INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION

This course provides an introductory analysis of imperfectly competitive markets through formal models of firms’ strategies and of the way the latter interact to determine market results.
Within the curricular activities of the degree in Economics and Management, this third year course completes what students learnt in the first year course in Microeconomics, by extending the study of the way markets function to the case of imperfect competition.

1. Knowledge and understanding
At the end of the course the student will know the most important models of oligopolistic markets both, both from a static and a dynamic point of view and to evaluate their implications in terms of social welfare.

2. Ability to apply knowledge and understanding
At the end of the course the student will be able to identify and explain which factors determine firms’ market power in oligopolistic markets and to predict how the functioning of these markets is influenced by policy issues and by firms’ strategies.

3. Ability to make judgments
At the end of the course the student will be able to use the knowledge acquired in the course to discuss case-studies taken from the news. He/she will also be able to critically compare different models of oligopoly and to discuss the relevance of their results.

To take this exam you need to pass Microeconomics first

Oligopoly theory:
- Bertrand model
- Cournot Model
- collusion
Price discrimination
Vertical Relations
Product differentiation
Entry and strategic behavior.

L. Cabral, Industrial Organization, second edition, The MIT Press, 2017.

Grading is based on a final written exam, that lasts 90’.

There will be 15 lectures.

English

Course website at https://moodle.unive.it/course/view.php?id=2643

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