2021 Faculty Courses Liberal arts and basic science courses Humanities and social science courses
Economics C
- Academic unit or major
- Humanities and social science courses
- Instructor(s)
- Huilin Wang
- Class Format
- Lecture
- Media-enhanced courses
- -
- Day of week/Period
(Classrooms) - 5-6 Mon (W242) / 5-6 Thu (W242)
- Class
- -
- Course Code
- LAH.S310
- Number of credits
- 200
- Course offered
- 2021
- Offered quarter
- 3Q
- Syllabus updated
- Jul 10, 2025
- Language
- Japanese
Syllabus
Course overview and goals
Description
This course introduces microeconomic theories and major issues in welfare economics. More specifically, topics of exchange economy, the fundamental theorems of welfare economics, problems associated with pareto principle, methods and issues of evaluating social welfare and individual well-being are included.
Aims
This course is intended to provide awareness of market mechanism and its limits by using microeconomic analysis. It is also supposed to be helpful in exercising logical thinking ability as well as having different perspectives when thinking about social problems.
Course description and aims
At the end of this course, students will be able to:
1) Explain exchange economy by using the Edgeworth box.
2) Explain the fundamental theorems of welfare economics.
3) Understand the analyses and problems of hypothetical compensation principle.
4) Understand what is social welfare function.
5) Understand the conflict between pareto principle and individual freedom.
6) Understand the issues involved in measuring individual well-being and what is capability approach.
Keywords
Microeconomics, Welfare economics, Amartya Sen, Capability approach
Competencies
- Specialist skills
- Intercultural skills
- Communication skills
- Critical thinking skills
- Practical and/or problem-solving skills
Class flow
Lectures are delivered by using lecture slides. Questions and opinions are accepted by email at any time and will be shared in classes.
Course schedule/Objectives
| Course schedule | Objectives | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 1 | Introduction | An outline of this course is given. |
| Class 2 | Preference and utility | Understand the concept of preference and utility. |
| Class 3 | Exchange economy (1) | Explain exchange economy by using the Edgeworth box. |
| Class 4 | Exchange economy (2) | Understand individual rationality and Pareto efficiency. |
| Class 5 | The fundamental theorems of welfare economics | Understand the fundamental theorems of welfare economics. |
| Class 6 | Hypothetical compensation principle (1) | Understand the concept of utility possibility frontier. |
| Class 7 | Hypothetical compensation principle (2) | Understand the analyses and problems of hypothetical compensation principle. |
| Class 8 | Efficiency and equity | Understand the efficiency and equity criteria for resource allocation. |
| Class 9 | Social welfare function | Understand what is social welfare function. |
| Class 10 | Liberal paradox | Understand the conflict between pareto principle and individual freedom. |
| Class 11 | Evaluation of individual well-being (1) | Understand the problems involved in traditional measures. |
| Class 12 | Evaluation of individual well-being (2) | Understand the concept framework and economic formulation of the capability approach. |
| Class 13 | Evaluation of individual well-being (3) | Understand the capability approach through empirical applications. |
| Class 14 | Evaluation of individual well-being (4), Final examination | Understand the capability approach through empirical application |
Study advice (preparation and review)
To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to course material.
Textbook(s)
No textbook required.
Reference books, course materials, etc.
Okuno and Suzumura (1985) MicroeconomicsⅠ, Iwanami Syoten (in Japanese)
Okuno and Suzumura (1988) MicroeconomicsⅡ, Iwanami Syoten (in Japanese)
Suzumura and Gotoh (2001) Amartya Sen-Economics and Ethics, Jikkyo Shuppan (in Japanese)
Evaluation methods and criteria
Reaction papers 20%, problem sets 30%, final examination 50%
Related courses
- EconomicsA
- EconomicsB
Prerequisites
Although students are supposed to have basic knowledge of Microeconomics, I will try to make the lectures as self-contained as possible.