PUAF640

A large number of interactions among people, institutions and the environment are mitigated through the market place. Transactions PUAF640 on labor markets determine, for example, who works for whom and at what wage or salary level. Interactions among firms involve decisions about purchases and sales of raw materials and intermediate products. Use of materials and energy, and emissions of waste products are increasingly governed by market-based policy instruments such as energy taxes and emissions permits. Investment decisions by households, firms and government are influenced by financial markets. Interactions among households and firms involve labor and product markets.

Many of these interactions are interdependent. The discipline of microeconomics PUAF640 provides concepts and tools to understand and model economic decisions making by households, firms and institutions, and their interdependencies. This PUAF640 course uses those concepts and tools to understand and inform policy choices.