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Industrial Organization (ECO-AD-INDUSTORG)

ECO-AD-INDUSTORG

Description

Material: available on Brightspace
TA: TBA
IMPORTANT: Classes will NOT be recorded.

Aim of the course. Students attending this course will learn in depth how firms interact in non-competitive markets and how they may gain and exploit a competitive advantage. They gain an understanding of classical models used in Industrial Organization to study firms’ strategies and evaluate market outcomes against different benchmarks. A general introduction will be provided, and specific topics will be further explored (see list below). The course is mainly based on theoretical models, with some empirical applications discussed.
List of topics (ambitious, might skip some)

1. Introduction, standard models of oligopoly and product differentiation
2. Vertical restraints and contracts
3. Platforms
4. Search models
5. Dynamic models (collusion, relational contracts)
6. Economics of data and digital markets
7. Artificial Intelligence and competition

Competition policy and regulation will be a common thread in the topics.

Prerequisites. You are expected to be familiar with the material covered in the 1^st year microeconomics sequence.

Teaching method. There will be 10 2-hour lectures.

Examination policy. Grading will be based on a referee report that students will prepare for a recent paper related to the course topics. Read this for writing reports in economics, https://www.aeaweb.org/content/file?id=222. Measures will be taken to avoid the temptation of using ChatGPT or other generative tools for this purpose. The list of papers for the reports will be available at the end of the course.

Reading material. A very useful evergreen is The Theory of Industrial Organization (1988). Jean Tirole. MIT Press. For some topics, another helpful reference is Industrial Organization: Markets and Strategies (2010) P. Belleflamme and M. Peitz. Cambridge University Press. Other material is listed on the website for specific topics.

Bibliography
Coming soon.
 

ENROL FOR THIS COURSE