The University of Alberta Department of Economics
Winter 2019
ECON 373. Industrial Organization
Instructor: Valentina Kozlova
email: [email protected]
(Please have “Econ 373” in the subject line) office: Tory 9-25,phone: 492-3873
Class Schedule: Tuesday 6:30 - 9:30 pm Lecture Room: BUS 2 9 Office Hours: Tuesday 3:00 - 4:00 pm, Friday 2:00 - 3:00 pm, or by appointment Class website: https://eclass.srv.ualberta.ca/portal/ - Sample exams,
grades and lecture notes will be posted here.
Prerequisites: ECON 281 or equivalent. Registration in the class will be cancelled if you have not taken (and passed) the prerequisites.
Course Description:
This course is a survey of the behavior and performance of firms in different market structures. We will study theoretical models of the modern firm, pricing decisions, product differentiation and advertising, technological advance. This course will rely not only on theoretical models and game theory, but also on empirical evidence that is traditional for this field.
Textbook:
Cabral: “Introduction to Industrial Organization”, 2nd edition, 2017
Grade Policy:
ePoll 4% Bonus marks
Midterm 1 30% Covers one third of the material, takes place in class
Midterm 2 30% Covers the second third of the material, takes place in class Final 40% Final exam is two hours long and is cumulative
Grades will be collected and aggregated in percentage form and letter grades will be assigned at the conclusion of the course. There is no pre-set distribution of grades for this course. Both absolute performance and relative performance to the rest of the class will be considered in assigning letter grades. Improvement and class participation will be taken into account for rare borderline cases.
ePoll:
You can access ePoll from any device that can connect to the internet, using the following link: epoll.srv.ualberta.ca. Use your U of A credentials to log in. Every class you will be provided a poll code that you will need to enter the poll. “Starting soon” message will display until the polling starts.
There will be regular ePoll activities in the classroom. It is your responsibility to have a functioning device for every class. There are no make-ups for missed activity. Your ePoll marks will add up to 4 bonus marks to your overall class score.
Tuesday, January 15, is when you get your first grades for the ePoll activity.
Grading for the ePoll session works as follows. You get 1 point for answering a question, however you get 2 points if you answer correctly. Points accumulate over the session. We will usually have about 10-20 questions each class. Your grade will be calculated as a percentage of your accumulated points out of the total points possible for that day. Overall ePoll grade in the semester will be a simple average of all the sessions.
Course Outline∗:
Chapter 1. . . What is Industrial Organization?
Chapter 2 . . . Consumers Chapter 3 . . . Firms Chapter 4 . . . Competition, Equilibrium, and Efficiency Chapter 5 . . . .Market Failure and Public Policy Midterm 1 . . . Feb 5 Chapter 6 . . . Price Discrimination Chapter 7 . . . Games and Strategies Chapter 8 . . . Oligopoly Chapter 9 . . . Collusion and Price Wars Chapter 10 . . . Market Structure Midterm 2 . . . Mar 12 Chapter 12 . . . Market Foreclosure Chapter 14 . . . Product Differentiation Chapter 15 . . . Innovation Chapter 16 . . . Networks Final . . . Apr 9
Exams:
You are required to have your student ID for all your exams. Random checks may be made during the midterm exams. Every ID is checked during the final exam.
The use of programmable (graphing) calculators and/or electronic communication devices is not permitted during exams. You may however use a regular calculator.
∗Note that the outline is tentative and is subject to change. All changes will be announced in class.
Missed exams: There will be no make-ups for missed midterm exams. If you are not able to take your midterm exam you must notify me immediately. The weight of that midterm will be transferred to the final exam. If you miss a midterm and do not contact me within 2 days you will receive zero marks for that exam. Please remember that transferring the weight of missed midterm to the final exam will result in you not being approved for a deferred final examination as you will not have completed the required 50% of term work. If you miss a final exam, you may apply to the undergraduate office of your own faculty for a deferred exam. I do not have the authority to approve such applications.
Other Policies:
Policy about course outlines can be found in the Evaluation Procedures and Grading System section of the University Calendar.
Academic integrity: The University of Alberta is committed to the highest standards of academic integrity and honesty. Students are expected to be familiar with these standards regarding academic honesty and to uphold the policies of the University in this respect.
Students are particularly urged to familiarize themselves with the provisions of the Code of Student Behaviour (online at www.governance.ualberta.ca) and avoid any behaviour which could potentially result in suspicions of cheating, plagiarism, misrepresentation of facts and/or participation in an offence. Academic dishonesty is a serious offence and can result in suspension or expulsion from the University. One example of plagiarism for this particular class is logging in to ePoll with another student’s credentials and answering questions for them.
Recording: Audio or video recording, digital or otherwise, of lectures, labs, seminars or any other teaching environment by students is allowed only with the prior written consent of the instructor or as part of an approved accommodation plan. Student or instructor content, digital or otherwise, created and/or used within the context of the course is to be used solely for personal study, and is not to be used or distributed for any other purpose without prior written consent from the content author(s).
Student Accessibility Services: If you have a condition that may require some classroom or exam modifications, please contact SAS (www.ssds.ualberta.ca) to obtain a determination as to what accommodations should be made.
