UCL - Economics of ICT'S: Impact and Regulation

[ECON2371]

[30h] 5 credits

Teacher(s):

Language: English

Level: Second

Aims
Main themes
Content and teaching methods
Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Aims

Learning outcomes :
- Learn the specific role of information and communication technologies (ICT) in our current societies and their contribution to economic growth
- Understand their specificities and the need for specific ICT regulation and identify the potential conflicts with horizontal regulations such as antitrust policy
Competences :
- Ability to understand and criticise empirical studies on ICT contribution to growth and to evaluate Euro-pean programmes promoting ICT diffusion
- Ability to evaluate the ICT regulatory framework
- Skills in writing essays on the specificities of ICT and their contribution to economic growth

Main themes

The first part of the course analyses the impact of ICT on markets and society at large and addresses issues such as the impact of IT on economic performance and trade. After a descriptive part (definition and relative weight in our developed societies), the direct and indirect macroeconomic impact on growth are considered, both from a theoretic and empirical point of view.
The second part focuses on specificities of information markets and network goods in order to understand when and why specific sectoral regulation is needed. The evolution of the sectoral regulation since the liberalisation of the telecommunications market in 1998 is used as case study.

Content and teaching methods

Content
First part (macro aspects) : starting from a simple version of Solow's growth model and of the endogenous growth model, the importance of marginal productivity of capital and of technical progress is stressed. Main determinants of growth, both at a macro level and at a sectoral level, are identified, allowing us to isolate the specific contribution of ICT (both direct and indirect impact on total factors' productivity).
Students are then requested to write an essay on 'How far do these theories explain the growth differential be-tween the US and Europe?'
Second part (micro level) : the course examines the extent to which regulation is an optimal answer to the mar-ket failures resulting from the specificities of information markets and network goods with a specific focus on the choice between infrastructure-based competition and service-based competition.
The evolution of the regulatory framework in the European telecommunications market is used as case study.
Students are requested to write an essay on the specific role of sectoral regulation and its evolution towards the common competition policy framework

Teaching method :
Confront intuitions derived from theoretical models with facts (case studies and the evolution of the regulatory framework).

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Basic knowledge of the specificities of the information sector (such as LINF 2281 :industrial organisation of the information sector); macroeconomics intermediate level

Based on written contributions and their oral presentation

EU documents on the growth differential between the US and the EU and on the ICT regulatory framework

First part :
Macroeconomics Part III Growth Theory, G. Mankiw
Les TIC : analyse des effets économiques et sociaux en Belgique, BFP 2003