ETC022 - PUBLIC INTERVENTION AND COMPETITION

courses

ID:

ETC022

Duration (hours):

24

CFU:

SSD:

Economia applicata

Located in:

PESCARA

Url:

Course Details:

ECONOMICS OF TOURISM AND CULTURE/CORSO GENERICO Year: 1

Year:

2026

Course Catalogue:

https://unich.coursecatalogue.cineca.it/af/2026?co...

Date/time interval

Secondo Semestre (15/02/2027 - 31/07/2027)

Course Objectives

LEARNING OBJECTIVESKnowledge and understanding – Distinguish key market failures and the corresponding public tools; understand regulatory trade-offs (command-and-control, incentives, risk-informed, behavioural, self/co-regulation); analyze networks/network industries and platforms; read competition policy and vertical structures.Applying knowledge – Use IO tools to assess regulatory/policy interventions; discuss access, separation and price-regulation choices (rate-of-return, price-cap); interpret real-world cases (public services, digital, culture/tourism).Making judgements – Select data/models; evaluate welfare, effectiveness/efficiency and distributional impacts; appraise policy implications under imperfect information.Communication skills – Use appropriate regulatory/competition terminology; present graphs and core relationships (MR/MC, elasticity, surplus; access rules; WACC) rigorously.Learning skills – Develop autonomy in studying regulatory themes, reading institutional documents/applied literature, and transferring knowledge across contexts.

Course Prerequisites

Foundations of microeconomics and industrial organization: demand/supply, elasticity, marginal cost/revenue; welfare and market failures; market structures. Basic mathematics (elementary algebra) and graph reading.

Teaching Methods

Pre-recorded lectures and self-paced multimedia; forums and collaborative activities; interactive exercises; self-assessment quizzes; ongoing formative checks.

Assessment Methods

Assessment via EDUNEXT digital tools: multiple-choice self-assessments, applied exercises, individual and group activities monitored by the instructor, interim tests contributing to the final grade. Progress tracking, automatic recording and immediate feedback. Final exams may be online under instructor-defined criteria.Judgement scale:– basic but incomplete knowledge (18–22/30);– fair knowledge with clear exposition (23–25/30);– good command of the subject (26–28/30);– excellent, integrated understanding (28–30/30);honors for fully correct written answers and consistently excellent performance.

Students with disabilities, specific learning disorders (SLDs), or other
special educational needs may receive individualized arrangements
during examinations, in compliance with the applicable legislation and
the provisions of the University Service Charter
(https://www.unich.it/sites/default/files/2024-02/carta_dei_servizi_0.pdf),
subject to prior agreement with the course instructor.
To request compensatory measures and exemptions, students must
contact the CON_TE_STO Service and follow the procedure set out in the
Service Charter.
Students are encouraged to contact the course instructor during the
teaching period, or in any event well in advance of the examination date,
in order to obtain information about the examination procedures and the
measures that may be granted.
For guidance and information concerning the various services offered by
the University, students may contact the Departmental Academic Contact
Person:
Professor Adele Bianco
[adele.bianco@unich.it]

The module examines why and how the State intervenes in markets to foster competition, efficiency and welfare. After a refresher on market failures (monopoly, externalities, imperfect information, public goods), it introduces the language and tools of economic regulation: command-and-control and incentive-based strategies, risk-informed and behavioural regulation, self/co-regulation. A dedicated block covers networks and network industries (direct and indirect network effects, multi-sided platforms), infrastructures, economies of scale/density and vertical structure. It then addresses competition policies (antitrust, State aid), legal monopolies, liberalizations, pro-competitive regulation, privatizations and “competition for the market”. The final block covers universal service, network access, vertical separations, access pricing (Ramsey, ECPR), interconnection, unbundling and price-cap/rate-of-return, up to cost of capital and cost assessment. Consumer protection and demand-side empowerment are included, with cross-sector examples (local public services, cultural and tourism sectors, digital markets).