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ECO-30046 - Module Specification
Keele Business School
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

For academic year: 2022/23 Last Updated: 19 January 2023

ECO-30046 - Industrial Organisation
Coordinator: Shiva Sikdar Tel: +44 1782 7 34372
Lecture Time: See Timetable...
Level: Level 6
Credits: 15
Study Hours: 150
School Office: 01782 733094

Programme/Approved Electives for 2022/23

None

Available as a Free Standing Elective

Yes

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2022/23

This module explores topics in industrial organisation and regulation. The module examines how firms' behaviour in setting output and price changes when we allow for non-competitive behaviour and inter-dependent decision-making. Issues associated with prospective industrial regulation are also examined.

Aims
This module focuses on the study of imperfectly competitive markets, a much more realistic setting than the perfect competition case. The emphasis is on the behaviour of firms in such settings, in particular their quest for, and use of, market power. The strategic interaction of firms, including their pricing decisions and the possible equilibrium outcomes, are analysed in detail. The basic game-theoretic tools necessary for the study of industrial organisation will be taught in the context of the models being developed. The welfare implications of alternative market organisations, the consequences of market power, and the scope for government regulation and antitrust/competition policies will be considered.

Intended Learning Outcomes

demonstrate knowledge of key questions in the field of industrial organisation and regulation and their relevance
: 1,2
explain the implications of taking strategic considerations into account and relate how behaviour may be different in strategic environments compared to non-strategic environments: 1,2
translate real-world situations into an abstract model in order to critically analyse and derive predictions of real-world behaviour: 1,2
solve the "equilibrium" in various models of markets including oligopolistic markets, markets with dynamic interaction, markets with price discrimination and markets with vertical interaction: 1,2
use strategic thinking to predict market outcomes in simple settings.: 1,2
analyse basic economic and strategic models of industrial organisation using game theoretic solution concepts such as Nash equilibrium and subgame perfect equilibrium: 1,2

Study hours

Lectures: 20 hours
Small-group teaching: 4 hours
Reading/revision of lecture material: 86 hours
Preparation of problem sets: 20 hours
Class preparation: 20 hours

School Rules

ECO-30047, Advanced Topics in Microeconomics

Description of Module Assessment

1: Class Test weighted 30%
Class-test involving a mix of numerical and discursive questions
Mid-term in-class test. Answers should be as accurate and concise as possible. A sequence of short problem-solving questions and short descriptive questions designed to elicit understanding and act as a fitting mid-term revision exercise.

2: Open Book Examination weighted 70%
Final exam
Final exam covering the syllabus of the whole module. Answers should be as accurate and concise as possible. The time available to complete this assessment is 28 hours but you would normally not be expected to invest more than 2 hours of active-working time on this assessment.

Please note that for the 2022/23 Academic Year programmes may be adapted to operate in accordance with a flexible, digital approach. This means that there may be some changes made to how modules are delivered and assessed. The latest information will be provided to you by your School in module handbooks. We endeavour to give you as much notice as possible of any changes and details about the circumstance in which changes are made to programmes can be found in the Student Agreement, available at: https://www.keele.ac.uk/student-terms-and-conditions/

Last Updated: 19 January 2023