Industry Research Paper
Industrial Organization  

Write a case study using your industry to illustrate industrial organization topics, issues, or models.  Use specific concepts from this class and relate them to your industry. In general, you should consider market structure, economic conditions, and policy.  Find published evidence to support your arguments.  For example, if you claim your industry is an oligopoly, provide concentration figures or data on the market shares of the leading firms.  

The particular concepts you analyze will depend on the specifics of your market.  Be sure to clearly define the concepts you choose to discuss.  These might include: economies of scale, vertical integration, product differentiation, deadweight loss, economies of scope, elasticity, volatility, innovation, collusion, price leadership, network economies, or learning curve economies.  In many cases, you will be able to use a graph, or other model, to show your analysis.  In other cases, a chart or table summarizing data can provide support for your arguments.  Policy issues could include: government subsidies, patents, import protection, antitrust cases, or special tax treatment.  Again, you will need to provide specific evidence.

Include a reference list and be sure to cite all your sources.


Writing tips:
1) Good organization makes your ideas clear and makes your paper easier to write.  Consider various ways to organize your material before you start.

2) Examples and evidence are convincing; generalities are not.

3) Evidence needs to be cited.  Use parenthetical references in your text, related to a reference list at the end of your paper.  
For example: "Resources are allocated inefficiently under monopoly" (Scherer 1996 p. 11).  
Then, at the end of the paper include the full reference:  
Scherer, F. M.  Industry Structure, Strategy, and Public Policy Addison Wesley, 1996.

4) Good writing is concise

5) Edit ruthlessly.  Do your words say exactly what you mean?

6) Is your paper free of spelling and grammar errors?

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Industrial Organization and Public Policy

Chuck Stull

Department of Economics

Kalamazoo College