Chris Conlon

PhD Industrial Organization

Grad IO - Fall 2026

Thursdays 1:30pm-4:30pm, Backus Conference Room (KMC 7-191)

Syllabus

Github Page (for .tex files)

Lecture Notes

Lecture 1: Old Things
[Brookings] [Berry Gaynor Scott Morton JEP] [Schmalensee 1989: Ch 16] [Kades 2021] [AGI 2000] [Panhans 2023]
- History of IO [Notes] [Video]
- Cournot, Bertrand, Conjectural Variations and SCP [Notes] [Video: Theory] [Video: SCP]
- Homogeneous Products [Notes] [Video]
Lecture 2: Multiproduct Demand and Supply
[Deaton Muellbauer 1980] [HLZ 1994] [CGJ 2006]
- Differentiated Bertrand [Notes] [Video]
- Representative Consumer Models (CES/AIDS) [Notes] [Video]
Lecture 3 Statistical Models of Product Differentiation [Train's Book: Thru Ch 6]
Lecture 4 and 5: BLP Demand (NEW)
[Berry 1994] [BLP 1995] [microBLP 2004] [Petrin 2002]
[Best Practices: Conlon Gortmaker] [Gandhi Nevo: Handbook of IO]
[30 Years of BLP Talk]
[Best Practices: Conlon Gortmaker] [pyBLP Documentation]
[Gandhi Houde 2019] [Reynaert Verboven 2014]
- BLP Approach
- Adding Micro Data
- Nonparametrics/ML
- Identification [Berry Haile Handbook of IO]
[Old, but with video] BLP: IV models of Product Differentiation
- Aggregate/Market Data [Notes] [Video]
- Supply Side [Notes] [Video]
- Extensions/Variants [Notes] [Video]
- Instruments [Notes] [Video: BLP and Differentiation IV] [Video: Optimal IV]
Lecture 6: Production Function Estimation and Productivity [Guest Lecture]

[De Loecker Syverson: Handbook of IO]

[Olley Pakes 1996]

[Notes]

Lecture 7: Antitrust, Mergers, Prices, and Unilateral Effects
[Asker Nocke: Handbook of IO] [Horizontal Merger Guidelines] [Farrell Shapiro 1990] [Farrell Shapiro 2010]
[Nevo 2000 (Rand)] [Conlon Mortimer 2020]
- Antitrust [Notes] [Video]
- Merger Simulation and Pricing [Notes] [Video]
- Diversion and Unilateral Effects [Notes] [Video]
- Pass-Through [Notes]
Lecture 8a: Conduct and Collusion in Differentiated Products
[Bresnahan 82] [Bresnahan 87] [Genesove Mullin 98] [Villas Boas 2007]
- Conduct and Collusion [Notes] [Video]
Lecture 8b: Intro to WTP and Health IO
[CDS 2001] [Town Vistnes 2001] [Ho 2009]
- Willingness to Pay and Healthcare [Notes] [Video 1] [Video 2]
Lecture 9: Vertical Integration, Control, and Bargaining Models [Live/No Video]
Vertical Merger Guidelines
- Vertical Integration and Control [Notes] [Video]
- Bargaining Models [Notes] [Video]
- Exclusionary Contracts [Notes] [Video]
Lecture 10: Single Agent Dynamics (Part One)
[Rust 1987] [Rust 1994] [Rust NFXP Manual]
- Theory of DDC/MDP [Notes] [Video]
- Rust Details [Notes] [Video]
- MPEC [Notes] [Video]
Lecture 11: Single Agent Dynamics (Part Two CCPs)
[Hotz and Miller 1993] [HMSS 1994]
[Arcidiacono Miller 2011] [Kalouptsidi Scott Souza-Rodrigues]
- Hotz Miller Inverse/ Arcidiacono Miller Lemma [Notes] [Video 1] [Video 2]
- ECCPs and Land Use Application [Notes] [Video]
Lecture 12: Persistence and Switching Costs
[Farrel Klemperer Handbook] [Pakes 1986]
[Dube, Hitsch, Rossi 2010] [Handel 2013] [Blevins 2016]
- Persistent Unobserved Heterogeneity [Notes] [Video]
- State Dependence: Orange Juice [Notes] [Video]
- Switching Costs: Health Insurance [Notes] [Video]
Lecture 13: Dynamic Demand
[Gowrisankaran Rysman 2012] [Hendel Nevo 2006] [Hendel Nevo 2012]
[Melnikov 2001/2012]
- Dynamic Demand Overview [Notes] [Video]
- Durable Goods Application [Notes] [Video]
- Storable Goods Application [Notes] [Video]
Lecture 14: Learning and Experience Goods
[Ackerberg 2003] [Erdem Keane 1996] [Crawford Shum 2005] [Dickstein 2018]
- Learning and Experience Goods [Notes] [Video 1] [Video 2]
Lecture 15: Moment Inequalities [Dickstein Guest Lecture]
[Ho Pakes 2014] [Dickstein Morales 2018]
Other Notes
- Discussion Questions Discussion Questions for Reading IO Papers
- Generalized Method of Moments [Notes]
- Numerical Integration [Notes] [Video]
- Solving Systems of Equations [Notes] [Video Part One] [Video Part Two]
- Nonlinear Optimization [Notes]
- Numerical Dynamic Programming [Notes]
- Pass Through [Notes]
- Common Ownership [Notes]
Leuven Lectures
Assignments
- Homework 0: Computing Basics Due: TBD
- Homework 1: Estimation with MLE and MSM Data Due: TBD
- Homework 2: Analytic Exercises for Demand Due: TBD
- Homework 3: BLP Demand Estimation
- Homework 4: Rust Models