ECTS - University of Pisa
This course covers some major topics in the field of industrial and managerial economics. The main aims of the course are: (i) familiarise students with research and methods typical of Industrial Economics, provide students with a solid understanding of (ii) what market power is, how firms can acquire it and exploit it, and (iii) how the structure of markets influences the strategic decisions of firms.
Academic progress will be monitored and verified from the written paper at the beginning of each exam session
Students learn how to analyse a market competition and strategic interactions among firms.
At the end of the course, students should:
Students will have to prepare and present a written report that documents the results of the project activity
Students will be able to manage the responsibility of managing a team project;
Students will acquire awereness on regulation topics such as antitrust, competition.
The courses Principles of Mathematics and Principles of Economics are pre-requisites.
Students will benefit by following the course of Quantitative economics for business
There will be 21 2-hour lectures in all (about 10 in each part).
The course is divided into 2 main parts.
Part I is devoted to the study of fundamental models in the partial equilibrium analysis of markets. In particular, starting from the analysis of the monopoly, students will be introduced to common market practices such as price discrimination, product differentiation and bundling and tie-in sales. Afterwards, competition among firms is included and the basic models of oligopoly (Cournot, Bertrand and Stackelberg) is analysed in depth by using Game Theory.
Part II deals with a selection of advanced topics connected to the ways through which firms can increase their market power. In particular, topics of interest will be firms’ anti-competitive behaviours, horizontal and vertical integration among firms, non-price competition strategies such as advertising and innovation.
The main focus of this course is theoretical, nevertheless, for each topic, empirical applications will be presented and discussed.
TEXT BOOK: “Industrial Organization: Contemporary Theory and Empirical Applications”, Pepall, Richards and Norman, John Wiley & Sons, 2014.
Further Readings: “Industrial Organization: Markets and Strategies” by Belleflamme and Peitz (Cambridge University Press)
Other readings will be suggested during the course.
The program is exactly the same for attending and non-attending students. Attendance is useful but not compulsory.
The exam is made of two parts:
- an assignment;
- a written exam (conditional to the possibility of presence, otherwise we will arrange a multiple choice questions test and an oral exam)
