Industrial Organization

Semester and Year Offered:

Course Coordinator and Team: Jyotirmoy Bhattacharya

Email of course coordinator: jyotirmoy@aud.ac.in

Pre-requisites:

M.A. courses: Microeconomics I and II; Game Theory 1

Aim: This course introduces students to the basics of modern industrial organization theory. It studies the use of tools from microeconomics and game theory to understand the competitive strategy of firms and the welfare effects of different forms of market organization.

Course Outcomes:

A student who successfully completes this course would be able to:

1. Demonstrate knowledge of different competitive situations that arise from the existence of market power, the characteristics of products being sold, the characteristics of technology employed and the regulatory and institutional environment.
2. Analyse these different situations using the tools of economic theory and have an understanding of how such analyses may be tested empiricaly.
3. Relate theoretical analyses to contemporary policy issues in India and elsewhere and be able to understand how industrial regulation impacts the welfare of citizens.

Brief description of modules/ Main modules:

1. Monopoly pricing
2. Price Discrimination
3. Static models of price competition
4. Dynamic models of price competition
5. Product differentiation
6. Innovation and R&D
7. Networks effects and standards
8. Intermediated markets and trading platforms

Assessment Details with weights:

Reading List:

1. Belleflamme, P. and Peitz, M. (2015). Industrial Organization: Markets and Strategies, 2nd ed Cambridge University Press
2. Evans, D.S. (2011) Platform Economics: Essays on Multi-Sided Businesses. CreateSpace.
3. Scotchmer, S. (2006) Innovation and Incentives. MIT Press
4. Shy, O. (2001). The Economics of Network Industries. Cambridge University Press.
5. Tirole, J. (1988). The Theory of Industrial Organization. MIT Press.