Not offered in 1996. Mr A Kan 316-102 Introductory Microeconomics. Second semester Two 1-hour lectures and a 1-hour tutorial class a week. On completion of this subject students should be able to:

• identify broad groups of factors influencing economic decision making in a manufacturing context (for example, the role of transport costs);
• understand space-cost curves and space-revenue curves and other theoretical locational principles, such as agglomeration economies;
• identify the various components of processing costs and their influence on the location of economic activities;
• analyse the von Thunen model of agricultural location;
• understand central place theory as a basis for the partial explanation of the spatial organisation of a region;
• explain urban spatial structure in terms of the bid - rent model.

A brief introduction to regional and urban economics, consisting of: theories of the location of economic activity and spatial diffusion processes; urban economics; central place theory, urban hierarchies, urbanisation trends in Australia; the internal structure of the city and the impact of technological change on urban development; regional economics; theories of regional economic growth and especially the relationship between growth and the composition of economic activity. Topics illustrated by Australian case studies. A 2-hour examination (80 per cent) and a 1000-word assignment (20 per cent). Lloyd P E and Dicken P Location in Space: A Theoretical Approach to Economic Geography 3rd Edition Harper