-82.
Medoff, Marshall H., "An Economic Analysis of the Demand for Abortions," Economic Inquiry, April 1988, 26 (2), 353-59.
Newhouse, J.P., and C.E. Phelps, "Price and Income Elasticities for Medical Care Services," in The Economics of Health and Medical Care, ed. M. Perlman (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1974), pp. 139-161.
Nicholson Chapters 11-14.
Varian Chapters 1-6.
M-W-G Chapter 6.
Kreps Chapters 7, 19-20.
Machlup, F., "On the Meaning of Marginal Product." Reprinted in American Economic Association, Reading in the Theory of Income Distribution. Philadelphia: Blakiston Co., 1951. Pp. 158-174.
Zimmerman, Martin B., "Learning Effects and the Commericialization of New Energy Technologies: The Case of Nuclear Power," Bell Journal of Economics 13 (2), 1982, 297-310.
McFadden, D., "Cost, Revenue, and Profit Functions," in M. Fuss and D. McFadden (eds.) Production Economics: A Dual Approach to Theory and Applications.
McFadden, D., and P. Diamond, "Some Uses of the Expenditure Function in Public Finance," Journal of Public Economics 3 (1974) 3-21.
Athey, Susan, Paul Milgrom, and John Roberts, Monotone Methods for Comparative Statics Analyses, Unpublished research monograph.
Milgrom, Paul, and John Roberts, "The Economics of Modern Manufacturing: Strategy, Structure, and Organizational Change," American Economic Review 1990.
Milgrom, Paul, and John Roberts, Economics, Organizations, and Management. Prentice Hall: 1992, Chapter 1.
Stigler, G., "The Division of Labor is Limited by the Extent of the Market." Journal of Political Economy 59 (June 1951): 185-193.
Varian Chapters 13-14.
M-W-G Chapters 10, 12.
Kreps Chapters 8-9.
Nicholson Chapters 15-21.
Bishop, R., "The Effects of Specific and ad Valorem Taxes," Quarterly Journal of Economics, May 1968.
Borenstein, Severin, "The Evolution of U.S. Airline Competition," Journal of Economic Perspectives (Spring 1992): 45-74.
Fisher, Frank, "Diagnosing Monopoly," Chp. 1 of Industrial Organization and the Law, Hemel Hempstead: Harverster Wheatsheaf and Cambridge: MIT Press, 1990.
Varian Chapter 11.
M-W-G Chapter 6.
Kreps Chapter 3.
Nicholson Chapter 9.
Kreps, D., 1988, Notes on the Theory of Choice, Underground classics in economics, Boulder, CO: Westview.
Machina, M. "'Expected Utility' Analysis Without the Independence Axiom," Econometrica March 1982.
Pollak, R., "Additive von Neumann-Morgenstern Utility Functions," Econometrica, July-October 1967.
McCloskey, Don, "The Open Fields of England: Rent, Risk, and the Rate of Interest, 1300-1815," in D. Galenson, ed., Markets in History: Economic Studies of the Past (Cambridge University Press, 1989).
Arrow, Ken, "Uncertainty and the Welfare Economics of Health Care," American Economic Review 53 (1963): 941- 973.
Lave, Lester, "The Value of Better Weather Information to the Raisin Industry," Econometrica 31 (January/April 1963): 151-164.
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