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ECO 101 · Unit 6 of 6

Market Design and Policy

Microeconomics and Competitive Markets

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Learning objectives

After completing this unit, you will be able to:

  • to business decisions
  • Apply the frameworks in "Market Design and Policy" to a real management decision
  • Make progress on your Microeconomics and Competitive Markets case analysis applied project

Why this matters

Market Design and Policy is essential to Microeconomics and Competitive Markets. Lessons build fluency with anchor-company examples, worked problems, and assessments on the unit page.

Lesson

Unit overview

Complete all 5 lessons in order. Each lesson follows the program authoring standard: conceptual prose, worked examples, practice problems, and managerial judgment prompts. Finish unit exercises and the knowledge check before marking the unit complete.

Connection to applied work

This unit feeds directly into Microeconomics and Competitive Markets case analysis. As you read, capture notes, examples, and data you can reuse in that deliverable. Strong students finish each unit with a draft section of their project, not just highlights.

Practice

  1. Write a one-page summary of this unit in your own words without looking at the lesson.
  2. Find a real company example (public filing, news article, or personal experience) that illustrates the main concept.
  3. Draft one paragraph recommending an action a manager should take based on this unit.
  4. Add at least three terms from this unit to your course glossary.

Knowledge check

Answer these without notes before marking the unit complete:

  1. What is the central idea of "Market Design and Policy"?
  2. What mistake do beginners most often make when applying this material?
  3. How does this unit help you complete Microeconomics and Competitive Markets case analysis?
  4. What is one decision you face this month where this unit applies?

Key takeaways

  • to business decisions
  • Business concepts only matter when they change a decision.
  • Your ECO 101 assessment (Demand, supply, elasticity, market structure, and strategic microeconomic reasoning.) rewards applied understanding, not memorization.

Unit assessment

Complete each section below. Score 80%+ on the quiz to finish this unit's assessment.

40% applied project35% knowledge checks25% reflections

Exercises

Apply what you learned in this unit with structured practice.

ExerciseApplied practice: Market Design and Policy45 min
Complete a focused practice exercise on **Market Design and Policy**. 1. Choose a real company, product, or situation you know. 2. Apply one core framework from this unit to analyze it. 3. Write your analysis in 300–500 words with a clear recommendation. 4. Cite at least one credible source.

Deliverable

300–500 word analysis document saved to your portfolio under ECO 101.

Rubric

  • • Framework applied correctly (not just named)
  • • Specific evidence from a real example
  • • Clear recommendation with tradeoffs acknowledged
  • • Professional writing with source citation
ExerciseDrill: Market Design and Policy30 min
Work through the practice problems in the unit lesson without looking at notes. Then check your work against the lesson and write a short reflection: - What you got right - One mistake you caught - One concept to review before the next unit

Deliverable

Problem solutions + 150-word reflection in your ECO 101 workbook.

Rubric

  • • Attempted all practice items before checking answers
  • • Honest reflection on errors
  • • Identifies a specific review action

Case analysis

Analyze a case using frameworks from this unit.

CaseCase analysis: Market Design and Policy60 min
Analyze a real business case through the lens of **Market Design and Policy**. Choose a public company event, HBR-style case, or documented decision. **Deliverable structure:** 1. Situation summary (150 words) 2. Analysis using this unit's frameworks (400 words) 3. Recommendation (150 words) 4. Risks and what would change your mind

Deliverable

2-page case write-up in your portfolio.

Rubric

  • • Case facts are accurate and sourced
  • • Analysis uses unit frameworks explicitly
  • • Recommendation is justified with tradeoffs
  • • Risks are specific, not generic

Knowledge quiz

Check your understanding before marking the unit complete.

1. Retiring 2,400 MW coal reduces local air pollution but imposes transition costs on plant communities. Unpriced pollution before retirement is a:

2. Grid frequency stability benefits all users whether or not they pay extra. Non-excludable, non-rival grid reliability resembles:

3. The State PUC reviews ClearPeak's fuel cost pass-through and merger impacts. Which policy role is primary?

4. Advanced metering connects households (users) and third-party app providers (developers). Pricing one side affects the other. This is a:

5. Decoupling severs utility profit from volumetric sales so energy efficiency does not hurt allowed return. This incentive design addresses:

6. A carbon adder of $30/ton applied to coal dispatch raises effective marginal cost. If coal emits roughly 1 ton per MWh in a simplified lesson table, adder per MWh is about:

7. ClearPeak's capstone memo claims $600K monthly benefit from a market rule change at $4M baseline (15% lift). Conservative scenario cuts benefit 50%. Still fund if hurdle is $250K?

8. Integrating ECO 101 for ClearPeak's transition testimony, strongest package combines:

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