<p>I have never taken an economics class. My D is taking Microeconomic Theory in the fall as part of her planned econ minor, and I am curious. </p>
<p>Is this more of a math class? or is it really more of an econ class? I tried googling up class notes from classes like this and they didn’t help me, probably because I can’t really speak that language, but if anything, the notes looked like notes from a stat theory class. Wikipedia was no help either. (Can’t ask my D because she hasn’t taken it yet. Multivariate calc is a prerequisite so it sounds pretty mathy.) </p>
<p>Can anyone can explain to me in idiot’s terms what college students are learning about when they take Microeconomic Theory or Macroeconomic Theory? I would love to know this, but bear in mind I barely understood what she was studying when she took microeconomics or macroeconomics in high school, even when she explained it to me. I know you could call it the (mathematical and other) theory behind microeconomics, macroeconomics - but what would be an example? Thanks so much. Sorry for creating such a dry thread in the fun zone.</p>
<p>At the undergraduate level, it is more “economics” than math, but depending on the department you can have a very math intensive program. </p>
<p>Microeconomic theory is mainly about economics on the firm and household level (compared to macro which study the whole economy; unemployment, interest rate, inflation etc). Students usually study the behavior of firms and households (consumption, production and pricing). Partial equilibria are derived from the rational behavior of market participants in a variety of market settings, i.e., perfect competition, monopoly, and oligopoly.</p>
<p>Some undergraduate micro classes also tackle a bit of game theory, generally the theoretical framework. The interraction of between firms and between households is also a form of game theory.</p>
<p>Macro aggregates all the firm and household level data and “track” how the overall economy is behaving. General equilibrium models are usually derived for macro.</p>
<p>Underlining tega’s point about “depending on the department”: at some colleges, e.g. U of Chicago, econ is heavily math intensive and an econ major involves mostly doing problem sets. If she wants to pursue econ. in college be sure to investigate the college’s math/econ focus.</p>
<p>S is taking macro now and requested his TI-89 so he could use it for the equations. He tells me he works on “problem sets.” I still don’t understand exactly what he is doing with all the math part, but I do know they covered unemployment during the semester.</p>
<p>Micro is relatively theoretical, talking about explaining behavior in scientific terms. It’s interesting but difficult to apply to real-world actions. Macro on the other hand involves all the aggregate economic actions discussed all the time in the financial media - monetary policy, unemployment, money supply, - I think this is far more useful in general life.</p>
<p>Thanks so much everyone. It’s just her minor but I was surprised that multivariate calculus was a pre-requisite and that the example lecture notes I found by googling looked so mathy. But now I have caught on to the fact that these classes include actual mathematical modeling.</p>
<p>Tega gave a good answer, but no more so than we would expect from someone with a history of 4,294,967,295 posts. ;)</p>
<p>I took an equivalent class (intermediate mathematical microeconomics) last semester. The way it’s taught here is almost entirely mathematical; that might vary depending on school. It also has a reputation here for being one of the more difficult classes, but I suppose YMMV.</p>
<p>It is a economics class that uses math. Just like a physics class uses math. It is a physics class, not a math class.</p>
<p>The intro econ classes can get by with pre-calc (just like you can take Physics without calculus). However, if you know calculus, you will be able to recognize the calculus in the equations.</p>
<p>Micro economics: If you raise the price of aluminum foil, demand for aluminum foil will fall.</p>
<p>Macro economics: If you raise the price of aluminum foil, the Fed will raise interest rates in order to tame inflation.</p>
<p>OperaDad: If the OP is talking about the level/type of microecon theory course type I think she is, I’m pretty sure it’s significantly more mathematical than you’re thinking. Although the economic theory obviously underpins the entirety of the mathematics, the way this course is taught where I am (well, I should be clear that there is also a non-mathematical version) could pretty much pass for a math course - it’s actually one of the only econ courses here listed in the quantitative distribution requirement - and that seems to be commonly the case. Basically it’s multivariable calculus and more multivariable calculus, over and over, with some other pertinent mathematical topics thrown in for flavor and utility.</p>