INDUSTRY DYNAMICS

The main goal of this course is to enable students to understand and analyze the forces that determine the structure and dynamics of industrial sectors. During the lectures, the papers representing the milestones on the subject will be presented in class

Basic knowledge of Industrial Economics and Statistics are required. Knowledge of the following topics of Industrial Economics is required: i) consumer and theories of the firm; ii) competition, equilibrium and efficiency; iii) market failures, regulation and efficiency; iv) oligopoly; v) collusion; vi) Structure and evolution of the markets. Textbook Luis Cabral, Industrial Economics Chapters: 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10. Topics in Descriptive Statistics include: i) definition of sample and population; ii) classification of variables and graphical representations; iii) measures of central tendency; iv) measures of variability; v) summary measures; vi) measures of relationships between variables; vii) linear relations. Textbook, Newbold P., Carlson, W.L., Thorne, B., Statistics, second edition (2010) Pearson. Chapters: 1 (par.1.2; 1.3); 2 (all). Any other statistics textbook covering the listed topics is fine.

At the end of the course students will be able to: Understand, design and conduct analyses on the characteristics and evolution of the sectors. Analyze and describe the evolution of businesses, with particular attention to business demographics and entrepreneurship. Develop strategic analysis skills. Understand the role of innovation for industrial dynamics.

The course deals with the structure, dynamics and evolution of industrial sectors. Business growth (Gibrat's law), market structure, determinants of the entry and exit of companies from a sector and the life cycle of industry, will be the subject of the first part of the course. We will then continue with the main theories on entrepreneurship, with the study of sectorial models of innovation and with the examination of the characteristics of the fourth industrial revolution. Each of these topics will have a practical-application part consisting of exercises with data on the Italian manufacturing industry. The course is based on the fundamental works that created the field of industrial dynamics. The papers, almost all in English, will be illustrated and explained in detail during the lessons in order to make them usable. However, not all papers included in the "reading list" will be treated in class. We also reserve the right to add during the course further papers currently not included in the reading list to be treated in class (which will therefore become a subject for examination) if the course and class discussions requires to.

The course is based on the fundamental works that created the field of industrial dynamics. The papers, almost all in English, will be illustrated and explained in detail during the lessons. However, not all papers included in the "reading list" will be treated in class. We also reserve the right to add during the course. The slides will be provided to students at the end of each lecture

The course consists of lectures, class discussion, exercises, simulations, and on group-works that will be presented in class at the end of the course.

The overall evaluation for the students attending class consists of an ongoing assessment (based on exercises and simulations and on the presentation of group work) which accounts for the 70% of the final grade. The remaining 30% is based on a written exam. The overall evaluation for non-attending students consists of an assessment based on an oral test that will focus on the course program (60%) and the reading of an additional book that will be discussed during the oral exam (40%).

In general, an interest in the subject. From a master's degree student we expect: 1) ability to propose a thesis that can be traced back to the topics or the tools presented during the course; 2) ability to conduct quantitative analyses; 3) initiative and critical thinking when using data and bibliographical resources.

The issues related to sustainability are declined in the context of industrial policies and the use of energy as a productive input.