Students in this course develop the skills necessary to: 
1) recognize economic decisions relevant to individuals,
families, and households, 
2) identify alternative ways to understand the decision(s) to be
made, 
3) assess the theories and models used by consumer economists to
predict or explain these decisions,
4) understand how economic theory impacts policy,
5) critique the economic content of articles or presentations, 
6) communicate findings using models, charts, and graphs, 
7) communicate new research findings and complex ideas to lay
audiences, 
8) integrate economic concepts with disciplines like sociology,
history, political science, and psychology.

MODULE 1: REVIEW CONCEPTS
What is consumer economics all about? 
Review of supply and demand analysis 
Review of consumer and producer surplus 
Competitive equilibrium, allocative efficiency, and externalities
The effects of price controls in a competitive market

MODULE 2: THEORY OF CONSUMER CHOICE
Budget constraint
Consumer preferences indifference curves, marginal rate of
substitution
Consumer choice 
Demand elasticity

MODULE 3: INDIVIDUAL AND MARKET DEMAND; CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Changes in income and consumption choices (normal and inferior 
goods)
Price changes and consumption choices
Income and substitution effects of a price change
Income and substitution effects: Inferior goods
From individual to market demand
Consumer surplus 
Price elasticity and the price-consumption curve

MODULE 4: CONSUMER CHOICE THEORY APPLICATIONS
Excise subsidies, health care, consumer welfare using consumer
surplus
Intertemporal budget constraint
Intertemporal indifference curves
Intertemporal model

MODULE 6: ECONOMICS OF INFORMATION AND CHOICE UNDER UNCERTAINTY
Asymmetric information
Adverse selection and moral hazard
Limited price information
Conspicuous consumption as signaling
Expected utility model 

MODULE 7: DEPARTURES FROM STANDARD RATIONAL CHOICE MODELS
Bounded rationality
Judgmental Heuristics and Biases

MODULE 8: LABOR MARKET
The Demand for labor
The Supply of labor
Minimum wage
Income and substitution effects of wage changes

MODULE 9: CURRENT ISSUE RESPONSE