ECON 310-1
Intermediate Microeconomic Theory
FINAL EXAM — Master Study Guide
Northwestern University · Spring 2026
Monopoly · Price Discrimination · Cartels · Factor Markets & Monopsony
Behavioral, Happiness & Complexity Economics
Full Consumer Theory & Producer Theory Review · Every Practice Question Solved
Built to match the exam coverage memo: ~50–60% new material,
plus one Exam 1 and one Exam 2 problem/essay.
(No income/sub-effect diagrams or math · No gas-tax-with-rebate · No LR-supply diagrams · No textbook real-world examples)
ECON 310-1 · Final Exam Master Study Guide · 1
, How to Use This Guide & Exam Coverage Map
This guide is organized in the exact order you should study, front-loading the new material that carries the most
points, then giving you tight-but-complete refreshers on the Exam 1 and Exam 2 topics, and finally walking every
practice-final question with full solutions.
What the coverage memo actually means for your time
Share of
Block What to expect
points
New material ~50–60% The majority of the exam. Monopoly, price discrimination, cartels, factor
(monopoly → end) markets/monopsony, plus conceptual/essay material (behavioral, happiness,
complexity).
Exam 1 material ~20–25% About one problem or essay. Income/sub effects are fair game conceptually
(consumer theory) — but no diagrams or math on them, and no gas-tax-with-rebate.
Exam 2 material ~20–25% About one problem or essay. Returns to scale, cost derivation, profit max,
(production & costs, PC) shutdown all fair game.
EXPLICITLY EXCLUDED (per the memo):
• No income/substitution-effect diagrams or math problems (conceptual direction questions are still fair
game — e.g., "the substitution effect makes the person buy ___ of an inferior good").
• No gas-tax-with-rebate questions of any kind.
• No long-run-supply diagrams (but the ideas and results — constant vs. increasing cost industries — are
fair game).
• No questions on the real-world textbook examples that were fair game on the midterms (Valentine's
roses, Vernon Smith rats, drug war, etc.).
How each section is built
New-material sections follow the rhythm you already know from your midterm guides: Self-Quiz (try cold) →
Concept Explained → Formulas → Worked Problems → Exam Technique → Common Traps. The review
sections are condensed but complete. Diagrams are clean, labeled, and built to look like the figures in your
earlier guides.
Table of contents
PART 1 — New Material: Monopoly & Markets with Power
1. Profit-Max Recap, Producer Surplus & the Long Run (bridge from Exam 2)
2. Monopoly: the core model (MR<P, MR=MC, shutdown, MR & elasticity)
ECON 310-1 · Final Exam Master Study Guide · 2
,3. Monopoly vs. Competition: welfare & deadweight loss
4. Price ceilings on a monopoly
5. Price discrimination
6. Cartels
7. Factor markets & monopsony
PART 2 — New Material: The Big Ideas (likely essay material)
1. Behavioral economics
2. The economics of happiness
3. Evolutionary & complexity economics
PART 3 — Exam 1 Review: Consumer Theory
PART 4 — Exam 2 Review: Production, Costs & Perfect Competition
PART 5 — Every Practice-Final Question, Fully Solved
PART 6 — Master Formula Sheet & Exam-Day Checklist
ECON 310-1 · Final Exam Master Study Guide · 3
, PART 1 — New Material: Monopoly & Markets with
Power
This is where most of your exam points live. The single most important idea running through all of it: a firm with
market power sets quantity where marginal revenue equals marginal cost, and then reads price off the
demand curve. Everything else — discrimination, cartels, monopsony — is a variation on that one move.
1. Profit-Max Recap, Producer Surplus & the Long Run
The week-of-5/4 notes open by tying off perfect competition before pivoting to monopoly. Most of this you saw
on Exam 2; here is the part that is genuinely new or worth re-cementing because monopoly builds directly on it.
The two views of profit maximization
There are two equivalent ways to see the firm's choice of output, and your professor draws both. They give the
same q*.
ECON 310-1 · Final Exam Master Study Guide · 4
Intermediate Microeconomic Theory
FINAL EXAM — Master Study Guide
Northwestern University · Spring 2026
Monopoly · Price Discrimination · Cartels · Factor Markets & Monopsony
Behavioral, Happiness & Complexity Economics
Full Consumer Theory & Producer Theory Review · Every Practice Question Solved
Built to match the exam coverage memo: ~50–60% new material,
plus one Exam 1 and one Exam 2 problem/essay.
(No income/sub-effect diagrams or math · No gas-tax-with-rebate · No LR-supply diagrams · No textbook real-world examples)
ECON 310-1 · Final Exam Master Study Guide · 1
, How to Use This Guide & Exam Coverage Map
This guide is organized in the exact order you should study, front-loading the new material that carries the most
points, then giving you tight-but-complete refreshers on the Exam 1 and Exam 2 topics, and finally walking every
practice-final question with full solutions.
What the coverage memo actually means for your time
Share of
Block What to expect
points
New material ~50–60% The majority of the exam. Monopoly, price discrimination, cartels, factor
(monopoly → end) markets/monopsony, plus conceptual/essay material (behavioral, happiness,
complexity).
Exam 1 material ~20–25% About one problem or essay. Income/sub effects are fair game conceptually
(consumer theory) — but no diagrams or math on them, and no gas-tax-with-rebate.
Exam 2 material ~20–25% About one problem or essay. Returns to scale, cost derivation, profit max,
(production & costs, PC) shutdown all fair game.
EXPLICITLY EXCLUDED (per the memo):
• No income/substitution-effect diagrams or math problems (conceptual direction questions are still fair
game — e.g., "the substitution effect makes the person buy ___ of an inferior good").
• No gas-tax-with-rebate questions of any kind.
• No long-run-supply diagrams (but the ideas and results — constant vs. increasing cost industries — are
fair game).
• No questions on the real-world textbook examples that were fair game on the midterms (Valentine's
roses, Vernon Smith rats, drug war, etc.).
How each section is built
New-material sections follow the rhythm you already know from your midterm guides: Self-Quiz (try cold) →
Concept Explained → Formulas → Worked Problems → Exam Technique → Common Traps. The review
sections are condensed but complete. Diagrams are clean, labeled, and built to look like the figures in your
earlier guides.
Table of contents
PART 1 — New Material: Monopoly & Markets with Power
1. Profit-Max Recap, Producer Surplus & the Long Run (bridge from Exam 2)
2. Monopoly: the core model (MR<P, MR=MC, shutdown, MR & elasticity)
ECON 310-1 · Final Exam Master Study Guide · 2
,3. Monopoly vs. Competition: welfare & deadweight loss
4. Price ceilings on a monopoly
5. Price discrimination
6. Cartels
7. Factor markets & monopsony
PART 2 — New Material: The Big Ideas (likely essay material)
1. Behavioral economics
2. The economics of happiness
3. Evolutionary & complexity economics
PART 3 — Exam 1 Review: Consumer Theory
PART 4 — Exam 2 Review: Production, Costs & Perfect Competition
PART 5 — Every Practice-Final Question, Fully Solved
PART 6 — Master Formula Sheet & Exam-Day Checklist
ECON 310-1 · Final Exam Master Study Guide · 3
, PART 1 — New Material: Monopoly & Markets with
Power
This is where most of your exam points live. The single most important idea running through all of it: a firm with
market power sets quantity where marginal revenue equals marginal cost, and then reads price off the
demand curve. Everything else — discrimination, cartels, monopsony — is a variation on that one move.
1. Profit-Max Recap, Producer Surplus & the Long Run
The week-of-5/4 notes open by tying off perfect competition before pivoting to monopoly. Most of this you saw
on Exam 2; here is the part that is genuinely new or worth re-cementing because monopoly builds directly on it.
The two views of profit maximization
There are two equivalent ways to see the firm's choice of output, and your professor draws both. They give the
same q*.
ECON 310-1 · Final Exam Master Study Guide · 4
