GMU Graduate Industrial Organization I
Syllabus

Economics 844-001 (#81307), meets 7:20-10:00pm, Wednesday, during Spring 2015, in Carow Hall main room.

Instructor: Robin D. Hanson, Assoc. Professor, Economics (rhanson@gmu.edu, http://hanson.gmu.edu)
Office Hours: Officially Tuesdays 4-7p, but I'm usually in at Carow Hall 10B. Email or call ahead (703-993-2326) if you want to be sure I'll be in, or you want to meet somewhere besides my office.

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.
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.

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.

Assignments: Lecture Schedule
WeekShy Lecture Topic Assignment
1 Sept2,3 Overview and Lockin Look for Model Paper
8 Sept4,5,6 Homogeneous Products & Free Entry
15 Sept7 Differentiated Products
22 Sept12 Quality and Regulation
29 Sept10 Networks and Standards
6 Oct Paper Presentations
13 Oct No Class
20 Oct11,16 Ads and Search
27 Oct No Class
3 Nov Midterm Exam
10 Nov9 Research and Development
17 Nov Incentives
24 Nov No Class
1 Dec Organization Information Systems
8 Dec TBD
15 Dec Paper Presentations, 7:30-10:15pm

Sources

On the web page, this links to a page of sources, most of which have links.
Suggested 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, ISBN: 0-321-18023-2, 2005.

Disability Notice

If you are a student with a disability and you need academic accommodations, please see me and contact the Disability Resource Center (DRC) at 703.993.2474. All academic accommodations must be arranged through that office.