AP® Microeconomics
For Educators
Teachers can use the complete Plus course curriculum for flexible instruction.
Course Summary
Discover how people and businesses make decisions in a world of limited resources. Explore key economic concepts like supply and demand, market structures, and production costs, and see how government policies shape economic outcomes. Through real-world examples, data analysis, and interactive problem-solving, develop the skills to think like an economist. Learn to interpret graphs, evaluate market efficiency, and apply economic reasoning to everyday situations.
This course builds a strong foundation for further study in economics, business, and public policy and prepares students for the AP® Microeconomics exam.
Course Prerequisite(s):
None. However, students should be able to read a college-level textbook, write grammatically correct sentences, analyze images, think critically, and write evidence-based essays.
Curriculum
This is a 1-semester course.
Unit 1: Basic Economic Concepts
- Scarcity
- Resource Allocation and Economic Systems
- Production Possibilities
- Comparative Advantage
- Cost-Benefit Analysis
- Marginal Analysis
Unit 2: Supply and Demand
- Demand
- Supply
- Price Elasticity of Demand
- Price Elasticity of Supply
- Other Elasticities
- Equilibrium, Producer, and Consumer Surplus
- Market Disequilibrium and Changes in Equilibrium
- Effects of Government Intervention
- International Trade and Public Policy
Unit 3: Production, Costs, and Perfect Competition
- The Production Function
- Short-Run Production Costs
- Long-Run Production Costs
- Types of Profit
- Profit Maximization
- Firms' Short-Run vs. Long-Run Production Decisions
- Perfect Competition
Unit 4: Imperfect Competition
- Introduction to Imperfect Competition
- Monopoly
- Price Discrimination
- Monopolistic Competition
- Oligopoly and Game Theory
Unit 5: Factor Markets
- Introduction to Factor Markets
- Changes in Factor Demand and Supply
- Profit Maximization in Perfectly Competitive Factor Markets
- Monopsonistic Markets
Unit 6: Market Failure and the Role of Government
- Socially Efficient and Inefficient Market Outcomes
- Externalities
- Public and Private Goods
- Government Intervention in Different Market Structures
- Inequality