ECON 301
UBC
Spring, 2026
Li, Hao
Course Outline
Professor: Li, Hao, 604-822-6685, Iona Building 201C, hao.li@ubc.ca, https://lihao.microeconomics.ca/
Course Canvas page: https://canvas.ubc.ca/courses/177666/pages/econ-v-301-003-2025w2-intermediate-microeconomic-analysis-i.
Classes: Tuesdays and Thursdays 5-6:30pm, at BUCH A203.
Announcements: Check the Announcement section on the Canvas page regularly for updates on all things about the course.
Teaching Assistant: Florent Samson (florents@student.ubc). Every week Florent will conduct two identical one-hour tutorial sessions that you should already signed up for. Florent will also hold weekly office hours — time and place will be announced as soon as they become available.
Textbook: Microeconomics (9th edition), by Robert Pindyck and David Rubinfeld. This book is excellent for providing a comprehensive background reading for the material I cover in my lecture notes. However, the math level in the textbook is a little bit lower than the lecture notes. For textbooks with the same math level, see Intermediate Microeconomics: A Tool-Building Approach by Samiran Banerjee, Microeconomics: Theory and Applications with Calculus by Jeffery M. Perloff, Microeconomics: An Intuitive Approach with Calculus by Thomas J. Nechyba, Microeconomic Theory: Basic Principles and Extensions by Walter Nicholson and Christopher Snyder, and Intermediate Microeconomics by Hal R. Varian.
Office hours: TBA in my office.
Evaluation: Your grade in the course will be based on your marks in 10 homework assignments, 1 midterm test and 1 final exam. The total weight of the assignments in the course grade is 10%, so each assignment is worth 1 point out of 100. I will post assignments on the Canvas page; some assignments are from the textbook. You will have one and a half week to complete an assignment and submit it online on Canvas. As I will provide answers to the assignments, Florent will not correct the assignments, and will grade them according to how much effort was put in: 0 for no effort or very little effort, 0.5 for some but insufficient effort, and 1 for sufficient effort. The weight on your midterm is 40% and the weight on your final is 50%. If your score on the final is better than your score on the midterm, the final score will count for 90%. The midterm will be held in class on February 24. If for medical reasons or other emergencies you are unable to take the midterm, you need to provide proper documentation before hand. In that case, all 40% of the weight on the midterm will be automatically transferred to the final; there will not be a make-up test. If you fail to provide proper document for missing the midterm, you will get 0 for the midterm, and your final will only count for 50%. Both the midterm and the final will be open-book: all handwritten, photo-copied and printed material will be allowed, but you may not use any digital device. Seats at the midterm and at the final will be assigned randomly.
Topics: The following topics will be covered in order:
1. Supply and Demand
2. Consumer Choice
3. Consumer Demand and Welfare
4. Uncertainty
5. Producer Behavior
6. Profit Maximization
7. Partial Equilibrium
8. General Equilibrium: Exchange
9. General Equilibrium: Production
10. Market Failure