Course overview

Introduction

• Information Rules, Chap 1 "The Information Economy"
• skim WOTM Chap 8: "Who Owns the Media Companies?" by Ben Compaine
• Browse through several articles from the following three surveys at Economist.com:
  - "Among the Audience -- Survey: New Media" (Aug 2006)
  - "Your television is ringing -- Survey: Convergence" (Oct 2006)
  - "A world of Connections -- Survey: Telecoms" (Apr 2007)
  

Newspapers

• WOTM: Chapter 1: The Newspaper Industry, by Ben Compaine
• For data on the newspaper industry, see Newspapers by the Numbers (Newspapers Association of America)
• Endangered Species - stories on the demise of the independent U.S. newspaper. By two-time Pulitzer Prize winner James V. Risser for AJR NewsLink.
• Who killed the newspaper?, The Economist, Aug 24th 2006
• More media, less news, The Economist, Aug 24th 2006

Optional reading:

• Simon Latcovich and Howard Smith, Pricing, Sunk Costs, and Market Structure Online: Evidence from Book Retailing, Oxf Rev Econ Policy 2001 17: 217-234
• Picard, R. & Brody, J. (1997). The newspaper publishing industry. Boston: Allyn and Bacon., chapter 1: "The nature and scope of the industry." (pp. 1-31).
• Picard, R. & Brody, J. (1997). The newspaper publishing industry. Boston: Allyn and Bacon., chapter 2: "The roles of newspapers as products and institutions." (pp. 32-59).
• Lacy, S., & Simon, T. (1993). The economics and regulation of United States newspapers. Norwood, NJ: Ablex, chapter 8: "Newspaper economics and antitrust" (pp. 215-236).

Movies

• WOTM: , Chapter 6: "The Hollywood Film Industry: Theatrical Exhibition, Pay-TV and Home Video", by Douglas Gomery
• Wildman, S. (1995). "Trade liberalization and policy for media industries." Canadian Journal of Communication 20, pp. 367-388.
  

Optional reading:

• Vogel, H. (1994). Entertainment industry economics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, chapter 2: "Movie macroeconomics" (pp. 27-60). and chapter 3: "Making and marketing movies" (pp. 61-86).
• Garnham, N. (1990). Capitalism and communication. London: Sage, chapter 11: "The economics of the US motion picture industry" (pp. 169-209).
• Cassidy, J. (1997). Chaos in Hollywood. The New Yorker, March 31, 1997

Week 5
Oct 4

TV Broadcasting

• WOTM, Chap 4: The Television Industries: Broadcast, Cable and Satellite, by Douglas Gomery

Optional Reading

• Litman, R. "The Economics of Television Networks: New Dimensions and New Alliances", in Alexander et al. (1998). Media economics, chapter 7 (pp. 131-150)
• Garnham, N. & Locksley, G. (1991). The economics of broadcasting. In Blumler, J. & Nossiter, T. (eds.), Broadcasting finance in transition. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 8-22.
• Walker, J. & Ferguson, D. (1998). The broadcast television industry. Boston: Allyn & Bacon., chapter 2: "A history of broadcast television." (pp. 12-41).
• Walker, J. & Ferguson, D. (1998). The broadcast television industry. Boston: Allyn & Bacon., chapter 3: "The economics of broadcast television." (pp. 42-63).
• Carroll, S. & Howard, H., "The Economics of the cable industry" in Alexander et al. (1998). Media economics, chapter 8 (pp. 151-174)
• Owen, B. & Wildman, S. (1992). Video economics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, chapter 6: "Cable television" (pp. 211-259).
• Vogel, H. (1994). Entertainment industry economics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, chapter 7: "Cable" (pp. 177-196).
• Crandall, R. W. (1997). Competition and regulation in the US video market. Telecommunications Policy, 21, 649-660.

Week 6
Oct 11

Music and Radio

• WOTM, Chap 5: "The Radio Broadcasting and the Music Industry", by Douglas Gomery
• Love, Courtney, "Courtney Love does the math", Salon, June 14, 2000.
• Gregory Staple & Kevin Werbach, "The End of Spectrum Scarcity: New technologies and regulatory reform will bring a bandwidth bonanza", IEEE Spectrum, March 2004

Week 7
Oct 18

Telecommunications

• Sirbu, M. (1992). Telecommunications technology and infrastructure. Annual Review of the Institute for Information Studies, pp. 155-180.
• Economides, "US Telecommunications Today", April 1999 [PDF]
• Hundt, Reed and Rita Koselka, "Weathering telecom’s dark and stormy night", McKinsey Quarterly, 2001.
• Robert Crandall, "A Somewhat Better Connection", Regulation, SUmmer 2002, pp. 22-28 [PDF]
• Michael Powell, Statement on Competition Issues in the Telecommunications Industry, Before the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, United States Senate. (1/14/03) [PDF]
  

Optional Reading:

• Huber, P. (1992), The geodesic network II. Washington, DC: The Geodesic Company, pp. 1.1-1.44.
• Crandall, R. (1989). The role of the U.S. local operating companies. In Crandall, R., & Flamm, K. (eds.), Changing the rules: Technological change, international competition, and regulation in communications. Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution, pp. 114-146.
• Collins, R., & Murroni, C. (1996). New media, new policies. London: Polity Press, Appendix 1: "The telecommunications sector: Economic and technological background" (pp. 190-198).

Week 8
Oct 25

Internet

• WOTM, Chap 7: "The Internet and Online", by Ben Compaine
• "What Is The Internet (And What Makes It Work)", Robert E. Kahn and Vinton G. Cerf (December, 1999)
• Odlyzko, Andrew, Content is Not King First Monday, volume 6, number 2 (February 2001)

Optional Reading:

• Martin Cave and Robin Mason , The Economics of the Internet: Infrastructure and Regulation, Oxf Rev Econ Policy 2001 17: 188-201.
• Paul A. David, The Evolving Accidental Information Super-Highway, Oxf Rev Econ Policy 2001 17: 159-187
• MacKie-Mason, J., & Varian, H. (1997). Economic FAQs about the Internet. In McKnight, L, & Bailey, J. (eds.), Internet economics. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 27-62.
• MacKie-Mason, J., & Varian, H. (1996). Some economics of the Internet. In Sichel, W., & Alexander, D. (eds.), Networks, infrastructure, and the new task for regulation. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press, pp. 107-136.
• Kevin Werbach, "Digital Tornado: The Internet and Telecommunications Policy", March 1997, OPP working paper #29, Federal Communication Commission.
• "The Economics of Online Media", in Alexander et al. (1998). Media economics, chapter 13 (pp. 247-274) [*]
• Hallgren, M., & McAdams, A. (1997). The economic efficiency of Internet public goods. In McKnight, L, & Bailey, J. (eds.), Internet economics. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 455.478

Week 9
Nov 1

Information Pricing

• Information Rules, chapter 2: "Pricing information" and chapter 3: "Versioning information"
• Jeff Howe, "Licensed to Bill", Wired, Oct 2001

Week 10
Nov 8

Network Economics and Network Externalities

• Information Rules, chapter 7: "Networks and positive feedback"

Week 11
Nov 15

Standards and Interconnection

• Information Rules, chapter 8: "Cooperation and compatibility"

Optional Reading:

• Katz, M., & Shapiro, C. (1985). Network externalities, competition and compatibility. The American Economic Review 75(3), pp. 424-440.
• Owen, B. & Wildman, S. (1992). Video economics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, chapter 5: "Network economics" (pp. 151-210)

Innovation and Path-Dependence

• Information Rules, chapter 5: "Recognizing lock-in", and chapter 6: "Managing lock-in"
• Arthur, B. (1996). Increasing returns and the new world of business. Harvard Business Review, July-August, pp. 100-109.

Optional reading:

• Arthur, B. (1987). Competing technologies: An overview. CEPR Publication No. 98.
• Rosenberg, N. (1994). Exploring the black box. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, chapter 1: "Path-dependent aspects of technological change" (pp. 9-23).