Microeconomics

On the 3rd of September 2012, we are introduced to the subject entitled “Microeconomics” when we attend our first ever lecture for this subject. In the first lecture, we are thought that economics are divided into two parts; microeconomics and macroeconomics; and thus with the name of the module suggest, we will be concentrating on the ‘Micro’ side in this module.

Microeconomics emphasized on the choices in which individual and firms have to make in a business world and also how every choices made can have an impact in the marketplace. Since every decision made is vital in the world of economics due to the existence of various constraints and scarcity, we are thought on how to implement the economic way of thinking when making choices by analyzing the benefits and the opportunity cost of each decision made.

Also, to make wise decisions, this module prepares us with various microeconomics principles, which could act as an analytical tool for us in making the best decision. Some of these principles include the study of demand and supply in a market, how a market can achieve its equilibrium and also the study of elasticity of supply and demand. By understanding these theories, we are able to know how the market works and this will assist us in our decision making in real life.

Besides, I believe that the knowledge I gained from this module would be extremely helpful for my future not only in my daily life decision making but also decisions regarding my working life since I am in the business field. This is because the module also teaches us on how to manage business production so that resources can be utilize fully by allocating them efficiently. For example, since we now learned about the theory of diminishing marginal returns, we will try to avoid this event from occurring in our future businesses. Also, the differences between short-run and long-run are also being thought to us in which I feel it is very important as the cost curves are different in both situation and thus the decision making.

Moreover, microeconomics prepares us to face different kinds of market structure in the marketplace such as perfect competition, monopoly, monopolistic competition and oligopoly. If we are to conduct a business in the future, it is vital for us to know about the different characteristics of each market because for instance, it is almost impossible to sell a product in a monopoly market due to its high barrier of entry.

In addition, microeconomics is more than just the study of decision-making and how the market works but also the influence of the government’s action in markets. In one of the chapter, we are thought on how government intervention could cause a big impact to a market. This includes the introduction of taxes, subsidies, price ceilings and price floors on a market.

All in all, I found this module to be very interesting and feel that I had learned a lot of economic principles that would definitely assist me in my future.