Microeconomic Theory Microeconomic theory concentrates on the study of the determination of relative prices and their importance in shaping the allocation of resources and the distribution of income in an economy. We will study the optimizing behavior of households in a variety of settings: buying goods and services, saving, and labor supply decisions. We will also examine the behavior of firms in different market structures. Together, the theories of household and firm behavior help illumine contemporary economic issues (discrimination in labor markets, mergers in the corporate world, positive and negative externalities, for example).

Information Economics When individuals make economics decisions, they often have different information than their peers or firms they interact with. This course is designed to analyze how an individual’s private information (or lack thereof) shapes their decision making and strategic interactions. This course introduces students to formal models of asymmetric information which we use to analyze moral hazard, adverse selection, mechanism design, matching, cheap talk, and costly information acquisition. Throughout the course we will study applications of the models we cover including car sales, job search, certification programs, bargaining, auctions, school choice, course selection, and selling user data on tech platforms. (ECON 0255 required, ECON 0280 recommended) 3 hrs.sem.

Alice Gindin

Reviews and ratings for Alice Gindin at Middlebury College.Alice Gindin teaches Micro Theory, Information Economics and more.  Explore top rated instructors and find the best for you.Is Alice Gindin good ? Find out on MiddCourses.

There is no avoiding the fact that Microtheory is a very difficult class but Gindin did a poor job lecturing as she just wrote on the board and did not truly teach or explain the material. Problem sets and tests were difficult but she graded them very kindly. Nice person but she had a tough time teaching this class as it was also her first class at Middlebury.

It's kind of clear that this is the first time the course is being taught, and things are a little janky. That said, Gindin clearly loves the material and her enthusiasm is contagious. The discussions are also free flowing and enjoyable.

Professor Gindin really made sure people in the class were understanding the material through in class work sheets or easy quizzes each week on what we had covered. Exams followed the problem set format and she was always flexable about office hours. 