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History and Social SciencesMicroeconomics

AP Microeconomics

Model how individuals and firms make choices, how different markets allocate resources, and when government policy can improve or worsen outcomes.

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Unit 1Basic Economic Concepts6 topics

Develop the decision-making tools of scarcity, tradeoffs, comparative advantage, marginal analysis, and consumer choice.

  1. 1.1Scarcity
  2. 1.2Resource Allocation and Economic Systems
  3. 1.3Production Possibilities Curve
  4. 1.4Comparative Advantage and Trade
  5. 1.5Cost-Benefit Analysis
  6. 1.6Marginal Analysis and Consumer Choice

Unit 2Supply and Demand9 topics

Use supply, demand, elasticity, surplus, trade, and policy interventions to explain how markets reach and move away from equilibrium.

  1. 2.1Demand
  2. 2.2Supply
  3. 2.3Price Elasticity of Demand
  4. 2.4Price Elasticity of Supply
  5. 2.5Other Elasticities
  6. 2.6Market Equilibrium and Consumer and Producer Surplus
  7. 2.7Market Disequilibrium and Changes in Equilibrium
  8. 2.8The Effects of Government Intervention in Markets
  9. 2.9International Trade and Public Policy

Unit 3Production, Cost, and the Perfect Competition Model7 topics

Relate production and cost curves to firm decisions, market entry and exit, profit, and long-run equilibrium under perfect competition.

  1. 3.1The Production Function
  2. 3.2Short-Run Production Costs
  3. 3.3Long-Run Production Costs
  4. 3.4Types of Profit
  5. 3.5Profit Maximization
  6. 3.6Firms’ Short-Run Decisions to Produce and Long-Run Decisions to Enter or Exit a Market
  7. 3.7Perfect Competition

Unit 4Imperfect Competition5 topics

Compare monopoly, price discrimination, monopolistic competition, and oligopoly by examining barriers, strategic behavior, output, price, and efficiency.

  1. 4.1Introduction to Imperfectly Competitive Markets
  2. 4.2Monopoly
  3. 4.3Price Discrimination
  4. 4.4Monopolistic Competition
  5. 4.5Oligopoly and Game Theory

Unit 5Factor Markets4 topics

Apply marginal decision-making and supply-and-demand reasoning to labor and other factor markets, including competitive and monopsonistic cases.

  1. 5.1Introduction to Factor Markets
  2. 5.2Changes in Factor Demand and Factor Supply
  3. 5.3Profit-Maximizing Behavior in Perfectly Competitive Factor Markets
  4. 5.4Monopsonistic Markets

Unit 6Market Failure and the Role of Government5 topics

Evaluate efficiency, externalities, public goods, inequality, and policy responses while distinguishing market failure from the effects of intervention.

  1. 6.1Socially Efficient and Inefficient Market Outcomes
  2. 6.2Externalities
  3. 6.3Public and Private Goods
  4. 6.4The Effects of Government Intervention in Different Market Structures
  5. 6.5Inequality