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Intro to Microeconomics – Online Higher Education Course

In this 100% online Intro to Microeconomics course, students explore key concepts like game theory, labor unions, monopoly, and poverty. And in high-stakes decision-making games, students experience how these abstract concepts play out in real life—seeing the ripple effects of their choices.

A New Way to Learn Microeconomics

In Intro to Microeconomics, students will:

Understand foundational principles of the economic way of thinking
Describe important economic concepts, such as supply and demand, elasticity, consumer behavior, production and costs, monopoly, oligopoly, labor markets, poverty, inequality, and discrimination
Summarize major concepts related to international trade

Gen Ed That Simply Works

All-inclusive Curriculum

With online, asynchronous courses that are ready to run, you can deliver high-quality learning and outcomes predictably.

Curriculum You Can Trust

This course is evaluated and recommended by the American Council on Education for 3 credits. So your students earn credits that meet rigorous academic standards.

Captivating Student Experience

Students enjoy cinematic lectures from experts in the field and interactive, mastery-based learning—all in a flexible, semester-long course that fits their schedules.

Unlimited Enrollment

With no minimum or maximum enrollment, students get the courses they need when they need them, so you can maintain quality across Gen Ed offerings without budget or staffing strain.

Discover the magic of learning with Intro to Microeconomics

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Watch the Trailer

Students learn why small choices have big impact with microeconomics

Key Concepts
Learning Outcomes
Assessments
Faculty Support
World-Class Lecturers

Key Concepts Covered

Introduction to Microeconomics
Foundational economic tools

Supply, demand, and equilibrium

Consumer surplus and producer surplus

Price floors and price ceilings

Elasticity

Utility maximization

Behavioral economics

Production and costs

Profit maximization
Perfect Competition
Market structures, perfect competition, and long-run supply

Profit maximization in perfect competition

Long-run adjustments

Efficiency in perfectly competitive markets
Game Theory, Monopoly, and Oligopoly
Dominant strategies and Nash Equilibrium

Games with many players

Games with a sequence of moves

Mixed strategies

Market power and barriers to entry

Profit maximization under monopoly

Regulation and antitrust: limiting monopolistic competition

Oligopoly, duopoly, and cartels
Market Failure and Labor Markets
Introduction to market failure

External effects

Solutions to market failure

Public goods and common pool resources

Asymmetric information, moral hazard, and adverse selection

The competitive model of the labor market

Monopsony

Unions and minimum wages
Poverty, Inequality, and Global Economics
Absolute and relative poverty

Income and wealth

Education and health inequality in the USA

Discrimination

Global inequality

Globalization and international trade

Absolute and comparative advantage

Labor: outsourcing, offshoring, and global migration

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Learning Outcomes

Course Learning Outcomes
Understand foundational principles of the economic way of thinking

Describe important economic concepts, such as supply and demand, elasticity, consumer behavior, production and costs, monopoly, oligopoly, labor markets, poverty, inequality, and discrimination

Summarize major concepts related to international trade

Assessments

Quizzes and Exams
Course quizzes and exams consist of multiple choice, true/false, select all that apply, matching, and open-response questions. All are autograded by the LMS, so faculty can spend more time on hands-on instruction and student outcomes and less time grading.

Faculty Support & Dashboard

Encourage Student Mastery
Each course comes with additional tools to resource asynchronous learning:

Skills crosswalks

Course component walkthroughs

Section lesson plans

Chapter summaries

As a faculty member, you will receive graphic organizers, lesson plans, exam preparation materials, multi-language learner support resources, and educator guides to best support your students through this course.
Access All Course Material

Faculty and administrators have full access to the Partner Dashboard and all course material from Day 1.
View Course Milestones

Easy-to-use tools show milestone dates and deadlines for the cohort, as well as the full weekly course schedule.
Monitor Student Progress in Real Time

Coach students throughout the course—from registration to the final exam—with complete reporting on their current course grades, assessment scores, and engagement with course material.
Download Student Grades & Progress

Faculty and administrators can download student grades and full progress report details in CSV format.
Review Student Submissions for Graded Assessments

Faculty and administrators can view student-submitted answers to assignments, quizzes, and exams.

World-Class Lecturers

World-Class Lecturers
We selected a team of charismatic lecturers who offer a variety of backgrounds and points of view on microeconomics:

Cristina Tello-Trillo, Ph.D., U.S. Census Bureau

Homa Zarghamee, Ph.D., Barnard College

Rajiv Sethi, Ph.D., Barnard College

Simon D. Halliday, Ph.D., University of Bristol

Suresh Naidu, Ph.D., Columbia University

Frequently Asked Questions About Intro to Microeconomics

How are Outlier courses structured?

Outlier courses are divided into a series of chapters and sections. Each section contains cinematic video lectures and active learning (our interactive digital textbook) that help students learn the course content. Students demonstrate their knowledge on graded assessments, including mastery-based quizzes they can retake up to 5 times.
Are there any course prerequisites?

No. However, students cannot get credit for both Intro to Microeconomics and Principles of Economics. Carefully consider which course better suits your students’ educational and transfer credit needs, and choose accordingly.
Are there any student eligibility requirements?

Students must be at least 13 years old. Students who enroll in an Outlier course should be ready for the academic rigor of college-level coursework and carefully consider their existing responsibilities and dedication.
What technology does my school need to take Outlier courses?

Each student must have access to technology that meets the technical requirements noted in this Help Center article.
What is the minimum/maximum enrollment?

All Outlier courses have unlimited enrollment, with no minimum or maximum. So they easily adapt to your scheduling and staffing needs.
Is the course completely online?

Yes, Outlier courses are 100% online and asynchronous. Your students can learn during any class period—anywhere in the universe with Wi-Fi and a laptop or desktop computer.

*American Council on Education or (ACE) evaluates formal education courses and programs for college-level credit. For more information, visit ACE Learning Evaluations online at www.acenet.edu/evaluations.