Demand and supply framework The determinants of demand and supply Nature of demand and supply curves their interaction in the market Market equilibrium and price elasticity Effect of government intervention in the form of taxes/subsidies/ price restriction etc on the market, and The implications of consumer/producer welfare. Difference in demand functions for consumer durables vx non-durables Intermediate products and services Theory of consumer behaviour Consumer preferences, Indifference curves, Budget constraint, Utility maximization and the derivation of the consumer demand curve, Expected utility maximization under uncertainty Theory of Production Production functions, Cost functions and profit functions. Total, average and marginal product (and cost); Returns to factors and scale; input substitution; and The optimal factor/input combination. Short run versus long run decision making of firms. Derivation of the supply curve. Decision under uncertainty Market structures, efficiency and regulation Market forms including perfect competition, Monopoly, monopolistic competition, and oligopoly. Pricing strategies of firms, cartels and collusion, Mergers and acquisitions, and government regulation in the form of price directives, taxes / subsidies, Antitrust action and competition policies. Market failures Economics of information including asymmetric information, Moral hazard, Adverse selection and implication of information failures, externalities due to spill over effects, and their internalization through corrective taxes / subsidies and enforcement of property rights. Public goods and the role of the government.