| Date | Reading | Other Assignments | Concepts Covered |
| 1/18 | Cabral: Chapter 1 | NA | Syllabus
Brief history of antitrust law and industrial organization theory (slides) (Links to general antitrust sites) Begin review of micro basics |
| 1/25 | Cabral: Chapters 2 and 3 | Economies
of scale (examples 1 and 2)
and scope
Profit maximization review (slides) Discuss the game and pick firms |
|
| 1/30 | Cabral: Chapter 4 | Perfect
competition and monopoly Efficiency (slides)
Present value Firm boundaries Introduction to game theory (slides) |
|
| 2/1 | Cabral: Chapters 5 and 6 | Game begins | Natural
monopoly and monopolistic competition (slides)
Entry and exit basics (slides) |
| 2/6 | Cabral: Chapter 7 | Industry Approval | Cournot
Bertrand |
| 2/8 | Stackelberg
Oligopoly continued |
||
| 2/13 | Cabral: Chapter 8 | Problem
Set 1 due
Solution to PS 1 |
Cartels and Collusion |
| 2/15 | Case
1 - The Reasonableness of Horizontal Restraints: NCAA
Case 2 - Facilitating Practices: The Ethyl Case Case 3 - Antitrust and Higher Education: MIT Financial Aid |
||
| 2/20 | Cabral:
Chapter 9
Case 4 - Rapid Price Communication and Coordination: The Airline Tariff Publishing Case |
ADM-Lysine
Price Fixing
Market structure & concentration (Film example) Market definition |
|
| 2/22 | Cabral:
Chapter 10
Price Discrimination |
Paper 1 due | Monopoly pricing strategies |
| 2/27 | Case
5 - Links Between Vertically Related Markets: Kodak
Case 6 - Tying and Exclusive Dealing: Jefferson Parish Hospital v. Hyde |
Problem
Set 2 due
Solution to Problem Set 2 (word document) |
Product tie-ins and price discrimination |
| 3/1 | Midterm | Midterm
Review
Last year's midterm |
|
| 3/13 | Cabral: Chapter 11 | Vertical relationships | |
| 3/15 | Case 7 - Resale Price Maintenance Reexamined: Monsanto v. Spray-Rite | Vertical
relationships con't
Vertical foreclosure example |
|
| 3/20 | Cabral: Chapter 12 | Paper 2 due | Product
differentiation
Product characteristics |
| 3/22 | Cabral: Chapter 13 | Advertising | |
| 3/27 | Advertising continued | ||
| 3/29 | Cabral: Chapter 14 | Entry
costs and market structure
Start of Predatory conduct |
|
| 4/3 | Cabral: Chapter 15 | Problem
Set 3 due
Solution to Problem Set 3 (word document) |
Conclusion of Predatory conduct slides |
| 4/5 | Case
8 - Collusive Predation: Matsushita vs. Zenith
Case 9 - Predation by a Nondominant Firm: The Ligget Case |
Predatory conduct continued | |
| 4/10 | Pages
14-20 from the Kwoka and White case book
Case 10 - Prices, Market Definition, and the Effect of Merger: Staples-Office Depot |
Paper 3 due | Horizontal mergers |
| 4/12 | Case 11 - Vertical and Horizontal Ownership in Cable TV: Time Warner-Turner | Vertical mergers | |
| 4/17 | Cabral: Chapter 16 | Innovations
& Patents
Patent FAQ |
|
| 4/19 | Problem
Set 4 due
Solution to Problem Set 4 |
R&D and competition | |
| 4/24 | Cabral:
Chapter 17
Case 12 - Networks, Standards, and the Use of Market Dominance: Microsoft |
Network externalities | |
| 4/26 | Review | Paper
4 due
CSG game summary |