HIGH TECH MARKETS, INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION AND GROWTH

1. Knowledge and understanding (Conoscenza e capacità di comprensione). The unit aims to provide knowledge of the main economic aspects related to Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) along with both their link to some Industrial Organisation (IO) issues and their implications for economic growth.
2. Applying knowledge and understanding (Capacità di applicare conoscenza e comprensione). The unit aims to develop skills in applying information, using appropriate methods, concepts and theories regarding the ITC, IO, and growth to the analysis of real-world cases.
3. Making judgments (Autonomia di giudizio). Successful students will be able to select a proper economic model in order to analyse both theoretical and real-world cases.
4. Communication skills (Abilità comunicative). Successful students will be familiar with both the terms and the narrative related to High Technology, Industrial Organisation and Growth. Furthermore, they will be able to communicate to a variety of audiences including experts, practitioners, and the general public.   
5. Learning skills (Capacità di apprendimento). Successful students will be able to understand which theoretical concept is appropriate to deal with specific problems in the field of high technology, industrial organisation, and its link to growth.

In-class lectures and seminars. 

Please note that the structure might change due to the ongoing pandemic.  

None. 

Highly Recommended.  

Industrial Organisation of Hi-Tech Markets. The economics of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT): an introduction. ICT investments in Research and Development (R&D). Small firms grow online. ICT as general-purpose technologies. ICT and information goods. ICT as a product. Facebook: network effects in action. There’s an app for that: a mention to apps pricing issues and strategies. Google: the new Big Brother? ICT, the economic value of information, and related privacy issues.  

Digital Markets. Market efficiency. Empirical evidence on digital markets efficiency. Price dispersion on digital markets. Versioning and building. Dynamic pricing.

Network Externalities. Network externalities and critical mass. The dynamics of technology adoption. Competition, compatibility and standardisation. Strategies towards standardisation. Switching costs and network externalities.

Access and Interconnection in Telecommunications. One-way access. Access pricing with imperfect downstream competition. Local loop unbundling. Access and investments: the ladder of investments theory. Two-way access and interconnection. Interconnection fee and collusion. Interconnection and calling rates. Interconnection and the “receving party pays” regime.

Cumulative Innovation in Dynamic Industries. Patents and other appropriability mechanism. Standing on the shoulders of giants. Patent thickets and anticommons. The issue of weak patents.

High-technology industry and growth. Innovation and Growth: The Schumpeterian Perspective. Cross-country comparative analysis.

Recommended textbook

• Comino, S., & Manenti, F. M. (2014). Industrial Organisation of High-technology Markets: The Internet and Information Technologies. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Further readings

• Aghion, P., Akcigit, U. 2015. Innovation and growth: the Schumpeterian perspective. Paper presented at the COEURE Coordination Action Workshop, June, 23rd, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels.

• Benko, G. (2000). Technopoles, high-tech industries and regional development: A critical review. GeoJournal, 51(3), 157-167.

• Jenkins, J. C., Leicht, K. T., & Jaynes, A. (2006). Do High Technology Policies Work? High Technology Industry Employment Growth in US Metropolitan Areas, 1988–1998. Social forces, 85(1), 267-296.

• Keeble, D. E. (1989). High-technology industry and regional development in Britain: the case of the Cambridge phenomenon. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 7(2), 153-172.

• Lucchese, M., Nascia, L., & Pianta, M. (2016). Industrial policy and technology in Italy. Economia e politica industriale, 43(3), 233-260.

• Stam, E., De Jong, J. P., & Marlet, G. (2008). Creative industries in the Netherlands: Structure, development, innovativeness and effects on urban growth. Geografiska Annaler: series B, human geography, 90(2), 119-132.

• Tong, J. (2005). High‐Tech And High Capability In A Growth Model. International Economic Review, 46(1), 215-243.

Assessment strategy.

This unit will be assessed by means of two pieces of assessment: a written report and an oral exam. The former consists in a 3000-word essay that examines real-world cases related to the content of the unit. During the oral exam, each student will have the opportunity to discuss her/his own report and will be invited to answer open-ended questions. The report and the oral exam will be weighted equally. The essay will be assessed according to the following criteria: general presentation, grammar, vocabulary, text building, critical thinking, and the use of ICT resources. The oral exam will assess the relevance of the answers with respect to the question, its content, the ability to create proper links to additional topics, the ability to report examples, the use of proper technical language, and the overall communication skills. More specifically, each work will be graded according to the following scheme:

- Not approved: the student has not acquired the basic concepts and is not able to answer at least 60% of the questions or carry out the exercises.
- 18-23: the student demonstrates minimal mastery of the basic concepts, his content connection skills are modest, she is able to solve simple exercises.
- 24-27: the student demonstrates a good mastery of the course contents, his skills in connecting the contents are good, and she solves the exercises with few errors.
- 28-30 cum laude (distinction): the student has acquired all the contents of the course and can master them completely and connect them with a critical spirit; solves the exercises completely and without errors.

IMPORTANT—Students with disabilities and/or DSA must contact the teacher and the DMI CInAP contact person sufficiently before the exam date to communicate that they intend to take the exam and take advantage of the appropriate compensatory measures.

ICT as a product. Market efficiency in Hi-Tech markets. Access pricing with the imperfect downstream competition. Patent thickets and anticommons. Perspectives on Innovation and Growth