93301 - ECONOMIA DEI MERCATI DIGITALI

Learning outcomes

The student will acquire knowledge of the main techno-economic and institutional elements that regulate the digital markets. The course will explore the consumers’ behaviour and the firms’ production processes to understand main characteristics of the diffusion patterns of these peculiar types of innovation.

Course contents

The program of the course is articulated through the following set of lectures.

1 : The economics of digital markets: introduction, online vs offline, data and the digital economy, social networking

2 : Models of development of digital technologies: network externalities, digital platforms

3 : Digital technologies as platforms

4 : Platforms and new forms of firm’s organisation

5 : Work, taxation and the digital economy

6 : Measuring the societal impact of digital economy: big data, AI, privacy

7 : Surveillance capitalism? The economic value of data and of their control

Readings/Bibliography

The most relevant bibliographical material will be communicated to students during the lectures. Relevant materials will be made available to students on the "Virtuale", the UniBo platform for e-learning (https://virtuale.unibo.it/).

For students not attending the lectures, the following text is suggested to prepare for the exam:

Paolo Cellini (2016), Internet Economics. Understanding Digital and New Media Markets, LUISS University Press, capp. 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

Teaching methods

During letures the main topics will be exposed and argumented with the use of slides. Since it is an advanced topic, students are requested to actively participate to the lectures, which will be frequenly oergenized in the form of open discussions.

Assessment methods

The exam is intended to verify the achievement of the learning objectives.

For students attending the lectures, the exam is composed of two parts, the first of which is preliminary to the second.

The first part consists of a written test made of 15 multiple choice questions. (with one correct answer out of three possible ones). The mark is obtained by summing up the correct answers.The exam is passed with 9 out of 15 correct answers.

With a positive mark in the first part, students are admitted to the second part, which is a oral examination. The oral examination will be carried out, according to the pandemic’s dynamics, and must be passed within the exam immediately following the end of the lectures. The oral examination will focus on discussing and answering some questions about the written examination. The final mark is the average of the two tests.

For student that do not attend the lectures, the exam will be exclusively oral, with four open questions on the text mentioned above.

To be considered as an attending student, it is compulsory to attend at least 75% of the total lecturing hours.

The enrolment to exams must be carried out on AlmaEsami: neither late nor “outside the list” admissions will be granted in any case.

By way of example, the following criteria will be used to assign the final mark (that will be out of 30/30):

• knowledge of a very limited number of topics, extensive support by the interviewer to address and answer the questions, basic yet appropriate language → 18-19/30;
• knowledge of a limited number of topics, ability to autonomously address basic legal problems, use of appropriate language → 20-24/30;
• comprehensive knowledge of the programme, ability to autonomously and critically analyse legal problems, use of specific terminology → 25-29/30;
extensive knowledge of the programme, ability to reason autonomously and critically analyse legal problems, make connections between the topics, ability to master the specific terminology and ability to present legal arguments. → 30-30L/30.

Teaching tools

Students with disabilities (DSA), who need specific teaching and learning instruments, can convey their requests to the teaching staff, in order to be addressed to the proper contact person, or to plan the proper procedures.

Office hours

See the website of Riccardo Leoncini