The role of government in the regulation of business and the structure, behavior and performance of industries in the American economy; the effect of antitrust legislation on American industry; regulation of transportation, communications, and public utilities; social regulation of business (e.g. safety, health and pollution). Sp - odd years only.

Antitrust Law and Regulatory Policy, XanEdu CoursePack, On-Line ($24.94).

To Order and Access Your XanEdu Course Pack:

1. Open the XanEdu Packs login page at

http://coursepacks.xanedu.com/Login?PackId=72188

2. Click on the "Haven't completed your student registration?" link to register as a new user.

3. Complete the registration pages.

4. Log in to the XanEdu Packs using the User Name and Passwork you created during registration.

5. From the HomePage, go to the Purchase menu.

6. Complete the purchase form.

7. After the purchase is successful, you will be returned to the HomePage, where you can view the CoursePack.

Highly Suggested Reading:

Links for the Economics of Antitrust, the Economics of Competition and Market Power, and Other Learning Tools for Economics 430

Course Requirements:

A. Attendance.

B. Reading as assigned from the CoursePack, CourseNotes and Other Web Assignments.

C. One paper will be required for undergraduates; graduate students must write two papers.

D. Discussion/Critique of a classmate’s paper.

E. Thorough knowledge of principles of economics, especially supply and demand analysis.  If you don't have your old economics textbook, you can use those in the anteroom of my office.

To apply economic analysis to both market and non-market (i.e. government) institutions to increase understanding of the regulatory environment of businesses.

A. To give the student an understanding of the motivations in the marketplace, and the resulting behavior of firms and consumers, and the impact of these interacting behaviors on various members of society.

B. To give the student an understanding of the motivations in politics, the resulting behavior of politicians and bureaucrats, and the impact of these interacting behaviors on various members of society, including the impact on business.

C. To compare the market and democratic government as institutions for organizing activities.

D. To give the student a background in the politics, law and economics of: antitrust; product information policy; economic regulation of public utilities and other regulated industries; social regulation of safety, health and pollution; and regulation of "politically incorrect" markets.

A. Strengths and Weaknesses of Social Decisions Made Through Private Market Institutions and Democratic Institutions

B. Antitrust, Part I: Basic Laws, Monopolization and Collusion

C. Antitrust, Part II: Oligopoly, Price Discrimination, and Horizontal and Vertical Restraints

D. Economic Regulation of Industries

E. Social Regulation of Business

F. Regulation of "Politically Incorrect" Markets

Profit Maximization by Price Takers and Price Searchers PowerPoint Presentation--best viewed with Internet Explorer

Price Discrimination PowerPoint Presentation--best viewed with Internet Explorer

Competition and Government Policy PowerPoint Presentation--best viewed with Internet Explorer

FINAL EXAM

Be sure to put your "student alias" (a 7-character password) on your final exam.

Method of Evaluation:

A.  Undergraduates:

There will be three exams, including a final.  Exams 1 and 2 each will account for 25% of your final grade, your final will account for 25% of your final grade, and your paper grade will account for the remaining 25% of your grade. 

B.  Graduate Students:

Graduate students must perform at a higher level than undergraduates.  Justice or fairness in grading requires that equals be treated equally but unequals be treated unequally.  Exams 1 and 2 each will account for 20% of your grade, your final will account for 20% of your grade, and each paper grade will account for 20%.

C.  Exam questions:

Exams will have one section of "Define, Identify or Explain" questions and a second section made up of short to medium length discussion questions.

D. Paper, Presentation and Peer Review:

You are to write at least one paper in this class. You will have deadlines for handing in your general topic, a basic beginning bibliography, a working bibliography, a first draft of your paper, a working draft and a final draft. Part of the paper-writing process will involve delivering your paper in class (at the working draft stage), with another classmate assigned to critique your paper with a focus on helping you to improve what you have done. You will receive separate grades on each part of this process, including your critique of your classmate’s paper. All of these grades will be combined to give you a grade for your paper that makes up the 20 or 25 percent of your total grade.

The presentation process is modeled after academic conference sessions. There will be a moderator/time keeper to keep things moving and give everyone a chance. Each of you will be assigned to act as discussants for a classmate’s paper. This means getting a working draft of the paper, reading it, and making suggestions for improvement. This must be written, as well as oral. The suggestions can be both substantive and editorial. The substantive comments are to be read before the class, while editorial comments are best reserved for private transmittal. I will also have comments at this stage, as well as every other stage in the writing process. Your classmates in the audience may also have helpful comments to make after your presentation.

E.  Grading Scale:

The grading scale is the usual 90-80-70-60 scale. 

There are a two simple rules for this class:

(1) Don’t be rude, and
(2) Don’t distract from the lecture, discussion or other class activity.

Here are some things that would be considered distracting or rude and are not allowed:

1. Eating in the classroom—before, during or after class.
2. Packing your things away before class is over and you have been dismissed.
3. Reading newspapers, magazines, textbooks, workbooks, or novels during class.
4. Having a "Walkman" or other personal entertainment device out.
5. Talking, whispering, and note passing during class. Leaving early (unless you have permission or suddenly become ill).
6. Working on class assignments for other classes or studying for other classes during our class period.
7. Ringing cell phones or pagers.
8. Sleeping in class (this behavior is particularly distracting and quite rude).
9. Taking notes in your text in class by highlighting. While flipping through pages to find a passage in the text that supports what is being said in lecture is distracting and rude, the primary reason for this rule is to encourage you to think about what is being said during class so that you will engage in active learning, and you will be in a position to engage in meaningful discussion. If you are preoccupied with searching a textbook, it will be virtually impossible for you to benefit from the lecture/discussion going on at the same time. Hint: Read the book before class and highlight material that you recall from the lecture after class. Have your economics text out only when I am directing your attention to the text or when you are asking questions about your reading that you did not understand. Do bring your book to class, however. Just do not use your text to take notes during class.
10. Any other behavior that would reasonably be considered distracting or rude.

A few guidelines for out-of-class interaction with your professor:

1. Do not come to my office a few minutes before class.
2. Do not come to me before class with some paper that I am supposed to sign, including drop slips. I do not sign papers before class.
3. Do not ask me "Is this going to be on the test?"
   On its face, this seems like a reasonable question. This question tells your professor that the only things you think are wworth knowing from his class are those items on the exams. Exams do not cover all of the course, but only sample your knowledge. If you set your sights on learning the subject instead of getting good grades, the grades will take care of themselves.
4. Do not ask "Did I miss anything important yesterday?" or "Am I going to miss anything important tomorrow?"
   These questions tell your professor that you expect the answer to be "no." If a professor were not going to cover anything important, he would stay in his office that class period and dismiss class.

Policy on Cheating and Plagiarism:

For course policy on cheating and plagiarism, see the separate handout on that topic.

Make-up exams will be given for those who have a valid excuse. Unless you can give proof that you have been abducted by aliens or have been in a coma, you must get in touch with me and schedule the make-up exam no later than the end of the working day (4:30 P.M. MTWF) of the regularly scheduled exam. You must schedule the make-up exam for a time either during regular office hours or during one of my classes. Do not wait to talk to me about a missed exam.

Length:  10-20 pages (only a guide)

Bare Minimum References: 

3 books (not textbooks)

7 journal articles (not magazines, if you do not know the difference, journals contain many references, magazines do not) 

2 federal documents 

Graduate students should rely more heavily upon journal articles and federal documents.

I'll give you a basic style guide later in the semester.

Some Topic Categories and Ideas for Papers: 

My main suggestion for a paper topic this semester is regulation of "politically incorrect" markets, such as alcohol, tobacco, firearms, pornography, recreational drugs, prostitution, babies and human organs. Other topics could come from:

A. Regulations affecting a particular industry;

B. Particular Regulations (e.g., TEDs);

C. Particular so-called Anti-competitive Strategies (e.g. tie-in sales, resale price maintenance, advertising, price fixing, price discrimination, exclusive dealing, predatory pricing, etc.).

D. Entry of Phone Company into Cable TV Services, Newspaper Services, etc.;

E. Health Care (national health care, hospital competition and antitrust exemption, physician licensure and entry barriers into health care professions, etc.);

F. Mergers, particularly in petroleum, airlines, banking and regulated industries;

G. Microsoft and tying, or the bundling of software together or bundling software and hardware;

H. Competition in electric utilities and local phone utilities; what has happened in California in the electricity market? Why is this happening?

I. The Wall Street Journal is an excellent tool for paper ideas.

Try to say something in your paper—dare to be original. Use data to support a thesis. Please, do not merely review what a dozen authors have already said. I will help you in putting your paper together. If you see me in advance of deadlines, I will look over your work and give you suggestions.