Practical Information

THE DATE AND ROOM FOR THE FINAL EXAM HAVE BEEN MODIFIED (by the administration): it will take place on TUESDAY, JANUARY 19, 9-12am IN ROOM H2.213 See official link.

We will meet on Monday 10-12am at the Institut d'Etudes Européennes in "Salle GEREMEK."

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Description

Our primary interests are in the behavioral consequences of different market structures, their implications for consumer welfare and the role that antitrust legislation plays. What kinds of business practices do firms in concentrated markets adopt (and why) and what is the impact of those practices on consumer welfare? Practices we will study include a variety of possible methods to facilitate oligopolistic coordination and/or increase individual firm profitability such as price-fixing, horizontal and vertical mergers, the erection of entry barriers, and restrictions on the distribution of the product such as insisting that the dealer not sell at less than the manufacturer's recommended retail price. We will put a special emphasis on the analysis of markets characterized by “network effects” and we will also analyze some consequences of the “new technology” on market structure.

The course will combine theory and case studies.

• During the first weeks of the course, we will go through the basic theory of industrial organization and its applications to competition policy.
• You will form groups (of three students at most) and each group will choose a case study or a topic. The list of cases or topics changes from year to year and is indicated below.
• Starting in late October, you will start working on your case or topic and while we may stop the formal lectures in November, I will reserve the lecture time for meeting with you and help you with your assignment
• During the last lecture slots each group will make a 20 minute presentation of their work; in addition to this presentation, each group will
  (1) hand me a five page report (excluding appendices)
  (2) and me and the other students a one page (single-side, one-and-half spaced) executive summary.

Requirements

There will be a written exam in January; the material for the exam will be the material of the formal lectures and the cases and topics that have been presented by the different groups. The final grade for the course will be the average of the grade for the written exam and the grade for your report and presentation of the case or topic.