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VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HO CHI MINH CITY
PLE UNIVERSITAIRE FRANAIS HO CHI MINH CITY
MASTER ECONOMICS AND TRADE PROFESSOR: Claude CrampesACADEMIC
YEAR: 2013-2014COURSE:Network economics
COURSE SYLLABUS
I. Course Meeting:February 2014: Monday 17 to Friday 21 (3hours
a day) and 5 hours on Saturday 22
II. Course Description:1. Alternative network concepts
2. Natural monopoly and infrastructuremanagement
3. Negative externalities, congestion diseconomies
4. Positive externalities, club economies
5. Competition issues
III. Course Objective:Many industries are based on a network
infrastructure necessary for collecting and/or distributing
a good or a service: electricity, postal services, cable TV,
airlines and ground transportation, water
and sanitation, telecommunications, etc. Industrial Organization
and Public Economics provide
useful tools for the analysis of conduct and performance in
these industries.
The course sketches the main features of network activities,
stressing their natural monopoly
characteristics and the specificity of competition under network
externalities. We explain how
users interact through material or immaterial infrastructure,
protocols and applications, creating
strong externalities. We study in depth the main economic
concepts that allow understanding how
network industries emerge and develop. We also pay attention to
the difficulty of applying
competition analysis to these industries, and we study how
antitrust intervention can interfere with
industry regulation.
IV. Course Material: Basic knowledge in microeconomics and
mathematics is required. Basic concepts can befound for example in
H.R. Varian "Microeconomic Analysis", 3rd Ed (June 1992), W.W.
Norton A visit of Nicholas Economides' web-site at
www.stern.nyu.edu/networkswill give anoutlook of the wide variety
of topics covered in the Economics of Networks.
European Commission (1999), Liberalisation of network
industries. Economicimplications and main policy issues, European
Economy,
n4,ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/publications/publication8093_en.pdf
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J.J. Laffont and J. Tirole (2000) "Competition in
Telecommunications", MIT Press. Readmainly chapters 2-6
"Special Issue on Transmission Pricing", Utilities Policy,
vol.6, number 3, September1997. Read mainly M. Hsu (257-270) and R.
Green (177-184)
O. Shy (2001) "The Economics of Network Industries", Cambridge
University Press. Readmainly chapters 1-6.
V. Assessments:Grading based on written exam (2 hours).
