As an analyst, manager or economist, there are many important problems and questions you can only address by analysing data. For instance, "if we increase the price of one product by 5%, what is the likely effect on demand for this and other products in our portfolio, as well as competitors' products?", "what are the consequences of high concentration in grocery retailing?", or "how does regulation change firm and consumer behavior?"
Empirical analysis of problems in business strategy, competition policy and market regulation requires both knowledge of the specific market, appropriate models to account for important mechanisms and structure the analysis, and ability to choose and correctly use quantitative methods to estimate unknown quantities.
In this course, you will analyse data from important markets in the economy, while being introduced to methods and models that will allow you to answer key questions related to competition, consumer behavior, regulation and evolution of business. You will be equipped with sufficient knowledge to interpret empirical results and convey the information in professional settings.
We plan to cover the following markets, with accompanying models and empirical methods:
- Electricity markets
- Competitive supply and demand
- Instrumental variables and estimating systems of equations
- Grocery retailing
- Product differentiation and pricing of product portfolios
- Discrete choice methods
- Machine learning for demand prediction
- Banking and local competition
- Market structure and sunk costs
- Entry cost estimation
- Pharmaceuticals
- Innovation, intellectual property rights and patents
- Differences-in-differences and value of patents
- Production and distribution of beverages
- Efficiency gains and competition loss in mergers and acquisitions
- Merger simulation and analysis