LEARNING OUTCOMES

Course aims to: Provide Fundamental concepts of Economics, Monopoly & Oligopoly Models, Basic Consumer Theory as well as Game Theory applied to these fields

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

Students will learn the mathematical tools used to understand and critically evaluate the strategic interaction between economic agents.

The aim will be to acquire skills on the use of Economic techniques, methodologies and tools that can shed light on real world business problems. Particular attention will be given to how different forms of market structure shape the way firms compete. A section of the course will delve deep into pricing strategies, with a focus on both traditional markets but also on online markets and e-commerce. Students will learn how  to recognise different forms of  Market Structure and how the competitive process leads to different outcomes in each market type. Students will also learn how different forms of informational asymmetries shape how  firm design their products to improve efficiency and enhance competitiveness.

PREREQUISITES

None.

TEACHING METHODS

All concepts will be presented during lectures. During the lectures, to reinforce learning and a deeper understanding of the topics, videos may be shown. Students will also be asked to solve exercises and discuss possible areas of application of the topics under study.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The course is organized in two parts.

In the first, some basic concepts of microeconomics will be covered:

1. Theory of the firm
2. Choice under risk and uncertainty
3. Equilibrium in markets with asymmetric information
4. Monopoly
5. Price discrimination - linear and non-linear pricing
6. Pricing online - fundamentals with applications.

All these issues will be studied by making real-world examples and combining theory with exercises and applications.

Building on these concepts,  in the second part the following topics will be covered:

1. Benchmark Case: The perfectly competitive market
2. Strategic Thinking and Game Theory;
3. Nash equilibrium
4. Refinements of Nash equilibrium;
5. Business Application of Game Theory: competing in an oligopolistic market.
6. Monopolistic competition and Product Differentiation.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Recommended readings fo both parts are:

• Nechyba, T. (2011), Microeconomics: an Intuitive Approach with Calculus, International Edition, 1st or 2nd  Edition, Southwestern CEngage Learning
• Pepall, Richards, Norman, (2013) Industrial Organization: Contemporary Theory and Empirical Applications. fifth edition, Blackwell Publishing
• Belleflamme P. and Peitz M. (2015), Industrial Organization. Markets and Strategies, Cambridge University Press.

Several applications are discussed in

• Besanko, D., Dranove, D., Shanley, M. and Schaefer, S. Economics of Strategy, 6th ed., Wiley and Son.
• Brickley, J., Smith, C. and Zimmerman, J. Managerial Economics and Organizational Architecture, international edition, 2004, McGraw Hill.
• Carlton, D. and Perloff, J. 2005. Modern Industrial Organization, Pearson.