Economics 100C

Intermediate Economic Theory

Welcome to the Economics 100C Website. Here you will find the course syllabus, a schedule of lessons, homework and examinations, and some bits of advice. Students in this class  will be expected to check this site regularly.  We will routinely use this site for posting announcements and answering questions.
 


 

Instructor:          Ted Bergstrom 

Office:  North Hall 2052 

Office Hours:   Th 11-12.  Also, after Classes (just outside classroom)  and by appointment.

Email: tedb@econ.ucsb.edu

Course Introduction

  Click here for course introduction and ground rules.

Assignments 

Unit 1--Economics of Information Technology

March 29-Network Externality Experiment
Assignment---Read material on Network Externality Experiment and do attached homework.
Click here to access the readings and homework assignment..
Results from Experiment 1 Session 1
  First Homework assignment is to be turned in on Tuesday, April 5. **Homework questions appear at
end of readings and homework assignment.   
March 31--Discussion of Network Externalities  Assignment--Online Readings on word processors and spreadsheets:
A history of competing word processors  --Leibowitz and  Margolis
A history of competing spreadsheets --Leibowitz and  Margolis
Please read these papers  and be prepared to discuss them in class on March 31.
April 5--Discussion of Information Technology
Assignment--Read Varian, Intermediate Microeconomics  Chapter 34
Do Problems 1-2 in Bergstrom and Varian,  Workouts , Chapter 34 
More readings:
Economics of Information Technology by  H. Varian
Versioning of Information goods by H. Varian
Be sure to have read this chapter  and be prepared to discuss it  in class on April 5.
Work  Problem  9, from Workouts Chapter 34---Turn in Problems 1 and 9 from Chap 34 on  April 12.
April 7--Copyright and Intellectual Property
Read Farrell and Shapiro Intellectual Property, Competition, and Information Technology
Read Varian and Roehl Circulating Libraries and Video Rental Stores

Read:  Why Napster is Right  --David Levine and  Michele Boldrin
Be sure to  read these papers and be prepared to discuss them on  April 7.
Further recommended reading
Buying, Sharing and Renting Information Goods--Varian, Journal of Industrial Economics,
Dec 2000
Against Intellectual Monopoly, four chapters of a book manuscript by Levine and Boldrin.
IBM releases patents  News story New York Times, April 10, 05
HP Inkjet patent suit  News story, Wall Street Journal
April 12--Economics of  Academic Textbooks 
Assignment: Problems 4-7 in Workouts, Chapter 34   Due April 19
Please read the following two papers before April 12
Calpirg Discussion of Textbook Prices
Spin, Explanations, Blame and Quick Fixes: An Ethnographic Look at Textbook Pricing --Beal
Further recommended reading.
The Pricing of Economics Books --Laband and Hudson from Journal of Economic Education,
Fall 03,  discusses economics books in general, does not focus on  textbooks.
Rent Seeking: A Textbook Example -- Pecorino
National Association of College Bookstores Website--Here you will find some interesting facts,  statistics, and claims about the college bookmarket


Unit 2--Economics of Asymmetric Information
This unit will begin with an experiment  on Tuesday, April 19.
Click here to look for a description of this  experiment.
     Before we meet do this experiment , please read the instructions for this experiment at the
beginning of the link found above.

  Readings: 
Experiment 2:  Lemons
   Assignment, due  April 26,  Problem set from Experiment 2. 


Results from Lemons Experiment
  This information will be  needed to complete your homework, due  April 26.

Read the following material for discussion on  April 21 
The Market for "Lemons"--George Akerlof

Job Market Signaling--Michael Spence
Chapter 36 from Varian's Intermediate Microeconomics.

For April 26, read the following:
Hidden Information, Signalling, and Screening   from Microeconomics for Managers by David Kreps
In preparation for this reading,  you may want to brush up on expected utility theory.  Read pp 220-227
in Varian's Intermediate Microeconomics.

Do Problem 1 from this reading to hand on on May 3. 

Assignment For   x, Read
Incentives  a chapter from from Microeconomics for Managers by David Kreps
Spreadsheets for Kreps articles
 
Unit 3--Matching

xx   Classroom Experiment
Assignment for xx, Read
College Admissions and the Stability of Marriage, by David Gale and Lloyd Shapley from American
Mathematical Monthly,  January, 1962 pp 9-15;
The Evolution of the Labor Market for Medical Interns and Residents,  By Alvin Roth, from Journal of
Political Economy, December 1984, pp 991-1016

Additional Reading:
The Redesign of the Matching Market for American Physicians, by Alvin Roth and Elliot Peranson, from American Economic Review,  September 1999, pp 748-780
Can Courtship be Cheatproof, by T. Bergstrom and R. Manning, 1983

Unit 4--Public Goods
Assignment for Tuesday, xx, Read
  Public Goods Experiments without Confidentiality: A glimpse at Fund raising   by J. Andreoni, from Journal of Public Economics, 2004
Read Chapter 35 from Varian and do the Problems for Chapter 35 in Bergstrom and
Varian, Workouts.  These don't need to be turned in.
Results from Classroom Public Goods Experiment
 

Unit 5--Welfare Economics, preference aggregation, and voting

Read Chapter 32 from Varian.  Do Problems in Workouts 32.1-32.4, 32.8 and 32.9.  These don't need to be
turned in.

Announcements:

 We will not meet on Thursday, June 3.
 

Online Readings

Network Externalities

Economics of Language: A Network Externalities Approach by Silvana Dalmazzone
taken from a book called Economics of Language, edited by Albert Breton
Winners, Losers, and Microsoft  by  Leibowitz and Margolis.
  Check out the authors'  accounts of  the history of competition in the word processor market 
and in the spreadsheet market.
A history of competing word processors  --Leibowitz and  Margolis
A history of competing spreadsheets --Leibowitz and  Margolis
Hal Varian's  The Information Economy  page
Can Economic Theory Explain Piracy Behavior?--Hakan Holm

Textbook Pricing




Copyrights

David Levine's Intellectual Property Page
 Why Napster is Right  Levine and Boldrin 


Asymmetric Information

The Market for "Lemons"--George Akerlof
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

Your Score on the Midterm

To find your score on  the midterm, click on the picture below,  then type your perm number in the space where it is requested and select the quiz whose score you want from the Test box.


 

Office Hours 

Ted Bergstrom      North Hall  2052     Office hours:  Tu   11-12   and by appointment.  Also if you want to chat or ask a question, I will be available just after class  in the area outside the classroom.  I am also happy to respond to email questions.  Click my name above to address an email to me.
  

Study Aids and Features

Economics in Practice Interesting case studies related to your text, indexed by chapter.
Economics in Action   Articles from the Wall Street Journal dealing with topics specifically covered in class.
The Iowa Electronic Market. An actual contingent-commodity market in which the contingencies are outcomes in political elections or events in the business world.  If you want to speculate with some real money, the website explains how you can buy and sell contingent commodities in this market.
The UBC Election Stock  Market  A contingent-commodity market on political outcomes in the Great White North. (home of  the  McKenzie brothers, Wayne Gretzky,  and Professor Garratt)
Paul Krugman's Home Page Most  economic journalists don't know much economics and most economists can't write worth a damn.  Paul Krugman is a very competent professional economist who also writes about economics for the popular press.  His home page has links to many of his popular articles. Take a look.  I think you will find at least  some of them  both entertaining and instructive.
  

Need a Little Study Break?

Visit Calvin and Hobbes