Prof Martin Pesendorfer 32L.4.19

This course is available on the BSc in Business Mathematics and Statistics, BSc in Econometrics and Mathematical Economics, BSc in Economics, BSc in Economics and Economic History, BSc in Economics with Economic History, BSc in International Social and Public Policy and Economics, BSc in Mathematics and Economics, BSc in Philosophy, Politics and Economics and BSc in Social Policy and Economics. This course is available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. This course is available with permission to General Course students.

Students must have completed Microeconomic Principles I (EC201) or Microeconomic Principles II (EC202) and Introduction to Econometrics (EC220) or Principles of Econometrics (EC221).  Students who believe they have completed an equivalent course instead of one of these must receive permission from Prof Pesendorfer first.

The aim of the course is to provide students with a working knowledge of theoretical and empirical methods for industry studies. Topics may include: monopoly, price discrimination, oligopoly theory, mergers, product differentiation, dynamic industry models, collusion, demand estimation, production function estimation, empirical techniques for oligopoly models, identification of conduct, advertising, search, auction markets, empirics of auction markets, winner’s curse, collusion in auctions, matching markets, and moral hazard. The topics will be discussed with applications for selected industries and considering competition policy questions.

15 hours of lectures and 10 hours of classes in the MT. 15 hours of lectures and 10 hours of classes in the LT.

This course is delivered through a combination of classes totalling a minimum of 50 hours across Michaelmas Term and Lent Term. This year, some or all of this teaching will be delivered through a combination of virtual classes, live streamed (recorded) lectures, and some flipped content delivered as short online videos.

Two marked assignments per term.

The course will draw on a variety of texts, the main ones being:

1. Jeffrey R. Church and Roger Ware. Industrial Organization: A Strategic Approach.
2. Jean Tirole. Theory of Industrial Organization
3. Guillaume Haeringer. Market Design: Auctions and Matching

A detailed reading list will be provided at the beginning of the course.

Some notes will be provided where textbook coverage is inadequate.

Exam (100%, duration: 3 hours, reading time: 15 minutes) in the summer exam period.

Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.