Dr. Deak,  Fall 2002                                                                     Office Hours:

Office Don - 327:  Tel: 1-203-254-4000 x-2866                M, Th, 1:00-1:45 p.m.

e-mail: deak@fair1.fairfield.edu                                                          5:00-5:30 p.m.

                                                                                                     or by appointment

 

ECONOMICS 250 - INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION

 

Texts:  The following books will be used in this course:

 

(S)  William G. Shepherd, The Economics of Industrial Organization, 4th ed., (Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press, 1999).

 

(AB)  Walter Adams and James Brock, The Structure of American Industry, 10th ed., (Englewood Clifts, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2001).

 

(D) Edward J. Deak, The Economics of e-Commerce and the Internet, (Draft, 2002)

 

Examinations and Grade Weights:  Your final grade will be tabulated as follows:

            Two hourly exams worth 200 points each

            Ten weekly cases worth 200 points in total

            Ten microthemes worth 200 points in total

            Comprehensive final exam worth 400 points in total

 

The point total for the semester is 1200.  A missed assignment will result in a grade of zero in the absence of an acceptable and verifiable excuse.  There will be no make-ups for a missed exam, microtheme or case assignment, except for the final exam.  Microthemes are due in class the day after they are assigned.  They may not be made up or handed in late.  I reserve the right to alter your final mark by up to 1/2 of a letter grade based upon the volume and quality of your class participation.  The University policy regarding academic honesty is in force at all times.

 

Case Study Syllabus.  For most weeks, a portion of Thursday’s class will consist of a mutual discussion of an assigned industry case drawn from the AB text.  The discussion will take the form of directed questions and answers.  There are 10 cases in all, and they are designed to allow you to “inductively” develop a model of the link between industry organization, strategic behavior, and economic efficiency.  The case outline is separate from the text outline and will be maintained regardless of the pace of the theoretical material.  The cases are worth 200 points in total or 20 points each.  Your case grade will depend upon your ability to answer the questions correctly indicating your understanding of the economic aspects of the industry’s structure, behavior, and performance.

 

            CLASS DATE                      INDUSTRY CASE AND CHAPTER IN AB

 

                        9/12                             Ch. 1 - Agriculture

                        9/19                             Ch. 2 - Petroleum

                        9/26                             Ch. 3 - Cigarettes

                        10/3                             Ch. 4 - Beer

                        10/10                           No case – 1st Hour Exam

                        10/17                           Ch. 5 – Automobiles

                        10/24                           Ch. 6 - Computers

                        10/31                           Ch. 7 – Motion Pictures

                        11/7                             Ch. 8 – Airlines

                        11/14                           No case – 2nd Hour Exam

                        11/21                           Ch. 9 – Commercial Banking

                        11/28                           No case - Thanksgiving recess

                        12/5                             Ch. 12 - Telecommunications

 

Microtheme Assignments:  There will be approximately 12 short written assignments called microthemes.  They will usually be handed out on Thursday with the written responses due the following Monday.  They cover readings on contemporary topics dealing with industry organization, strategic behavior or economic performance.  They will usually require your one page, type written response to the questions that must be handed in at the beginning of the class.  We will also spend a few moments discussing the answers to give you a sense of the collective response to the questions.  They will be worth 20 points each with the best 10 papers counting towards your final grade.  Late papers will not be accepted and there are no make-ups for missed microthemes.

 

N.B.  - Questions about the industry cases and microthemes may appear on exams.

 

e-Commerce/Internet Text: Chapter readings about this industry will serve as one continuous case that will be examined throughout the semester.  The case will take the theoretical material in the Shepherd text and apply it to a single contemporary industry.  Shepherd readings will normally be covered on Monday as will the chapters in the e-commerce/Internet text.  The Shepherd material will be discussed in full, while the e-commerce/Internet application will usually be started and carried over to the first part of Thursday’s class.

 

As a special help to Dr. Deak you will be asked to fill out a brief questionnaire asking for your opinion and evaluation for each chapter in the e-Commerce text.  The evaluations will be collected on Thursday when the topics are discussed in class.  Please remember to participate in this part of the course.  Thank you

 

Readings:  The next few pages contain the subject matter and reading assignment for each class.  Please note that the weekly case schedule listed above will be maintained regardless of our progress on the theoretical .  You are expected to read the assignments before class.  This is absolutely essential for the AB cases. 

 

 

MEETING DATE             ASSIGNMENT

 

            9/5                               Introduction to Industrial Organization - Linking the

                                                   Organization and Efficiency Problems.

                                                            S – Ch. 1

 

            9/9                               A Review of Microeconomics - The Competitive Model

                                                            S – Ch. 2 part

                                                            D – Chs. 1 and 2

 

            9/12                             A Review of Microtheory - The Monopoly Model

                                                            S – Ch. 2 continued

                                                            D – Ch. 3

                                                            AB – Ch. 1, Agriculture Case

 

            9/16                             Market Concentration

                                                            S – Ch. 3

                                                            D – Ch. 4                          

 

            9/19                             Market Concentration – Levels, trends, measurement

                                                            AB – Ch.2, Petroleum industry

 

            9/23                             Entry Barriers – Economies of scale

                                                            S – Ch. 7

                                                            D – Ch. 5

 

            9/26                             Entry Barriers continued

                                                            AB – Ch. 3 Cigarette industry

 

            9/30                             Patents and other entry barriers

                                                            D – Ch. 6

                                                           

            10/3                             Patents and other entry barriers

                                                            AB – Ch. 4 Beer industry

 

            10/7                             Copyrights in the digital age

                                                            D – Ch. 7

 

            10/10                           First Hour Exam

                                                            No case

 

            10/14                           No class – Columbus Day Holiday

 

            10/17                           Copyrights continued

                                                            AB – Ch. 5 Automobile industry

 

            10/21                           Structural Change Through Mergers

                                                            S – Ch. 6

                                                            D – Ch. 8

 

            10/24                           Mergers continued

                                                            AB – Ch. Computers

 

            10/28                           Behavioral Designed to Create Market Dominance

                                                            S – Ch. 8, 9

                                                            D – Ch. 9

 

            10/31                           Behavior to Sustain Market Dominance

            AB – Ch. 7 Motion Picture industry

 

            11/4                             Behavior Designed to Challenge Market Dominance

 

            11/7                             Pricing Strategies

                                                            S – Ch. 10

                                                            D – Ch. 10

                                                            AB – Ch. 8 Airline industry

 

            11/11                           Pricing Strategies continued

                                                            S – Ch. 11

 

            11/14                           Second Hour Exam

                                                            No Case

 

            11/18                           Product Differentiation

                                                            S – Ch. 12

                                                            D – Ch. 11

           

            11/21                           Product Promotion

                                                            AB – Commercial banking industry

 

            11/25                           Profitability

                                                            S – Ch. 4 part.

                                                            D – Ch. 12

 

            11/28                           Happy Thanksgiving – No Class, No case

 

            12/2                             Efficiency Considerations

                                                            S – Ch. 4 remainder

                                                            D – Ch. 13

 

            12/5                             Venture Capital, IPO’s and Innovation

                                                            S – Ch. 5

                                                            D – Ch. 14

                                                            AB – Telecommunications industry

 

            12/9                             Learning from dot-com failures

                                                            D – Ch. 15

 

            COMPREHENSIVE FINAL EXAM - DECEMBER 2002