Admission requirements
Students admitted to the Public Administration Master, regardless of track affiliation. GofS-students enrolment via study coordinator(s).
Description
In economics several potential causes of market failure are distinguished: externalities, collective goods, imperfect competition and information asymmetries. This course is mainly concerned with one of these causes of market failure: imperfect competition. An important question is whether competition in the marketplace is restricted in such a way that it reduces economic welfare. To answer this question a number of concepts are required: the definition of the market, market power, abuse of dominance, horizontal agreements, vertical restraints, horizontal and non-horizontal mergers. Competition policy may contribute to economic welfare by preventing anticompetitive behaviour.
This course is focused on the economic analysis of European competition policy. After discussing economic theory, the theory is used to analyse cases (especially: decisions of the European Commission in competition cases).
Course objectives
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
Explain the content of economic concepts needed to analyse markets.
Analyse the consequences of restrictive practices and mergers.
Assess the consequences of competition policy in terms of efficiency.
Write a paper and/or give a presentation on a competition case.
Timetable
On the Public Administration front page of the e-Prospectus you will find links to the website and timetables, uSis and Brightspace.
Mode of instruction
The course consists of interactive seminars. Attendance and active participation is compulsory.
Total course load 140 hours
Hours spent on attending seminars 21
Time for studying compulsory literature and completing assignments 119
Assessment method
Grading will be based on a final written assignment (100%). Attendance and active participation in the seminars, i.a. giving a presentation on a competition case, is required. Students have to hand in weekly assignments before the start of the seminar. Each assignment not received in time, will result in a reduction of 0.3 point from the final score.
Partial grades are only valid in the current academic year; partial grades will not remain valid after the exam and the resit of the course.
Reading list
To be announced, see Brightspace.
Registration
*Please note, registration for block 2 electives will be organised by the OSC in a different way from the regular course registration for semester 1. More information about this will follow in the second half of September.
Contact
Dr. P.W. van Wijck p.w.vanwijck@law.leidenuniv.nl