B0048 - PLATFORMS AND NETWORK INDUSTRIES

Learning outcomes

The course focuses on the origins of network industries, on the regulation of digital platforms, on how digitalization affects infrastructures in telecommunications, transport, and energy. Special attention is paid to the role of digital platforms as a new network on top of and in addition to traditional ones.

Course contents

What do electricity we use in our homes and TikTok #ForYou feed have in common? They both are services provided in the context of network industries. The main feature of such industries is, indeed, the presence of network effects: the value of goods or services increases as there are more consumers/users. Network industries are more and more central to our economies and this requires improving our knowledge about how they work.

Contrarily to more traditional vertical industries (e.g., production and sale of food commodities), both regulatory and managerial approaches to network industries have always required a higher degree of attention. For example, in the case of public utilities, public intervention was essential to extend the physical infrastructure as it was seen as a driver of growth and development. More recently, policymakers and academics like have started to tackle the dominant positions of firms operating in digital markets, how these positions might affect consumer welfare and innovation, and which tools can be used to restore a competitive setting.

The course aims at providing students tools to understand and evaluate network industries from both an economic and a legal perspective, with a focus on regulation and antitrust in digital markets.

Course structure:

1. Introduction: basic concepts of industrial organization, competition economics, network economics, regulation and antitrust
2. Public utilities: history, liberalization and future directions in the telecommunication, electricity and railway industries
3. Digital markets: multi-sided platforms, business models on the Internet, e-commerce, search engines, online advertising and app market

Each topic is covered from a theoretical point of view with case studies and a focus on legislation.

Readings/Bibliography

The reading list and slides for this course will be available on Virtuale.

Teaching methods

Classroom-taught lessons, classroom debates and lessons by guest speakers on specific topics.

The course is taught in Italian, however a part of the materials will be in English.

Assessment methods

Attending students (at least 8 classes out of 10) will be evaluated on a 15-20 min class presentation about a case study and on a written exam with 2 open questions (chosen out of 4) on topics as seen during the course.

Non attending students will be evaluated on a written exam with 4 open questions on topics as seen during the course and a short essay on a case study.

Teaching tools

Slides and reading list will be available on Virtuale.

Office hours

See the website of Marco Magnani