Instructor Insights

Instructor Insights pages are part of the OCW Educator initiative, which seeks to enhance the value of OCW for educators.

Course Overview

This page focuses on the course 14.271 Industrial Organization I as it was taught by Professor Glenn Ellison in Fall 2013.

This course provided a graduate level introduction to industrial organization. This course was graded on the basis of seven problem sets, a midterm, and a final exam.

Course Outcomes

Course Goals for Students

  • To provide a broad introduction to topics that current researchers are studying
  • To expose students to a wide variety of techniques
  • To start the process of preparing economics PhD students to conduct thesis research in industrial organization or related fields
 

Curriculum Information

Prerequisites

14.04 Intermediate Microeconomic Theory

Requirements Satisfied

Offered

Every fall semester

The Classroom

  • A large classroom with three rows of tables and chairs facing three chalkboards.

    Room 1 of 1

    Lecture

    This course was taught in a large classroom equipped with a chalkboard and a projector, with a seating capacity of 36.

 

Student Information

On average, about 25 students take this course each year.

Breakdown by Year

The students were 1st and 2nd year PhD students.

Breakdown by Major

The majority of the students who took this course were from the Economics department, but there were also some students from the Sloan School of Management.

Typical Student Background

The course assumed that students had taken a PhD-level microeconomics course and had a master's level knowledge of game theory and econometrics.

 
 

How Student Time Was Spent

During an average week, students were expected to spend 12 hours on the course, roughly divided as follows:

Lecture

3 hours per week
  • Met 2 times per week for 1.5 hours per session; 26 sessions total; mandatory attendance
 

Recitation

1.5 hours per week
  • Met once per week for 1.5 hours per session; 10 sessions total
  • Led by the course's teaching assistant
  • Included review of course material and discussion of problem set solutions
 

Out of Class

7.5 hours per week
  • Seven problem sets
  • Readings in preparation for class sessions
  • Optional office hours with teaching assistant each Tuesday
 

Semester Breakdown

WEEK M T W Th F
1 No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT. Lecture session. No session scheduled. Recitation session scheduled.
2 Lecture session. Optional office hours. Class and assignment due date. No session scheduled. Recitation session scheduled.
3 Lecture session. Optional office hours. Lecture session. No session scheduled. No classes throughout MIT.
4 Lecture session. Optional office hours. Class and assignment due date. No session scheduled. Recitation session scheduled.
5 Lecture session. Optional office hours. Class and assignment due date. No session scheduled. Recitation session scheduled.
6 Lecture session. Optional office hours. Class and assignment due date. No session scheduled. Recitation session scheduled.
7 No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT. Lecture session. No session scheduled. Lecture session.
8 Exam scheduled. Optional office hours. No session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
9 Lecture session. Optional office hours. Lecture session. No session scheduled. Recitation session scheduled.
10 Lecture session. Optional office hours. Class and assignment due date. No session scheduled. Recitation session scheduled.
11 No classes throughout MIT. Optional office hours. Lecture session. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
12 Lecture session. Optional office hours. Class and assignment due date. No session scheduled. Recitation session scheduled.
13 Lecture session. Optional office hours. Lecture session. No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT.
14 Lecture session. Optional office hours. Class and assignment due date. No session scheduled. Recitation session scheduled.
15 Lecture session. Optional office hours. Lecture session. No classes throughout MIT. Recitation session scheduled.
16 No classes throughout MIT; exam held. No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT.
Displays the color and pattern used on the preceding table to indicate dates when classes are not held at MIT. No classes throughout MIT
Displays the color used on the preceding table to indicate dates when lecture sessions are held. Lecture session
Displays the symbol used on the preceding table to indicate dates when assignments are due. Problem set due date
Displays the symbol used on the preceding table to indicate dates when exams are held. Exam
Displays the color used on the preceding table to indicate dates when no class session is scheduled. No class session scheduled
Displays the color used on the preceding table to indicate dates when recitation sessions are held.Recitation
Displays the symbol used on the preceding table which indicates dates when optional office hours are held. Office hours (optional)