Instructor: Robin D. Hanson, Asst. Professor, Economics
(rhanson@gmu.edu, http://hanson.gmu.edu)
Office Hours: Officially Tues-Thurs 6-7p. But I'm usually in at Carow Hall
10A. Call ahead (703-993-2326) if you want to be sure.
Catalog Entry:
Econ 844 Industrial Organization and Public Policy I (3:3:0). Prerequisite: ECON 611 or permission of instructor. Structure of American industry and underlying determinants. Analysis of structure and conduct on industrial performance in light of theory and empirical evidence. Rational antitrust policy and analysis of impact on structure and performance.Recommended Texts:
Oz Shy, Industrial Organization, Theory and Applications, MIT Press, ISBN 0-262-69179-5, 1996. (errata)
Jean Tirole, The Theory of Industrial Organization, MIT Press, ISBN 0-262-20071-6, 1994.
Dennis Carlton and Jeffrey Perloff, Modern Industrial Organization, Forth Edition, Addison-Wesley 2005, ISBN 0-321-18023-2.Class Concept
By grad school, students know the drill cold: read assignments, hear lectures, do homework, and spit it all back on the exam. Problem is, just then the game changes from grades to papers; few will care about your grades, compared to your research papers, written and published. A research paper is not a term paper, and can't be dashed off the weekend before it is due. A research paper does not offer a broad overview; it says something specific and new, even if minor, that fits in a context of other research papers.Assignments:My class is designed for this transition. Instead of covering many topics briefly, we cover fewer deeper. The research paper is half your grade, and can be all if you want. You must choose a model paper early in the semeseter, write a referee report on it, and present it in class. Then meeting with me frequently one on one, we look for and then create some variation on that model paper.
Week | Shy Chapters | Lecture Topic | ||
3 Sept | 2,3 | Overview and Lockin | ||
10 Sept | 4,5,6 | Homogeneous Products & Free Entry | ||
17 Sept | 7 | Differentiated Products | ||
24 Sept | 12 | Quality and Regulation | ||
1 Oct | 10 | Networks and Standards | ||
8 Oct | Paper Presentations | |||
15 Oct | Midterm Exam | |||
22 Oct | 11,16 | Ads and Search | ||
29 Oct | 8 | Entry and Mergers | ||
5 Nov | no class | |||
12 Nov | 9 | Research and Development | ||
19 Nov | Incentives | |||
26 Nov | no class | |||
3 Dec | Organization Information Systems | |||
10 Dec | Paper Presentations | |||
17 Dec | Final Exam 7:30 p.m. - 10:15 p.m. |
Misc. Articles
Sam Peltzman, Review of The Handbook of Industrial Organization, The Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 99, No. 1. (Feb., 1991), pp. 201-217.Hal Varian, How to Build an Economic Model in your Spare Time
Robin Hanson, Location Discrimination in Circular City, Torus Town, and Beyond
This page is on web at http://hanson.gmu.edu/EC844F09.html