B1799 - Industrial Organization

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students get an understanding of how macroeconomic and industry conditions determine the evolution of the global economic environment by analyzing and understanding economic and industry data

Course contents

The course is structured around four main pillars:

1. Basics of Competition Strategies

   • Basics of game theory (strategic interaction and best response strategies)

   • Price vs. quantity competition

   • Sequential games with strategic interaction

2. Sources of Market Power

   • Horizontal product differentiation

   • Vertical product differentiation

   • Advertising strategies

3. Pricing Strategies

   • Price discrimination with observable consumer characteristics (group pricing)

   • Price discrimination in the absence of observable consumer characteristics (menu pricing)

4. Information Asymmetries

   • Asymmetric information, moral hazard, and adverse selection

   • Pricing and advertising as signaling tools

Readings/Bibliography

Slides and other teaching materials will be made available on virtuale.unibo.it [https://virtuale.unibo.it] from the very beginning of the course.

Textbook:
Belleflamme, Paul, and Martin Peitz, Industrial Organization: Markets and Strategies, Cambridge University Press, 2015.
Required chapters: 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 12, 13.

Teaching methods

Traditional lectures, in-class discussion.

Assessment methods

Closed book written test - essay type - on topics discussed during lectures.

Grading scale:

• <18: Failed

• 18–23: Sufficient

• 24–27: Good

• 28–30: Very good

• 30 e lode: Excellent

Teaching tools

Slides and reading material are available on virtuale.unibo.it.

Office hours

See the website of Rainer Andergassen