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44763 - Teory of the Firm

Academic Year 2024/2025

                
                        Docente:
                        Emanuele Bacchiega
                    
                        Credits:
                        6
                    
                        SSD:
                        SECS-P/01
                    
                        Language:
                        Italian
                    
                        Teaching Mode:
                        Traditional lectures
                        
                            Campus:
                            Bologna
                        
                            Corso:
                            First cycle degree programme (L) in
                            Information Science for Management (cod. 8014)

                            Teaching resources on Virtuale
                        
                                    Course Timetable
                                
from Feb 17, 2025 to May 13, 2025

Learning outcomes

Upon completion of the Course, the student has gained a working knowledge of: the definitions of market structure and market power; discriminating monopoly (linear and non-linear pricing), monopoly product variety and quality; Oligopoly and strategic competition: static games, quantity and price competition, sequential decisions and competition; anti-comopetitive strategies: limit pricing and entry deterrence, recent developments of predation; repeated games and collusion; detection of and fight against collusion; contractual relationships among firms: mergers, price vertical restraints; non-price competition: advertising and information, research and development, patents, network economics, regulation and liberalization.

Course contents

MODULE 1

1) Basic concepts.

Introduction.
Some useful microeconomic ideas.
Market structure and market power
Technology and production costs.

2) Market power

Price discrimination under monopoly: linear pricing.
Price discrimination under monopoly: non-linear pricing.
Product variety and quality under monopoly.

3) Oligopoly and strategic interaction.

Static games and Cournot competition.
Price competition.
Sequential competition.

MODULE 2

4) Anticompetitive strategies.

Limit pricing and entry deterrence.
Predation: recent developments.
Collusion and repeated games.
Collusion: how to identify and fight it.

5) Non-price competition.

Advertising, market power, competition and information.
Research and Development and patents.

6) Complementary Topics.

Networks
Regulation and liberalization

Readings/Bibliography

L. Pepall, D. Richards, G. Norman e G. Calzolari, Organizzazione Industriale, McGraw-Hill, Milano, last edition.

Further references will be given when needed.

Teaching methods

Traditional Lectures

Assessment methods

Written, closed book, exam, with free-response questions. The maximum mark (all answers correct and complete, with an appropriate level of formalization) is 30 e lode.

Mark scale:

<18 Fail.

18-23 Pass.

24-27 Good.

28-30 Distinction.

30 e lode Great Distinction.

If online, the exams will be held on the EOL platform and will have the same structure.

Calculators are allowed.