Course information
Learning outcomes
In this course, students will develop the microeconomic approach to understanding economic phenomena, and learn to apply the most widely used tools of microeconomics to solving economic decision problems. Students will first focus on studying different sides of market interactions in isolation, and then study market interactions in single good markets.
Students will be introduced to the canonical economic models of consumers and firms, basic models of pricing, oligopolistic and competitive markets and welfare analysis. Students will develop tools to formally analyze economic problems.
Content
Microeconomics studies the economy at the level of individual markets/industries and from the point of view of consumers, firms, and governments.
In this course, we study the basics of consumer theory, the theory of the firm firms, monopolies, pricing with market power, partial equilibrium and welfare. To study these, students will learn the basics of preference and profit maximation as well as the demand-supply and game theoretic frameworks that lie at the heart of modern microeconomics.
Teacher
Daniel Hauser
Study material
Material released at the course web page.
Textbook by Hal Varian: "Intermediate Microeconomics with Calculus: A Modern Approach"
Workload
Lectures 24 hours, q&a sessions 10 hours, exam 3 hours, and self-study including homework 123 hours.
Prerequisites
Recommended:
Principles of economics (31A00110, ECON-A2100, ECON-C9000, or equivalent).
Evaluation
Lectures, assignments, exam. Details will be announced in course syllabus, MyCourses and lectures.
Teaching time and location
The teaching time and the location of the course can be found in the Sisu information system.
- The link leads to Completion methods tab of the course page
- From the top of the page (Version drop-down menu), check that academic year 2026-2027 is selected
- From the blue bar, choose the right teaching and open the Groups and study events tab to see the teaching time and location of the course. To see exam times, click Exam.
Exam instructions at the Open University
The teacher has four (4) weeks to grade the exam submissions starting from the exam date.
Further information
Equivalences to other courses:
ECON-C2100 Intermediate Microeconomics I (6 cr)
31C00100 Intermediate Microeconomics (6 cr)
Online learning environment for the course
The MyCourses online learning environment is a tool for both students and teachers for communication and managing everyday course work. You need an Aalto User ID to log in to the course's MyCourses workspace and participate in teaching.
Digital workspace of the course:
MyCourses
More details on completing the course will be available at MyCourses closer to the start of the course.
Registration and course fee
Registration for Open University courses is done via the link below:
Course registration
Registration for this course starts on 10.8.2026 at 9.00
Registration for this course ends on 5.9.2026 at 23.59
It is not possible to register before the registration period has started or after it has ended.
The number of participants is limited to 5.
This course is organized by the Aalto University School of Business.
The course fee is paid upon registration for each course at a time and it is binding. Familiarize yourself with registration and payment rules as well as other guidelines for students:
Registration, payments and rules
