The course focuses on relevant topics of industrial organizations, and it is divided into two parts.
A part will introduce the theory of Principal-Agent. The treatment will be rigorous, but particular emphasis will be given to applications.
Another section of the course intends to provide students with rigorous economic tools for the analysis of market structure and market relations. Applications of experimental and behavioral economics to industrial organization will be also discussed.
Markets structures and Organization:
- perfect competition,
- advanced monopoly theory,
- markets for homogeneous/differentiated products,
- collusion.
Principal-Agent and optimal contracts:
- optimal risk-sharing,
- unobservable effort,
- dynamic contracts,
- multitasks.
Recommended reading
• OZ SHY: "Industrial Organization - Theory and Applications", MIT Press 1995. The chapters to study are: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8.
• M. RICKETTS. "The Economics of Business Enterprise. An Introduction to Economic Organization and the Theory of the Firm", Edward Elgar, 3rd ed., 2002, chapter 5.
Further reading
• JEFFREY CHURCH AND ROGER WARE: "Industrial Organization: A Strategic Approach", McGraw-Hill 2000 (downloadable from elearning).
• Additional papers will be distributed during the course.
Written exam & presentation of an article.
