Advanced Placement: Microeconomics

Summer Reading: none required

Advanced Placement Microeconomics is a course designed to provide students with a thorough understanding of the principles of economics as they apply to individual decision-making units, including individual households and firms. Students taking the course will spend time examining the theory of consumer behavior, the theory of the firm, and the behavior of profit-maximizing firms under various market structures. They will evaluate the efficiency of the outcomes with respect to price, output, consumer surplus, and producer surplus. Students will have an opportunity to examine the behaviors of households and businesses in factor markets, and learn how the determination of factor prices, wages, interest, and rent influence the distribution of income in a market economy. Students will also consider instances in which private markets may fail to allocate resources efficiently and examine various public policy alternatives aimed at improving the efficiency of private markets.

Who should take AP Micro? The course is designed to meet a variety of student needs, from students preparing for college work who want a solid foundation in economic theory, to those soon to enter the labor force who need to understand how they fit into the cycle of economic activity.