IM 7011, Fall 2015

Information Economics

Instructor: Ling-Chieh Kung

Department of Information Management

National Taiwan University


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About this Course

In the field of Information Economics (or Economics of Information), people use economic tools to study the value and impact of information. Information is not only important in the information industry; it has critical impacts in almost all business activities. In this course, we will study how to apply economic modeling to rigorously analyze information-related issues, especially information asymmetry. Applications that we will study lie in marketing, supply chain management, information systems, among others. Students will be required to read textbooks as well as some academic papers. This is a course teaching students how to do academic research with a specific research method. To comfortably take this course, one is suggested to have adequate background in calculus, nonlinear optimization, game theory, and probability.

This is an elective course offered in the Department of Information Management in National Taiwan University. The target "customers" of this course are graduate and senior students, though junior students may still enroll in this course. In most cases, all students who want to enroll in or audit this course are welcome. This course is taught in Chinese.

Basic information

Instructor
  • Ling-Chieh Kung (孔令傑)
  • E-mail: lckung(AT)ntu.edu.tw
  • Office: Room 413, Management Building II
  • Tel: 02-3366-1176.
  • Office hour: by appointments.
Teaching Assistants
  • Ian Zhong (鍾冠宇). E-mail: r03725040(AT)ntu.edu.tw.
  • Ho Ho (何禾). E-mail: r03725041(AT)ntu.edu.tw.
Lectures
  • 9:10-12:10pm, Monday.
  • Room 204, Management Building II.
Prerequisites
  • Students need to know the basic ideas of calculus, optimization, and probability.
  • Some knowledge about game theory will be helpful.
References
  • Information Rules by C. Shapiro and H. Varian.
  • Freakonomics S. Levitt and S. Dubner.
  • Contract Theory by P. Bolton and M. Dewatripont.
  • Game Theory for Applied Economists by R. Gibbons.
On-line resources
  • To check grades: CEIBA.
  • To download or link to materials: This website.
  • To discuss: Piazza.

Syllabus

For a detailed description about this course, including course policies, grading rules, tentative schedules, etc., please see the syllabus. Whenever there is an update, a new version will be posted with a short note describing the update.

Post Syllabus Notes
2015/8/21 Link The basic planning of this course
2015/10/22 Link Changing materials for 10/26 and 11/2

Important Dates

Week Date Special Events
3 2015/9/28 No class: Mid-autumn Festival
9 2015/11/9 Midterm exam
17 2016/1/4 Project presentations
18 2016/1/11 Project presentations

Lecture materials

Week Topic Lecture Video Pre-lecture Problem
1 Review of optimization Slides N/A N/A
2 Review of game theory Slides Playlist (same as IE14) Problems
3 No class: Mid-autumn Festival N/A N/A N/A
4 Channel selection under competition Slides Playlist (same as IE14) Problems
5 Channel coordination with returns Slides Playlist (same as IE14) Problems
6 The two-type screening theory Slides Playlist (same as IE14) Problems
7 Endogenous adverse selection Slides Playlist (same as IE14) Problems
8 Cascade adverse selection and partial monitoring Slides N/A N/A
9 Midterm exam N/A N/A N/A
10 The continuous-type screening theory Slides Playlist (new for IE15) Problems
11 The signaling theory Slides Playlist (same as IE14) Problems
12 The moral hazard theory Slides Playlist (new for IE15) Problems
13 Paper presentations (1) N/A N/A N/A
14 Paper presentations (2) N/A N/A N/A
15 Paper presentations (3) N/A N/A N/A
16 Past, future, and why Slides N/A N/A
17 Project presentations (1) N/A N/A N/A
18 Project presentations (2) N/A N/A N/A

Homework

Exam

Problems Solution
Midterm Solution

Paper Presentations

Item Description
Paper presentations What one should do in paper presentations
Paper presentation schedule Paper presentation schedule

Final Project

Item Description
Project What one should do in the final project
Proposal discussion schedule Proposal discussion schedule
Project presentation schedule Project presentation schedule
Ho Ho's project Ho Ho's final project in Fall 2014
Ian's project Ian's final project in Fall 2014
Format suggestions My suggestions for formatting your reports