Aims

The seminar aims to teach students a variety of skills. They will learn how to use economic analysis tools to study a concrete economic problem. Emphasis will be put on the formulation of logical and coherent argument. Through a piece of compulsory written work, students will develop skills in library research, summary writing, structuring information and drafting. Through oral presentation, students will develop their spoken skills and will learn to extract the essential message from a presentation. They will also be required to report on another presentation and participate in the general discussions and thus to develop their critical thinking skills. Finally, whilst the seminar lays emphasis on the importance of personal work, it also aims to encourage group work and thus develop students' mutual aid strategies.

Main themes

The seminar could cover any of the following topics: industrial economics, network economics, European competition policy compared to American policy, competition policy and commercial policies. These notions are applied to real-world cases such as electricity and gas market regulation, problems of information asset piracy, the issue of company mergers and their expected effects on consumers.
The precise content of each seminar is therefore liable to change from one year to another in function of the professor (s) involved it in charge.
The practical details will be defined by the teaching team at the appropriate time.

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

Prerequisite: BAC 1 and 2 ECGE courses
Evaluation: Students have to prepare a piece of written work that will be the subject of an oral presentation and discussion. The work should show some originality, either in terms of the student's way of summarising and presenting the results of literature, or in its way of developing less known, or even new aspects of the subjects covered. The evaluation is carried out on the basis of the quality of this written work, the oral presentation, and participation in the seminar.
Course materials: Reading list provided at the beginning of the term