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GAME THEORY AND INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION

INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION

Syllabus

EN IT

Learning Objectives

LEARNING OUTCOMES: the aim of this course is to introduce students to strategic reasoning through a formal training in game theory and a parallel set of lectures on applications to competition policy. Specifically, we will formally introduce the basic ingredients of non cooperative games and a number of equilibrium concepts used to solve them. These will be applied to studying strategic interaction among firms and to design incentive schemes to achieve a number of basic public policy goals.

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING:
At the end of the Course students should be able to understand and apply the logical approach of game theory to analyse the strategic environment that firms face in regime of oligopoly. In particular, we will study anti-competitive conducts put forth by firms and public policies to address them.

APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING:
At the end of the Course students should be able to apply the knowledge to identify potential anti-competitive practices.

MAKING JUDGEMENTS:
Given a firm's conduct, the student should be able to (i) sketch its overall impact on economic surplus and its redistributive impact on the individual surplus of the parties involved and (ii) suggest potential interventions.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS:
At the end of the course students should be able to analyse market practices and prepare presentations to discuss their effects on competition.

Prerequisites

Game Theory (first part of the course)

Program

This course aims at providing a theoretical and practical understanding of main
issues in
industrial organization and competition policy. Using basic concepts in game theory, the
course studies the strategic interaction among firms in imperfectly competitive markets, the
sources of market power, and rationale and impact of competition policy. Lectures will
make use of analytical tools; practical examples will be provided throughout. A number of
case studies are discussed.
Topics covered:
What are 'Markets and Strategies'?
Firms, consumers and the market
Standard Bertrand Model
Cournot Competition
Strategic substitutes vs strategic complements
Stackelberg model
Sources of Market Power
Product differentiation
Horizontal product differentiation
A simple location model
The linear Hotelling model
The Quadratic Hotelling Model
Vertical product differentiation
Theory of Competition Policy
Cartels and tacit collusion
Sustainability of Tacit Collusion
Collusion and multimarket contact
Detecting and fighting collusion: leniency programs
Horizontal mergers
Profitability of simple Cournot Mergers
Mergers between several firms
Efficiency increasing mergers
Welfare Analysis of Cournot mergers
Strategic incumbents and entry
Strategies Affecting Demand variables
Brand Proliferation
Bundling
Limit Pricing under Complete information
Limit Pricing under Incomplete information
Tutorials/Seminars

Books

NEW: Cabral Luis M. B. (2017). Introduction to Industrial Organization, 2nd Edition, MIT
Press, Cambridge, MA.

OLD: Belleflamme, Paul and Martin Peitz, (2015) Universität Mannheim, Germany Industrial
Organization Markets and Strategies, 2nd Edition Cambridge University Press

Bibliography

NEW: Belleflamme, Paul and Martin Peitz, (2015). Industrial
Organization Markets and Strategies, 2nd Edition, Cambridge University Press.

Motta Massimo (2014), Competition Policy: Theory and Practice, Cambridge University
Press.
website: slides ed esercizi
https://www.cambridge.org/it/academic/subjects/economics/industrial-economics/industrial-
organization-markets-and-strategies-2nd-edition?format=PB#resources

OLD: Motta Massimo (2014), Competition Policy: Theory and Practice, Cambridge
University
Press.

Teaching methods

NEW: The course consists of lectures and exercise sessions.

OLD:The course comprises lectures and seminars.

Exam Rules

The exam is written and it lasts 1.5 hours. It is potentially composed of different sections.
The first section is theoretical: the candidate is required to answer concisely questions on
the course material with short essays. The second will test the candidate's knowledge of
formal models of competition using the language of mathematics by either asking to present
and discuss them or asking to solve exercises.