Economics of Communication

The course aims to provide students the economic instruments for the analysis of the areas of communication and their specific problems with regard to competition, business strategies and public policies. This course is organized with a survey of economic issues in communication and cultural industries. It examines some of the special aspects of these businesses that complicate the market processes, such as the particular nature of demand for experience goods, pricing strategy, scale economies and obstacles to market equilibrium that motivate public policy.
The course will analyze several industries to provide an overview of the markets for different kinds of information goods. We will use the tools of microeconomics and of industrial economics to provide insights about features and processes that explain the specific outcomes observed in the markets for experience goods, cultural goods and information goods.

At the end of the course students should have developed the ability to understand economic dimensions of cultural and communication industries, the knowledge of the main specific economic tool used in this context and the comprehension of competition and regulation of this particular area of economic activities.
Critical and judgment skills will be developed through policy discussions and the analysis of specific cases.
The practical work on a case study will be useful to develop the ability to communicate what has been learned and to refine critical and judgment skills.