Details
Instructor: Roberto Gabriele
Class hours: 48 (8 ECTS)
Objectives
Upon successful completion of this course, students: (i) will know the role of market structure for competition and the dynamics through which firms enter and exit the market; (ii) will know the main theories on firm growth and its determinants and will be able to calculate and discuss firm growth through the analysis of balance sheet data; (iii) will put firm dynamics and firm productivity into perspective within the process of (macro-)economic growth; (iv) will know the main elements of the debate on the micro- and macro-economic effects of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs); (iv) will know the "Industry Life Cycle" framework; (vi) will interpret the results of the relevant empirical studies in Industrial Dynamics, by applying the concepts described in the previous points.
Pre-requirements
Good knowledge of the principles of Microeconomics and Industrial Organization definitely constitutes an advantage.
Contents
Main topics:
A. From market structure to industrial dynamics.
B. The post-entry performance of firms: a focus on firm growth.
C. Firm dynamics, firm productivity, aggregate productivity and economic growth.
D. ICTs: micro- and macro-economic effects.
E. The dynamics of industry structure: the Industry Life Cycle framework.
Teaching methods
The course calls for 48 hours and two weekly lectures (2 hours each).
Lectures are of two types: (i) traditional lectures where the teacher presents a Topic in its main theoretical and empirical features; (ii) practical classes in which students' involvement is more relevant and it is "moderated" via individual presentations (20-25 minutes) on reports written by international institutions (such as the European Commission, OECD, World Bank,...) or by solving numerical exercises that are related to the theoretical concepts.
These reports are very much connected with the Topics introduced in class by the lecturer and students will benefit from preparing an individual presentation on one of those in order to appreciate the relevance of the main topics of this course for interpreting real world's industrial dynamics.
Each student will present the main content of one report/working paper during the course.
Evaluation of learning
- 50% of the final mark will be assigned by: (a) (25%) in-class individual presentations --as described above-- which will take place during practical classes; (b) (25%) an individual written essay (short paper) in which each student will be asked, as an home assignment, to use firm-level data (provided by the lecturer) in order to get some econometric results and use them to answer to several questions;
- the other 50% will be based on a written final made up of maximum of 5 open-ended questions. Questions will be on: (i) enunciating and describing the theoretical and empirical frameworks analyzed in class; (ii) making comments on the results presented in relevant empirical works through the lens of the concepts dealt with in class; (iii) solving some numerical exercises similar to those solved during the practical sessions.
Students have to get at least a sufficient grade (18/30) at the written final to pass the exam.
For the duration of the health emergency, the written examination will be carried out in digital form, with online automatic video surveillance (proctoring).
Texts
Reading list established by the lecturer. Some fundamental readings are the following ones:
• * Cabral L. (2000), Introduction to Industrial Organization, "Perfect (and Almost Perfect) Competition"; "Entry Costs, Market Structure and Welfare", chaps. 6 and 14, pp. 85-97; 241-258.
• * Malerba F. and Orsenigo L. (1996), "The Dynamics and Evolution of Industries", Industrial and Corporate Change, 5 (1), pp. 51-87.
* Coad, A. (2007), "Firm Growth: A survey", Papers on Economics and Evolution, 0703, Max Planck Institute of Economics, Jena
• * Geroski, P. (1999), "The growth of firms in theory and practice", CEPR Discussion Paper n. 2092.
• * Klepper, S. (1997), "Industry Life Cycles", Industrial and Corporate Change, 6, pp. 145-181.