Economics of the Internet

Teacher(s)

Belleflamme Paul;

Language

English

Prerequisites

A course in Industrial Organization or in Advanced Microeconomics
In addition, this course is reserved for students with a bachelor's degree in business engineering or students with equivalent quantitative method skills

Main themes

This course aims at providing a thorough and rigorous analysis of the impacts that the Internet has on the structure of existing markets, the creation of new markets, and the strategies that economic agents (firms, consumers and regulators) deploy on these markets. The tools of the theory of industrial organization are used to understand a wide array of online market phenomena, including multi-sided platforms, impacts of big data (targeted advertising and pricing, recommendation systems, and privacy), and online business models. The course makes use of case studies to make parallels between theory and reality.

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1	At the end of the course, students should be able to : master an array of concepts from the theory of industrial organization, so as understand how the Internet affects the working of markets, as well as the strategies implemented by firms, consumers and regulators on these markets, and to apply these theoretical concepts to the analysis of real-life situations.

Content

The course aims at providing a thorough and rigorous analysis of the impacts that the Internet has on the structure of existing markets, on the creation of new markets, and on the strategies that economic agents (firms, consumers and regulators) deploy on these various markets. The tools of the theory of industrial organization are used to understand a wide array of online market phenomena, including multi-sided platforms, impacts of ‘big data’ (targeted advertising and pricing, recommendation systems, privacy), net neutrality and online business models. The course makes use of case studies to make parallels between theory and reality.

Teaching methods

The theoretical material is presented during the lectures. Students are asked to work in groups and individually in order to apply the theoretical framework to specific case studies and/or to topical issues.
In-class activities

• Lectures
• Group discussions and work
• Testimonies by external experts 

At home activities

• Readings to prepare the lectures
• Assignments

Evaluation methods

The final grade in this course is based on grades in individual coursework (30%), group coursework (40%) and final exam (30%). The contents of the individual and group coursework will be made explicit at the start of the course. If the sanitary situation permits, the final exam will be in person, under the format of a 1-hour, close-book, written exam. Otherwise, the exam will take place online, under the format of a 15 minutes, open-book, oral exam.

Online resources

See the Moodle web site of the course.

Bibliography

References: Provided during the class
Lecture notes and Slides provided through Moodle

Faculty or entity

CLSM