Microeconomic Theory and Public Policy

Gain a comprehensive understanding of microeconomic research, from theory to empirical testing, and apply this understanding to public policy, with examples drawn primarily from the United States and other similar high income countries.

Microeconomic Theory and Public Policy

Gain a comprehensive understanding of microeconomic research, from theory to empirical testing, and apply this understanding to public policy, with examples drawn primarily from the United States and other similar high income countries.

In this course, you will use microeconomic theory to analyze public policy with examples from the United States and other high income countries. By building on the model of consumer behavior, you’ll consider the operation of single and multiple markets and why they sometimes fail. You’ll use empirical examples to evaluate theory, focusing on the causal effects of policy interventions on economic outcomes.

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This course is designed around forming research questions, framing them analytically, figuring out ways to test them with data, and then drawing insights. We will work toward this by investigating papers from leading economics journals to understand their research design, conclusions, and limitations.

The course is free to audit. Learners can take a proctored exam and earn a course certificate by paying a fee, which varies by ability to pay. Please see our FAQ articles for more information on the certificate and audit track features as well as more information on the pricing structure. Enroll in this course by selecting the "enroll now" button at the top of the page.

This course can be completed by itself or as part of the MITx MicroMasters program in Data, Economics, and Design of Policy (DEDP), which provides a path toward the master’s in DEDP at MIT.

What you'll learn

The course will investigate the following topics:

  • Minimum wage debate and causal inference in economics
  • Consumer theory: the foundation of microeconomics
  • Theory of choice and individual demand
  • Demand functions, income effects, substitution effects, and labor supply
  • Applied competitive analysis
  • Theory and application of general equilibrium
  • International trade and comparative advantage
  • Externalities and choice under uncertainty
  • Risk preference and the market for risk
  • Signaling in markets
  • Pooling equilibriums

Prerequisites

Basic understanding of calculus and familiarity with microeconomics will be helpful for this course. There are no prerequisites, but you may find it helpful to take 14.100x (Microeconomics) before this course.

Course Readiness Check:

Our course readiness checks help you determine if you should review key concepts before starting the course.

Please use this link to access the course readiness check and answer key.

Meet your instructors

  • Featured image for David Autor
    Ford Professor of Economics

Who can take this course?

Because of U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) restrictions and other U.S. federal regulations, learners residing in one or more of the following countries or regions will not be able to register for this course: Iran, Cuba, Syria, North Korea and the Crimea, Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic regions of Ukraine.