HONG KONG BAPTIST UNIVERSITY

COURSE OUTLINE

1. COURSE TITLE

Law & Economics for Competition Policy in the Digital World

2. COURSE CODE

ECON7180

3. NO. OF UNITS

3 Units

4. OFFERING DEPARTMENT

Master of Science in Applied Economics

5. PREREQUISITES

Nil

6. MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION

English

7. AIMS & OBJECTIVES

The course is designed to provide students with the requisite economics concepts needed
to enable them to investigate and analyze competition cases in the real world. Students
will learn the necessary economic tools to analyze why certain conduct engaged by firms
might be harmful to the competitive process. As competition policy is as much about
economics as about law, the students would also learn about the basic legal framework
governing the operation of competition law enforcement as well as the relevant
competition guidelines issued by competition agencies around the globe to help industries
to understand better the approach taken by them in their enforcement work. Through
this course, students are expected to be able to apply their knowledge of economics
grounded in a solid understanding of the relevant legal context in handling complex real
world competition cases.

8. COURSE CONTENT

I. Introduction: Is Market Power Growing across the Globe? Are Common Ownership
Harming Competition?
II. Industrial Organization Concepts and Market Structure
 III. Legal Underpinnings of Competition Policy
IV. Single Firm Conduct
V. Cartels and Collusion
VI. Mergers
VII. Are Digital Markets any Different?
VIII. Students Presentations of Cases

9. COURSE INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES (CILOs)

CILO By the end of the course, students should be able to:

CILO 1 Understand the economic concepts needed to understand when and how firm
conduct, whether engaged in by a single firm unilaterally or engaged in by firms
conspired with each other, might harm the competitive process to the
detriment of consumers.
CILO 2 Understand the importance of how the legal system in general and the
precedent cases handed down by the court system in particular help shape the
evolution and development of competition law and its enforcement in various
jurisdictions.
CILO 3 Learn to analyze and assess whether or not in a real world case the alleged
business conduct might have the potential of the competitive process and if so
through what mechanism.
CILO 4 Communicate complex economic analysis in ways which non-experts such as
lawyers, accountants and judges could understand. This skill is particularly
important and valuable for students who aspire to work at competition
agencies, economic consultants and law firms, as working in these places would
very likely require them to work in a team with other members having
background such as law and accounting.

10. TEACHING & LEARNING ACTIVITIES (TLAs)

CILO Type of TLA

alignment
1~4 Lecture, Case Study, Student Presentation, Project
1~3 Guest Speakers, Exercises & Problems

11. ASSESSMENT METHODS (AMs)

Type of Weighting CILOs to be Description of Assessment Tasks

Assessment addressed
Methods
Class 10 % 1~4 Case Study, Student Presentation, Individual
Participation Project/Paper, Group Project/Paper
/ Discussion
 Assignments 50 % 1~4 Case Study, Student Presentation, Individual
Project/Paper, Group Project/Paper, Exercises &
Problems
Examination 40 % 1~4 Student Presentation, Group Project/Paper,
Written Examination

Last Update: 2022-01-10

Published Date: 2023-07-11

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