Classes

Graduate Industrial Organization II

Semester: 
2nd semester
Offered: 
2016

The class introduces students to frontier methods in the empirical analysis of market structure and competition. We cover a wide range of methods for the identification of noncompetitive behavior in markets. We study how to estimate demand in markets with differentiated products, with applications to major markets such as the market for automobiles. We cover empirical methods for merger analysis, including merger simulation. In the last part of the class we cover models in which the number and identity of competing firms are endogenously determined. These models allow us to estimate entry costs, and to understand the strategic interaction in an oligopoly market.

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Advanced Econometrics III (Graduate)

Semester: 
2nd semester
Offered: 
2016

The class is about estimating microeconometric models. The class has an applied emphasis: how econometrics can help us understand the incentives of agents in markets for technology, health, insurance and others. The class covers a variety of econometric methods, from veteran parametric methods to frontier methods (nonparametrics, partial identification). We analyze models that address issues that arise frequently in empirical work. The class begins with models that have Limited Dependent Variables (i.e., certain limitations are imposed on the dependent variable) such as Probit, Logit, Ordered Probit, and Censored Regression models. We then discuss the important problem of sample selection and study practical methods for solving it. The class then turns to discuss Discrete Choice Models and, if time permits, structural modeling techniques.

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Consumer preferences and market power: an empirical analysis (undergraduate)

Semester: 
1st semester
Offered: 
2016

This class presents methods for empirical and practical analysis of markets and competition. It emphasizes the relationship between microeconomic theory and empirical methods, and the application of the methods to the analysis of current issues in the Israeli economy. Among the topics: consumer activism and its impact on preferences, retail competition in Jerusalem (why certain neighborhoods pay more despite being nonaffluent?), media markets: does the market equilibrium "discriminate" against minority groups, and in what sense? How is the quality of goods and services determined in an oligopoly market?

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The class includes advanced subjects in microeconomic theory and econometrics, and requires reading articles and conducting independent economic analysis. For additional information please refer to the Moodle site.

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