Econ 221, Industrial Organization Seminar

Schedule, Spring 2006.

Version 1.2 (17 January 2006).  

Professor Joseph Farrell (with thanks to Severin Borenstein, Meghan Busse, Marko
Tervio, and Catherine Wolfram): farrell@econ.berkeley.edu.


Seminars are at 4pm on Tuesdays in 608-7 Evans unless otherwise stated, but that
happens a lot.


Those who wish to present, or who know of visitors who are coming nearby anyway or
who should be invited because they are doing such exciting work (we do have a modest
budget), should contact me.


Students registered for credit must complete three "referee reports."  Each must be
submitted to me within six days after the seminar in question (do not wait till the
end of the semester to write them!).  Your report should (a) summarize the paper in
about 40 words, (b) evaluate the analysis, and (c) offer at least one relevant
reference, case study, example, etc., that the author didn't think of (and that
others didn't raise at the seminar--if you raised it at the seminar you're certainly
allowed to use that).



Week of 1/16: 
Tuesday 1/17 (joint with Econ hiring): Jakub Kastl (Northwestern), 
"Discrete Bids and Empirical Inference in Divisible Good Auctions."
Note: the speaker will also give this talk on Wednesday 1/18 in the EAP seminar, 
at 2pm in C250 Haas.


Week of 1/23: 
Two meetings, both at nonstandard times and places:

(1) Agricultural and Resource Economics job talk: 
Note nonstandard day and time:
Friday 1/27 at noon, probably in Giannini Hall, 
Cynthia Lin, "Do Firms Interact Strategically?: 
An Empirical Analysis of Investment Timing Decisions in Offshore Petroleum Production"

(2) (Joint with UCEI and Haas Innovation Seminar)  	
Note nonstandard day and time:
**Friday** 1/27, 3:30, at UCEI (2547 Channing: entrance on Bowditch).
David Popp (Syracuse University) 	
"Exploring Links Between Innovation and Diffusion: Adoption of NOx Control 
Technologies at U.S. Coal-fired Power Plants."  	


Week of 1/30:  
(Joint with Haas EAP seminar)
Note nonstandard day and time:
Wednesday 2/1, 2pm, Room C-250 Haas
David Matsa, MIT,     
"Capital Structure as a Strategic Variable: Evidence from 
Collective Bargaining."



Week of 2/6:
Joint with UCEI seminar.
Note nonstandard place and time: 
Friday 2/10/06, 3:30pm, at UCEI (2547 Channing: entrance on Bowditch).
Chloe Le Coq (UC Berkeley) with Richard Green
"Length of Contract and Collusion."


Week of 2/13: 
Joint with Innovation Seminar
Note nonstandard place and time: 
Wednesday 2/15, 12:30pm, C325 Haas.
Richard Nelson (Columbia), 
"What Makes an Economy Productive and Progressive? 
What are the Needed Institutions?"


Week of 2/20: 
Joint with UCEI: 
Note nonstandard place and time:
**currently scheduled for Friday 2/24 but may be changed because of NBER meeting, 
probably to the previous day**:
3:30pm, at UCEI (2547 Channing: entrance on Bowditch).
Catherine Waddams (East Anglia), TBA.


Week of 2/27:
Joint with Haas EAP seminar
Note nonstandard place and time
Wednesday 3/1, 2pm, C250 Haas.
Stephen Ryan, MIT
TBA or "The Costs of Environmental Regulation in a Concentrated Industry."

Week of 3/6:
Joint with Haas EAP seminar.
Note nonstandard place and time: 
Wednesday 3/8, 2pm, C250 Haas.
Kathryn Shaw, Stanford GSB.  
"Reaching for the Stars: Who Pays for Talent in Innovative 
Industries?" with Frederik Andersson (Cornell), Matthew Freedman 
(Maryland), John Haltiwanger (Maryland), and Julia Lane (NSF).

Week of 3/13:
Two meetings, both joint and at nonstandard times and places:

(1) Joint with UCEI seminar.
Note nonstandard place and time: 
Friday 3/17, 3:30pm, at UCEI (2547 Channing: entrance on Bowditch).
Severin Borenstein, Meghan Busse, and Ryan Kellogg 
"Price Dynamics and Risk Aversion: Evidence from Natural Gas Pipeline Rates."

(2) Joint with Haas EAP seminar.
Note nonstandard place and time: 
Wednesday 3/15, 2pm, C250 Haas.
Chad Syverson, Chicago GSB. 
TBA or "Why is Scale So Important in Vertical Integration?"


Week of 3/20: 
Joint with Haas EAP seminar.
Note nonstandard place and time: 
Wednesday 3/22, 2pm, C250 Haas.
Ginger Jin, Maryland
"U.S. News Rankings and College Competition"
with Alex Walley (Maryland).


Week of 3/27: No meeting (Spring Break).


Week of 4/3: 
Joint with Innovation Seminar
Note nonstandard place and time: 
Wednesday 4/5, 12:30pm, C325 Haas.
Eirik Kristiansen (Bergen), 
"Vaporware," with Jay Pil Choi and Jae Nahm.


Week of 4/10: Two meetings, one at nonstandard place and time.

(1) Tuesday 4/11, 4pm in 608-7 Evans, 
Curtis Taylor (Duke), TBA.

(2) Joint with UCEI seminar.
Note nonstandard place and time: 
Friday 4/14, 3:30pm, at UCEI (2547 Channing: entrance on Bowditch).
Michael Greenstone (MIT), TBA.


Week of 4/17: 
Joint with Innovation Seminar
Note nonstandard place and time: 
Wednesday 4/19, 12:30pm, C325 Haas.
Tim Simcoe (Toronto), TBA (assuming his topic when announced is an IO one).


Week of 4/24:
Joint with UCEI seminar.
Note nonstandard place and time: 
Friday 4/28, 3:30pm, at UCEI (2547 Channing: entrance on Bowditch).
James Bushnell and Catherine Wolfram (UC Berkeley), TBA.



Week of 5/8: 
May 9, 4-6 p.m., 608-7 Evans
Sven-Olof Fridolfsson, IUI
"Industry Concentration and Welfare-on the
Use of Stock Market Evidence from Horizontal 
Mergers"