Industrial organisation

This module provides you with a grounding in the economic analysis of the functioning of markets and industries and the behaviour of firms within them.

We study the factors that determine the conduct of firms in terms of their price setting, advertising, R&D and other strategic decisions, and the economic analysis that underlies competition policy. The approach is mainly theoretical but incorporates empirical aspects as and when appropriate.

Likely topics: 

• the traditional theory of the firm. Perfect competition. Monopoly, oligopoly and the S‐C‐P paradigm. Alternative theories of the firm.

• detecting and measuring market power. Profitability and market structure. The collusion versus the differential efficiency debate. Empirical attempts to resolve the debate.

• barriers to entry. Limit pricing and entry. Strategic barriers to entry. Contestable markets.

• horizontal product differentiation. Spatial competition. Vertical product differentiation.

• innovation and market structure. Technical change and uncertainty. Diffusion of technology. The economics of patents.