Advanced Microeconomic Theory is one of the electives offered to the MA Economics students in their second year. This course builds upon the framework and the models introduced in introductory and intermediate microeconomic courses. The course is particularly important for students who want to go ahead and do a PhD in Economics or be involved in research work in microeconomic theory.

A key ingredient of the course is the main textbook, which a graduate level microeconomics textbook by Sam Bowles. The book differs substantially in having its starting point in strategic interactions instead of in competitive equilibrium, and in spending more time looking ahead at unresolved problems rather than proving theorems that were once well-established but now rarely used. It brings to light the kind of theoretical problems that economists are actually grappling with rather than a long past use Canon.