The course deals with the analysis of the dynamics of firms and industries in modern economies and the forces that shape them. We will depart from a “static” and “equilibrium” view of the firm and of industries (typical in most introductory courses in Industrial Economics) and adopt a dynamic approach in the analysis of the emergence, development and decline of industries.  The following topics will be analyzed:   the entry and exit of firms in the market;   the process of firm growth and its determinants;   the relationships among firm dynamics, firm productivity and aggregate(industry/country) productivity growth;  the role of ICTs for industrial evolution and economic growth;   the process through which industries grow old and the characteristics of the firms at different stages of an industry’s life cycle.   The course has an applied orientation: the introduction and discussion of the empirical evidence on each issue will be central and only few fundamental models will be presented as the theoretical backbone of the analysis. 

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The following topics will be analyzed:  • the entry and exit of firms in the market;  • the process of firm growth and its determinants;  • the relationships among firm dynamics, firm productivity and aggregate productivity growth;  • the role of ICTs for industrial evolution, productivity and economic growth;  • the process through which industries grow old and the characteristics of the firms at different stages of an industry’s life cycle.

The required reading materials for the course are: Required readings for the Async sessions:   Main instructor slides. Students will need to read the full version of the slides made available by Prof. Pieri to introduce to the contents of each Week. Students should keep in mind that, in the Instructor's videos recorded by Prof. Pieri, a shorter version of the slides have been used for a matter of time constraint. In any case, students have to read and study the full version of the slides to successfully pass the course. Optional readings for the Async sessions: Additional and non-mandatory readings will be provided each Week for you to dive deeper into the topic. These optional readings are useful to expand students' knowledge on the subject. Required material/readings for the Sync sessions with TAs:  Reproducible and commented STATA codes prepared by Teaching Assistants

Mix asynchronous (Professor) and synchronous (Teaching Assistants) lectures Teaching Assistants' office hours Individual activities to test and assess the level of understanding, through multiple choice questions, T/F questions and open-ended questions that will be made available at the end of each week Practice with firm-level data by means of the software for data analysis, STATA Preparation of an individual essay on firm growth

Students will be evaluated (final mark=100%) based on the following activities: Short essay on firm growth: 50% --> This individual activity will be developed under the supervision of the Teaching Assistants and by using the software for data analysis STATA, partially during TAs' lectures, partially as homeworks. For practical reasons, the short essay will be divided into two parts and will be delivered by the students to the TAs in Week 8 (part I) and Week 12 (part II) Bi-weekly assessment trough questions on theory: 20%  --> at the end of each week, a quiz made up of three questions will be given to students for them to answer; however,  students will have two weeks of time to submit each quiz to allow them to have enough time for studying the material of the Asynchonous lessons. Overall, 6 points over 30 (i.e. 20% of the final mark) will be assigned to all curated exercises during the course. This means that each week the curated exercises will assign a maximum of 0,5 point, which is divided into three questions. Written exam: 20% --> Individual written assessment to be taken online after Week 12 (mix of multiple-choice, T/F, or open-ended questions). The final assessment will correspond to up to 6 points over 30. More details to be released nearer the date. In-person exam: 10% --> Individual oral examination in presence at LUISS campus on the topics and questions contained in the final assessment. The oral exam will correspond to up to 3 points over 30. More details to be released nearer the date.  Sufficient grade needed in all of them. Note. The Instructor will assign the final mark not just as a "simple" average of the grades obtained across all activities and will take into account the performance of a student over time to valorise all her/his efforts. There will not be a mid-term written exam. Further information will be uploaded in the course platform explaining WHEN and HOW the written assessment (online) and the oral exam (in presence) will take place. Note that "non-attending students", i.e., those students that do not participate to the TAs' synchronous sessions and that do not answer the quizzes, will be evaluated for 100% of their final mark on the sole result of the final written exam. Warm suggestion, based on past experience. Apart from being an opportunity to better understand the concepts covered during the asynchonous lessons, the participation to the activities proposed by the TAs (i.e., the writing of the short essay on firm growth) and the correct answers to the quizzes provided by the Professor, will increase significantly the chances of getting a final high mark.

Professor Pieri is willing to supervise Master theses on topics covered in the Industry Dynamics course, especially with an applied/empirical economics approach (i.e., with a relevant original part represented by the econometrics analysis of firm-, industry-, regional- data).

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