Economics Made Simple in One Hour

This introductory course primarily covers the core and fundamental aspects of microeconomics and macroeconomics. The goal of this course is to make students understand the key economic concepts, theories, and principles and how they relate to the world they live in. The emphasis is laid on building students critical thinking and analytical abilities in microeconomics and macroeconomics. The central focus of this course is how and why markets (one important mechanism for allocating scarce resources) operate, and why markets and pricing principles are fundamental in tradeoff and choice questions. Besides, how the key economic decisions are made by households and firms are discussed and exemplified. Production, costs, and market structures are analyzed at firm level. Key macro-economic issues such as output, income, and employment are discussed and their impact on inflation and other macroeconomic indicators are examined.

Introduction to economics - Basic concepts of Economics - Understanding the philosophy o of economics - Nature of economics: Is economics a science or an art? - Definitional pluralities and distinctions such as micro-versus macro, theories versus models - A brief history of ideas in economics - Techniques of economic analysis: theories, models and tools

Demand, supply, and market equilibrium - Demand and supply applications - Consumer surplus and producer’s surplus - Market efficiency and their applications - Elasticity: its various forms and estimation methods, elasticity, and total revenue - Elasticity applications in the field of energy and environment - Utility, Preferences and Choice - Budget constraints, determination of optimal choices using indifference curve analysis and its applications - Behavioral economics as an alternative framework of consumer choice

Production and Cost - Production Theory - Production function and different forms - Short-run and long-run production function, Isoquants, MRTS - Total, average, and marginal products Economies of scale and scope - Theory of cost - Short-run and long run costs, cost minimization - Total, average and marginal costs - Applications of production and costs theory

Market structure and regulation - Market equilibrium and price determination under different market structure - Perfect and Imperfect market structure, welfare costs of monopoly - Market structure, efficiency, and regulation - Regulation of public monopolies - Application in case of infrastructure industries such as energy and water

National Income Accounting - Measuring national income, output, and employment – different approaches - Determination of aggregate output, price level and interest rate – classical, Keynesian, and modern theories and approaches - GDP estimation

Macro-economic policies - Policy effects: monetary and fiscal policy - Indian monetary and fiscal policies: evidence from its evolving dynamics - Open economy macro-economic: balance of payment, exchange rate, international trade