ECF1100 Microeconomics

How ECF1100 is assessed

The captured S2 assessment surface publishes Exercise 20%, Quiz/Test 30% and Examination 50%; live Moodle controls exact task conditions and the examination timetable.

Current ECF1100 dates

Dates are as published in the current course materials. Confirm exact deadlines and submission settings in the live LMS.

What ECF1100 covers

The learning path moves from Prosperity, Inequality and Planetary Limits, through the problems opened by Firms, Contracts and Employment Rents, to the synthesis required in Externalities, Public Goods and Policy.

It is positioned as an introductory microeconomics unit.

Rather than opening with supply and demand alone, the unit starts from prosperity, power and planetary limits before building firms and markets.

Assessment in ECF1100 is distributed as follows: a 20% exercise stream, a 30% quiz/test stream and a 50% final examination

The operational assessment conditions matter here.

The 50% examination is held in the Monash examination period; live instructions control duration and permitted materials.

What makes ECF1100 demanding is concrete: holding the actor, feasible set and institutional rule stable while moving from a diagram or equation to a causal and distributional claim

The captured assessment table presents the three components as standard rows;

the ordinary unit pass standard and current Moodle instructions control.

For enrolment planning, Consult the current official enrolment and eligibility controls for this offering.

The learning path moves from Prosperity, Inequality and Planetary Limits, through the problems opened by Firms, Contracts and Employment Rents, to the synthesis required in Externalities, Public Goods and Policy.

ECF1100 cheatsheet for exam revision

AskSia publishes a free ECF1100 cheatsheet for exam revision, a one-page revision sheet that condenses the topics in this guide into the priorities, methods and drills to practise before the final.

The permitted-materials rule for this offering is not confirmed in the course materials we hold, so check the exam instructions on the LMS before relying on it in the exam room. Open the ECF1100 cheatsheet.

Worked example · free

Compare a wage-setting bargain

Key terms

Living standards

Material and non-material conditions through which people can meet needs and pursue valued lives. This chapter uses the concept when students compare growth, inequality and environmental pressure without collapsing them into one indicator.

Income distribution

Pattern by which income or wealth is divided across people or groups. It helps explain the reasoning required to compare growth, inequality and environmental pressure without collapsing them into one indicator.

Planetary boundary

Biophysical limit beyond which environmental-system risk can rise sharply. Its limit matters because GDP per person omits distribution, unpaid activity and many ecological costs.

Production function

Relationship between feasible output and inputs under a stated technology. This chapter uses the concept when students connect a technological change to feasible output, cost and incentives.

Opportunity cost

Value of the best feasible alternative forgone by a choice. It helps explain the reasoning required to connect a technological change to feasible output, cost and incentives.

Innovation rent

Temporary return above the next-best opportunity created by a valuable innovation or advantage. Its limit matters because technical feasibility does not determine ownership, adoption or distribution of gains.

Feasible frontier

Boundary of combinations attainable with available time, income and technology. This chapter uses the concept when students explain how wages and preferences shape paid work, free time and consumption.

Marginal rate of substitution

Rate at which a person is willing to trade one good for another while holding wellbeing constant. It helps explain the reasoning required to explain how wages and preferences shape paid work, free time and consumption.

Income effect

Change in choice caused by altered purchasing power with relative prices conceptually held fixed. Its limit matters because observed hours need not reveal free choice when contracts, care or job scarcity bind.

Best response

Action giving the highest payoff for a player given the other players' actions. This chapter uses the concept when students derive best responses and assess whether equilibrium is socially desirable.

Nash equilibrium

Action profile in which no player can gain by changing action alone. It helps explain the reasoning required to derive best responses and assess whether equilibrium is socially desirable.

Social dilemma

Interaction where individually attractive choices can produce an outcome worse for participants collectively. Its limit matters because an equilibrium is a stability claim, not a fairness or efficiency endorsement.

Institution

Rule, convention or organisation that structures interactions and enforcement. This chapter uses the concept when students calculate feasible surplus and explain how rules and outside options shape its division.

Reservation option

Outcome available to a party if an agreement is not reached. It helps explain the reasoning required to calculate feasible surplus and explain how rules and outside options shape its division.

ECF1100 FAQ

Questions students ask in each ECF1100 chapter

Which common basis lets a student compare growth, inequality and environmental pressure without collapsing them into one indicator?

Compare growth, inequality and environmental pressure without collapsing them into one indicator. Unit 1 places long-run prosperity beside inequality and planetary constraints. Material and non-material conditions through which people can meet needs and pursue valued lives. This chapter uses the concept when students compare growth, inequality and environmental pressure without collapsing them into one indicator. Chapter 01 · Prosperity, Inequality and Planetary Limits

Which links need evidence when students connect a technological change to feasible output, cost and incentives?

Connect a technological change to feasible output, cost and incentives. Unit 2 links technological feasibility to incentives and innovation rents. Relationship between feasible output and inputs under a stated technology. This chapter uses the concept when students connect a technological change to feasible output, cost and incentives. Chapter 02 · Technology, Production and Incentives

What has to be made explicit to explain how wages and preferences shape paid work, free time and consumption?

Explain how wages and preferences shape paid work, free time and consumption. Unit 3 frames working hours through scarcity, feasible sets and wellbeing. Boundary of combinations attainable with available time, income and technology. This chapter uses the concept when students explain how wages and preferences shape paid work, free time and consumption. Chapter 03 · Scarcity, Wellbeing and Working Time

Which inputs and assumptions control the attempt to derive best responses and assess whether equilibrium is socially desirable?

Derive best responses and assess whether equilibrium is socially desirable. Unit 4 develops payoff matrices, best responses and social dilemmas. Action giving the highest payoff for a player given the other players' actions. This chapter uses the concept when students derive best responses and assess whether equilibrium is socially desirable. Chapter 04 · Strategic Interaction and Social Dilemmas

Which inputs and assumptions control the attempt to calculate feasible surplus and explain how rules and outside options shape its division?

Calculate feasible surplus and explain how rules and outside options shape its division. Unit 5 treats institutions as rules that alter bargaining positions and outcomes. Rule, convention or organisation that structures interactions and enforcement. This chapter uses the concept when students calculate feasible surplus and explain how rules and outside options shape its division. Chapter 05 · Institutions, Bargaining and the Rules of the Game

What has to be made explicit to explain effort, supervision and wage setting when labour contracts are incomplete?

Explain effort, supervision and wage setting when labour contracts are incomplete. Unit 6 moves inside the firm to authority, incomplete contracts and employment rents. Organisation coordinating production through ownership, authority and contracts. This chapter uses the concept when students explain effort, supervision and wage setting when labour contracts are incomplete. Chapter 06 · Firms, Contracts and Employment Rents

Which links need evidence when students connect demand sensitivity and cost to price, quantity and surplus?

Connect demand sensitivity and cost to price, quantity and surplus. Unit 7 links product differentiation, demand and price-setting power. Maximum amount a buyer would exchange for a unit under stated conditions. This chapter uses the concept when students connect demand sensitivity and cost to price, quantity and surplus. Chapter 07 · Firms, Customers and Market Power

Which inputs and assumptions control the attempt to solve equilibrium and distinguish a curve shift from movement along a curve?

Solve equilibrium and distinguish a curve shift from movement along a curve. Unit 8 introduces market demand, supply, equilibrium and comparative statics after the firm block. Chapter 08 · Supply, Demand and Competitive Equilibrium

Which common basis lets a student compare borrowing or lending choices across dates and explain information constraints?

Compare borrowing or lending choices across dates and explain information constraints. Unit 9 treats credit as intertemporal exchange shaped by wealth, risk and information. Choice that trades resources across dates. This chapter uses the concept when students compare borrowing or lending choices across dates and explain information constraints. Chapter 09 · Credit Markets, Lenders and Borrowers

Which evidence helps students identify market failure and compare taxes, regulation, bargaining or public provision?

Identify market failure and compare taxes, regulation, bargaining or public provision. Unit 10 closes the course by comparing market successes, external effects and policy responses. Cost or benefit from an action borne by people outside the decision-making transaction. This chapter uses the concept when students identify market failure and compare taxes, regulation, bargaining or public provision. Chapter 10 · Externalities, Public Goods and Policy

How to study for the exam

Retrieve the course map, practise the recurring method—identify actors and constraints, express the relevant trade-off or strategic interaction, trace incentives through an institution or market, calculate where useful, then compare efficiency and distribution against a credible counterfactual—on changed scenarios, and verify every operational assessment detail in the live institutional system.

Your AI Economics tutor for ECF1100

Stuck on a hard ECF1100 question? Sia is AskSia’s AI Economics tutor — ask any ECF1100 Microeconomics question and get a clear, step-by-step explanation grounded in how the course is actually taught and assessed. Read this whole study guide free, then take your hardest questions to Sia.