The course cannot be offered in the summer semester 2025 due to capacity reasons.

Learning objectives

This course aims to provide a basic understanding of market structures and potential barriers to competition and their influence on pricing in companies. This module places particular emphasis on the competition policy implications of these issues. The regulatory and competition policy responses to natural monopolies, cartels, collusion, and mergers are discussed at both the German and European levels.

Contents

The course combines theoretical analysis of market structures with an application-oriented, competition policy perspective. In contrast to the module “Introduction to Industrial Economics,” the focus here is on the analysis of competition policy strategies.

This course covers: Welfare effects of market power; Definition and measurement of market power; Competition concepts in economic theory; Characteristics and regulation of natural monopolies; Collusion and horizontal agreements between companies; Horizontal and vertical mergers.

Course materials

Outlines, reading lists, PDF versions of the slides used, and exercise sheets can be found on the myBTU learning portal.

Current evaluation results

Main literature:

• Knieps, Günter. Wettbewerbsökonomie (Competitive Economy). 3rd revised and updated edition, Heidelberg: Springer, 2008.
• Motta, Massimo. Competition Policy: Theory and Practice, Cambridge University Press, 2004.
• Schmidt, Ingo and Haucap, Justus. Wettbewerbspolitik und Kartellrecht (Competition Policy and Antitrust Law). 10th edition, Oldenbourg, 2013.

Further reading:

• Bester, H. (2003): Theorie der Industrieökonomik (Theory of Industrial Economics). 2nd edition. Heidelberg: Springer.
• Carlton, D.W. / J.M. Perloff (2005): Modern Industrial Organization. 4th edition. Boston: Addison-Wesley.
• Pepall, L. / D.J. Richards / G. Norman (2005): Industrial Organization: Contemporary Theory and Empirical Applications, 4th edition, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
• Tremblay V.J. / C.H. Tremblay (2012): New Perspectives on Industrial Organization. New York: Springer.