Jeff Prince, Harold A. Poling Chair in Strategic Management
Dear BEPP Community,
I am thrilled to write to you again as a kick-off and welcome to our annual department newsletter and blog!
The BEPP department consists of high-caliber economists working within a top business school. As such, our primary purpose is to bring the rigor and critical thinking inherent in economic modeling and econometric analysis to important business and policy questions and challenges. Recognizing our role, the purpose of this newsletter is to highlight how BEPP faculty, students and alumni have served this purpose over the past year.
Throughout our blog, you’ll find: an in-depth look at select faculty, a detailed discussion of our upcoming course on Digital Economics for Business, summaries of key BEPP activities, discussion of BEPP faculty involvement in Vietnam and Turkey initiatives, BEPP program highlights, BEPP club activities and engagements, and a BEPP alum spotlight.
Of course, there is much more to BEPP than what we can summarize in our newsletter or webposts. So, if you haven’t already, please join the hundreds of BEPP friends who now follow us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/KelleyBEPP/), and if you’re a BEPP alum, please join our LinkedIn group (https://www.linkedin.com/groups/4347267) to not only learn about the department but also stay connected with fellow BEPP grads.
I like to conclude these newsletters with a thought that highlights general BEPP skills within a current context. As I mentioned in last year’s newsletter, a major topic du jour is the alleged market power of so-called Big Tech firms, such as Apple, Google, and Facebook. This issue has only increased in prominence, and we are seeing scrutiny of mergers and alleged market power by the government across a wide swath of the economy. Of course, in this age of political divisiveness, opinions vary widely on the wisdom of this increased scrutiny, ranging from it being inadequate to it being excessive. An important element in this debate is the long-running use of what’s known as the consumer surplus standard in evaluating market harm. Put (overly) simply, in evaluating a merger, we ask whether we expect consumers to be better or worse off after the firms combine operations. BEPP faculty, in their research and teaching, ask questions like: What are the merits of a consumer surplus standard? What alternatives might a government use in evaluating a merger or other firm conduct? How does one estimate harm, or benefits, to consumers when firms merge? Answers to these and related questions can have profound impacts on the set of firms and ultimately the goods and services in various marketplaces around the world.
Please enjoy this installment of our blog, and as friends of BEPP, please don’t hesitate to stay in touch and stop by any time you’re back in B-town – we’d love to see you!
Sincerely,
Jeff Prince
Harold A. Poling Chair in Strategic Management
Leave a Reply