ECONG048 - Theoretical Industrial Organisation

Aims:

The goal of this course is to provide students with an understanding and working knowledge of the modern theory of industrial organization. Although the focus of the course is primarily theoretical, there will also be some emphasis on the policy relevance of the techniques analyzed

Course outline:

1. Standard oligopoly theory re-visited
Topics include: Bertrand, Cournot, free entry, mergers, tacit collusion, non-standard objectives

2. Information frictions
Topics include: Consumer search, advertising by firms, mixed strategies for prices, word-of-mouth information transmission

3. Customer lock-in
Topics include: network effects, switching costs, aftermarkets, competitive bottlenecks

4. Price discrimination
Topics include: Monopoly and oligopoly, bundling, Coase Conjecture, customer poaching