Industrial Economics and Policy

The course aims to provide students with a basic knowledge of the main theoretical foundations of industrial economics and of principles of industrial policy. It focuses on the study of companies and markets' structure, organisation, strategies, and performance. It provides the theoretical knowledge to reach an understanding of the determinants of industrial structure (e.g. company size, concentration of market shares, ), and its effects on market efficiency and consumer welfare. Further, industrial policy rationale, objectives and main tools are presented and analysed.

At the end of the course students are expected to acquire:
1. Knowledge and understanding of:
- basic concepts related to market structure and neoclassical theory;
- market structures, starting from those developed by the neoclassical theory and then widening the analysis to include collusive and non-collusive oligopolistic models;
- product differentiation and price strategies;
- definition of industrial policy, rationale for industrial policy, market failures and government failures; other policy objectives.

2. Application skills:
- ability to formalize economic environments making use of the theoretical concepts of modern industrial economic theory and policy;
- analyse the dynamics of industrial development in a policy perspective;
- analyse in a critical way the strategic choices of firms and their impact on the sectoral competitive dynamics;
- evaluate government policies in terms of market failures and government failures.