Industrial Economics
a.a. 2010/2011

Laurea Magistrale in Economia e gestione aziendale
CURRICULA: FINANCE, IMPRENDITORIALITA' E INNOVAZIONE, PUBLIC MANAGEMENT

I part: The theory of industrial organization

Lecturer: Diego Lanzi
E-mail: diego.lanzi{at}unibo.it
Teaching assistant: Francesco Silvestri
E-mail: silvestri{at}eco-eco.it
(change {at} with @. Both of us only reply to signed messages)

NEW!! Results of the exam (23/01/2012) are available in Alma Esami. Next office hours: February 14, from 10 to 11, room 110.
Grades will be registered on February the 17th.

• The first part of this course provides tools for understanding market structures and firms strategies.
  
  Course contents:
  - Market structures
  - Price competition and non-price competition
  - Regulation
  - Vertical integration

Textbook: Oz Shy, "Industrial Organization: Theory and Applications", The MIT Press, 1995. Chapters 2-8. In particular:
- read chapters 2 and 3
- study all chapter 4
- study all chapter 5 (except paragraphs 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, 5.8)
- study all chapter 6 (except paragraph 6.6)
- study all chapter 7 (except paragraphs 7.2, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6)
- study paragraphs 8.1 and 8.5 in chapter 8.
For more details concerning part I of the program, please ask to Prof. Diego Lanzi.

II part: Competition Policy

Lecturer: Francesca Barigozzi
E-mail: francesca.barigozzi{at}unibo.it

Teaching assistant: Francesco Silvestri
E-mail: silvestri{at}eco-eco.it

(change {at} with @. Both of us only reply to signed messages)

This course provides tools for understanding the activity of antitrust authorities and the principles of competition policy:
- Objective: introduction to modern economic analysis of competition policy
- Methods: the material will be presented in a simple way; appeal to economic intuitions, as well as simple formal models
- Requirements: elementary game theory, simple oligopoly models

Recommended reading

M. Motta, "Competition policy. Theory and practice.", Cambridge University Press, 2004.

Course contents

1. Competition Policy: History, Objectives and the Law
2. Market Power, Competition, and Welfare
3. Market Power and Market Definition
4. Cartels and Tacit Collusion
5. Horizontal Mergers
6. Vertical Restraints
7. Monopolization Practices
8. Price Discrimination

Useful link:
- Italian antitrust authority
- European antitrust authority
- Federal Trade Commission

- Conferences: see an interesting conference organized by the FTC and see an interesting conference organized by the European Commission

The course will host Prof. Jos Jansen (Max Planck Institute, Bonn) who will give two talks covering topics related to Antitrust & Innovation, and Price Discrimination. See the table below on the lectures plan for details.

Exam of "Industrial economics", second part on competition policy

The exam is in English and it is written. Students must reply to two open questions.
To have an idea of possible questions see below.

If students choose to discuss a case, the exam will be divided in two parts.
In the written exam of June, July and September students will be required to reply to only one of the two questions (and they can choose which one to reply to). Chapter 1 and all the parts of the text book referring to antitrust cases description will not be part of the reading list for the exam in this case. The written exam will produce the 60% of the grade.
The second part of the exam will produce the 40% of the final grade. Students will be asked to discuss (in English) an antitrust case in class and in groups of 3 students (each group will be assigned either the role of the plaintiff or the role of the defendant in the case discussion). Each group will present its arguments and reasoning to Francesco Silvestri (te Court) and to other groups using slides in 15 minutes. At the end of each case discussion students in the floor will decide whether the plaintiff or the defendant was the more convincing part. Each group will also produce a small essay of 3 pages describing the case and the main arguments of its presentation. The short essay will be sent to Francesco Silvestri by e-mail.
Students who decide to discuss the case study must send an e-mail to Francesco not after May 15. In their message students must communicate their willingness to receive a case study for the case discussion, and they should propose a list of other two students who will be part of the same group (the "corresponding student" can send the e-mail also in the name of the other members of the group). Francesco will assign a case to each group before May 22. The list of groups and relative case studies (with the link to the downloadable instructions to prepare the discussion and the short essay) will be posted on this web site.
Please, write to Francesco for all questions concerning the case discussion and write to him also in case you are not able to provide a complete list of 3 students (Francesco will suggest a matching with other students).
Note that students can discuss the case independently of whether they took or not the April exam on the first part of the course (primo parziale).

To summarize the important dates for those students who decide to discuss the case study:
- before May 15 -> each corresponding student must send an e-mail to Francesco announcing his willingness to receive a case study to discuss and must indicate the names of the other students in the group.
- on May 22 -> The list of cases assigned to each group will be posted on this web site. Here students can download instructions to prepare the short essay (3 pages in English).
- dates for students' discussions will be communicated as soon as possible (one date before the June exam and maybe one date before the July exam will be available, but no date before the September exam). Each group must assist to all cases that will be discussed in the same date.

Students' presentation on June 2010: some photos and students' slides here

This year students' presentations will be on June 10.

For those students who decide not to discuss the case study, the exam is composed by one part only. In particular, students must reply to 2 open questions producing the 100% of the final grade.

Exams dates:

An old text exam (in Italian):

Course plan