Duration
30h Th
Number of credits
| Master in economics : general (120 ECTS) | 5 crédits | |||
| Master in economics : general (60 ECTS) | 5 crédits |
Lecturer
Language(s) of instruction
English language
Organisation and examination
Teaching in the first semester, review in January
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
Today (September 2022), the gaz and the electricity prices have skyrocketted (prices are 10 times higher compared to one year ago), with dramatic consequences for consumers and energy-intensive firms. The war in Ukrainia is responsible for these tensions on the gaz market but the market mechanism is also questionned and the European Commission discusses a possible re-regulation of the market. And if yes, how should the market be regulated?
In July 2018, the European Commission fines Google €4.34 billion for illegal practices regarding Android mobile devices to strengthen dominance of Google's search engine. This illegal conduct and the associated huge fine raise many questions. Why is it illegal? Is the fine proportionate? Will Google change its behavior? And how? Does the Commission managed to increase/restore competition on the market? The course of economics of competition and regulation aim at addressing these questions.
These two examples show that markets exhibit failures and public authorities often intervene in the conduct of those markets. There are several tools to intervene: market regulation (notably in network industries), competition policy (merger control, abusive practices, prohibition of state aids) and direct public service provision (in the rail market for instance). The course of Economics of Competition and Regulation studies public interventions in a market economy and the tool used by the authorities to maintain/increase competition on the market.
The course will present the main concept and tools of economic regulation and will be illustrated with many examples.
Provisional topic list:
Part 1: Regulation
- Liberalization and market design (electricity, rail, telecom)
- The current crisis in electricity market
- Theory of incentive regulation
- Tools for regulators: benchmarking
- Regulation in practice: meet the regulator
- Mergers
- Abusive practices
- Big techs
- Competition policy in practice: meet the competition authority
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
Be able to use simplified economic and econometric models to understand a real-world problem in the fields of competition and regulation.
ILO: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
This course is a master 2 course in economics and students need a strong economic background to enrol. In particular, students should have followed the following courses:
-Industrial organization (Models of oligopoly)
-Game theory (Nash equilibrium)
-Econometrics (OLS at least)
-Microeconomics (Utility maximization, consumer surplus, profit maximization, cost functions, etc.)
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
Teaching sessions (live): slides + reading list + online material + press coverage
Guest lecturer from regulators, competition authorities and regulated firms
Material and reading lists will be provided for the presentation by the students and the case.
Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)
Face-to-face course
Recommended or required readings
Reading list (scientific articles) will be provided
Exam(s) in session
Any session
- In-person
oral exam
Written work / report
Additional information:
Evaluation:
-Student's presentation of a paper + case (40%)
-Oral exam (60%)
Work placement(s)
Organisational remarks and main changes to the course
This course will be given in English
Classes on Wednesday 9am-12.15pm (Q1)
Slides and readings are available on line
Contacts
Lecturer: Axel GAUTIER Email: agautier@uliege.be Office I.49, BAT B31(ST) Tel: 04/366.30.53