Syllabus-Firms’ Strategies and Markets (9 classes-3hours each)
Claire Chambolle
This course aims at equipping students to understand complex strategies that firms apply to maximize their profits. Emphasis is given to pricing, advertising and innovation strategies of firms in a static and/or a dynamic perspectives. The range of strategies analyzed is wide because firms operate in diverse market organizations (various competitive environment, direct sales vs indirect sales to consumers) and demand conditions (uncertainty, consumers’ heterogeneity, imperfect information of consumers about prices and products).
The methodology used is Microeconomic Theory and Industrial Organization. Each class will contain a case study 0.5 hours, 1,5 hours of theory and 1hour of exercises.
- Profesor: Chambolle Claire
PURPOSE
The purpose of this module is to equip students with the specialist tools to conduct quantitative economic assessments relevant to competition cases and regulatory matters. It will cover key techniques to empirically analyze markets. We will use data-driven examples from selected industries in France and internationally. The content of the course will be based on a discussion of selected academic papers to introduce the theory and their practical applications to competition and regulatory cases.
The course will combine lectures and hands-on sessions during which real industry data sets will be used to conduct econometric estimations in R. Regular homework assignments will also enable to practice independently the empirical methods taught during the lectures.
OUTCOMES
Students should be able to:
- Learn about the practical considerations to apply techniques, based on the lessons from various recent cases where quantitative techniques have been applied.
- Understand the different techniques for quantitative assessment of competition and regulatory matters, such as in defining markets
- Estimate demand functions (homogenous and differentiated products)
- Undertake quantitative analysis relevant to analyzing competition and regulation matters such as the identification of market power, merger simulations, and estimation of damages.
- Learn to interpret and critically evaluate the empirical results from different approaches.
- Develop a good common sense of the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches, and the circumstances under which they are (not) suitable.
- Acquire a thorough understanding of the data requirements for applying various techniques
READING
- Davis, P. and E. Garces (2009) “Quantitative Techniques for Competition and Antitrust Analysis”, Princeton University Press.
- Luis Cabral (2000) “Introduction to Industrial Organization”, The MIT Press
- Train, K. (2009) “Discrete Choice Methods with Simulation”, Cambridge University Press
ASSESMENT CRITERIA
- Homework assignments (x3): 30%
- Exam: 70%
- Profesor: Apoteker Nicolas
- Profesor: Cure Morgane
- Profesor: Grzybowski Lukasz
École Polytechnique has been granted observer status as a Research and Independent Non-Governmental Organization (RINGO) at the United Nations Climate Change Conferences, which take place in November each year. In this respect, École Polytechnique is represented by a delegation of students of the Master of Science & Technology in Economics for Smart Cities and Climate Policies (ESCLIP) and by Patricia Crifo, director of the MScT Esclip and head of the delegation.
Thanks to the observer status, RINGOs can be invited to be part of audience of certain debates and negotiations, and to attend or even speak at events organized by the official delegations.
Students choosing this elective course will have the opportunity to apply for being selected in the delegation.
Evaluation: Writing a personal essay / article based on topics discussed at the COP.
- Profesor: Crifo Patricia
ECO 567b Traffic and Transportation systems in urban contexts
Aurore Remy (TSS, Aimsun); Zoi Christoforou (Laboratoire Ville Mobilité Transport, ENPC)
The level of traffic in cities has increased significantly over the last decades. Such level of trafic has a considerable impact on the quality of life for all citizens and economic growth.
Balancing the demand for increasing personal mobility and economic growth, with the need to respect the environment is a real challenge. The link between transportation networks and economics is manifold both at the macro and micro level. Value flows on the transport network are capitalized into land values, economic recessions stall the mobility of people and goods, higher-income households travel more frequently, and so on.
The objective of this course is to discuss those aspects and provide a set of tools and possible solutions for different urban settings.
I- 4-step modeling
II- Fundamentals on traffic systems
III- Active traffic management strategies
IV- Traffic simulation (Aimsun software)
V- Cost-benefit analysis: a powerful tool for decision makers
- Profesor: Remy Aurore
- Profesor: Crifo Patricia
- Profesor: Meunier Guy
Teachers: Romain de Nijs (romain.de-nijs@polytechnique.edu) and Michelangelo Rossi (michelangelo.rossi@telecom-paris.fr)
Overview:
The overall objective of the course is to describe and analyze the functioning of the sharing (or peerto-peer) economy. This analysis will be based on factual descriptions of peer-to-peer platforms / markets in specific sectors (e.g., short-term housing market (AirBnB), for-hire transportation market (Uber, Lyft), etc.) but also on analysis using economic theory models as well as empirical analysis of some of these markets. We will aim to identify the critical features that differentiate the sharing economy from other industries, and examine the implications for business strategy.
The class will discuss topics such as platform markets, algorithms (price and recommandation), trust mechanisms used by platforms, taxation issues, impact of the sharing economy on the labor market and labor laws, the regulation of peer-to-peer platforms.
To complement the economic theory, students will present a case study (on one particular platform or sector) each week. These case studies have three aims: to provide applications for the concepts developed during the class, to inform you about different industries; and to help develop your written, rhetorical and presentation skills.
Grade: The final grade is based on two presentations, and a short note on an academic paper.
- Profesor: Bourreau Marc
- Profesor: Rossi Michelangelo
GIS and public policies
Course Description
Geographic information is everywhere: on google maps, in GPS, even on television. Most people use it in their everyday life to locate amenities, to prepare for a trip and to go from one address to another. We frequently use geographic information on our smartphones through geo-location. Based on satellites, geo-location uses maps made both of vector data and rasterized images. Even though this technology has made our lives easier, it poses a lot of challenges to public policies.
Nowadays, this kind of data is very useful to focus on the global consequences of climate changes: the rise of sea and ocean levels, the impact of tornados and earthquakes. Geographic information helps local authorities and aid organizations to gather and spread goods and resources after damaging disease, war and climate disasters. It also helps to understand and manage urban issues. Thus, thanks to geographic information, we can get a perspective from a global view of changes on earth to the local consequences of human activities.
Geographic information can help us study demographics, identify inequalities or disparities, and manage public policies.
The main agendas of this course are:
- first, identify which kind of data you can use with different types of applications relating to public policies
- Then, explain how European legislation and GIS organizations are key factors for geographic information spread
- Explore different applications in established projects to see how geographic data is used as a knowledge application that helps to define and assess public policies, manage networks and communicate on a project
- Identify the main stakeholders of GIS and spatial data business area
- Finally, explore the main tools of a GIS software: QGis
Few readings and references
Global view on GIS
Roger F. Tomlinson, Thinking about GIS: Geographic information System Planning for Managers, 2007
Geographic information resources
https://www.geoportail.gouv.fr
https://www.observatoire-des-territoires.gouv.fr/observatoire-des-territoires/fr/node
Geographic information and legislations
INSPIRE, The European directive: https://inspire.ec.europa.eu/about-inspire/563
The European directive relating to assessment and management of environmental noise mainly through noise mapping: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32007L0002&from=EN
The Open Geospatial Consortium: http://www.opengeospatial.org/
GIS and urban planning
French examples
Mieux connaître les risques sur le territoire: http://www.georisques.gouv.fr
Cartes stratégiques de Bruit de Seine-et-Marne: http://bruit.seine-et-marne.fr
Le Système d’information géographique de la politique de la ville: sig.ville.gouv.fr
Géoportail de l’urbanisme: https://www.geoportail-urbanisme.gouv.fr/map/#tile=1&lon=2.424722&lat=46.76305599999998&zoom=6
Worldwide examples
GIS in Sustainable Urban Planning and Management (Open Access), Edited ByMartin van Maarseveen, Javier Martinez, Johannes Flacke, 2018
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781315146638
Focus on the Chapter 18: Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) for the Spatial Planning of Flood Evacuation Shelters in Jakarta, Indonesia
QGis
- Profesor: Mondesir Helga