• Course Introduction

    • Time: 63 hours
    • Free Certificate
    This course will provide you with a basic understanding of the principles of microeconomics. At its core, the study of economics deals with the choices and decisions we make to manage the scarce resources available to us. Microeconomics is the branch of economics that pertains to decisions made at the individual level, such as the choices individual consumers and companies make after evaluating resources, costs, and tradeoffs.

    When we talk about the economy, we refer to the marketplace or economic system where our choices interact with one another. In this course, we discuss how and why we make economic decisions and how our choices affect the economy. Think about each of the following units as a building block, where the concepts you learn will enable you to understand the material you discover in the next unit. By the end of this course, you will have a strong grasp on the major issues microeconomists face, including consumer and producer behavior, the nature of supply and demand, the different kinds of markets and how they function, and the welfare outcomes of consumers and producers. We also explore how these formal principles and concepts apply to real-world issues. The scope and emphasis of this course go beyond a general understanding of microeconomics to incorporate the core concepts of the overall field of economics.