ECON 170
Industrial Organization: Theory and Tactics
Description: Lecture, three hours. Requisite: course 101. Enforced corequisite: course 170L. Not open for credit to students with credit for former course 170 or 171. Monopoly, collusion and competition, strategic firm behavior, nonprice competition with and without entry, pricing practices, antitrust. Comparison of economic and legal treatments of competitive process. Monopoly competition, and collusion as economic theory, as antitrust doctrine, and as fact. Source of monopoly. Predatory behavior. Misleading practices in theory and policy. General problem of relationship between private rights of action and competitive entry. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2020 - This class is about cartels and mergers and Professor Asker has done a lot of interesting research. Unless you are serious about working in this field, I wouldn't take this class. Although it is interesting, this class has a huge workload. He expects way too much from undergraduate students. All of his assignments are extremely vague and he expects you to figure it out on your own. The TA's are instructed to not give away any information so they are also very vague when you go to them for help. In addition, he is very strict on students not collaborating. The level of difficulty of these assignments is ridiculous and they should honestly be group projects if anything. I think the professor forgot what type of knowledge undergrads have and is treating us like Ph.D. students who have the ability to solve problems with no data given to really think outside of the box. He wants to challenge us and show us what it is like in the real world, but someone has to teach us how to do that first. It is ridiculous. Stay away unless you want to be challenged and stressed all quarter. I took this class because I thought it might be nice to have assignments instead of tests, but I'd much rather be in a normal econ elective.
Fall 2020 - This class is about cartels and mergers and Professor Asker has done a lot of interesting research. Unless you are serious about working in this field, I wouldn't take this class. Although it is interesting, this class has a huge workload. He expects way too much from undergraduate students. All of his assignments are extremely vague and he expects you to figure it out on your own. The TA's are instructed to not give away any information so they are also very vague when you go to them for help. In addition, he is very strict on students not collaborating. The level of difficulty of these assignments is ridiculous and they should honestly be group projects if anything. I think the professor forgot what type of knowledge undergrads have and is treating us like Ph.D. students who have the ability to solve problems with no data given to really think outside of the box. He wants to challenge us and show us what it is like in the real world, but someone has to teach us how to do that first. It is ridiculous. Stay away unless you want to be challenged and stressed all quarter. I took this class because I thought it might be nice to have assignments instead of tests, but I'd much rather be in a normal econ elective.
Most Helpful Review
This guy is a f*ing retard. I took Money and Banking and 106P with him, and he taught both the exact same way; with the same stat intro (why oh god), same lame Milton Friedman videos, same history of economics. He has no idea what is useful and what is not in the real world, which is probably why he is teaching econ at ucla in the first place. He jumps around his own notes, reads them so fast you have no idea what he is talking about, goes on tangents lasting 10-15 min about stupid stories that aren't even funny, only to return to the original point with the entire class pondering if he is a borderline schizophrenic. Sounds fun? It would be if his tests actually tested what he teaches. But this bastard tests you on everything in his syllabus, from his outdated useless econ text to his beloved Milton Friedman videos. Man-crush much Bruce? Or are you just a lazy f*ing a**hole? He only teaches about 1/3 of the material, leaving you to learn the rest. YAY!!! Ohhh but I'm forgetting something. That's right, the best part about Bruce Brown is that he makes mistakes. Tons of them. But he doesn't catch them, because he has the handwriting of a child and it would probably make his own head explode looking through his own notes for errors. Sometimes I wonder if he makes them on purpose to test our knowledge of the material, but the dumbfounded look on his long face when he gets caught erases any hints of precognition. Bruce boobooed. I came to ucla expecting to learn my ropes, learn economic concepts that are affecting the world, and maybe finding something interesting to latch onto so I can make a living. This bastard ruined econ for me. He is not fit to teach college, high school, and I'd be damned if anyone lets him near kids, they just might turn out retarded like Bruce. So what do I think of him? If I were drunk enough I'd beat him and make him my _____.
This guy is a f*ing retard. I took Money and Banking and 106P with him, and he taught both the exact same way; with the same stat intro (why oh god), same lame Milton Friedman videos, same history of economics. He has no idea what is useful and what is not in the real world, which is probably why he is teaching econ at ucla in the first place. He jumps around his own notes, reads them so fast you have no idea what he is talking about, goes on tangents lasting 10-15 min about stupid stories that aren't even funny, only to return to the original point with the entire class pondering if he is a borderline schizophrenic. Sounds fun? It would be if his tests actually tested what he teaches. But this bastard tests you on everything in his syllabus, from his outdated useless econ text to his beloved Milton Friedman videos. Man-crush much Bruce? Or are you just a lazy f*ing a**hole? He only teaches about 1/3 of the material, leaving you to learn the rest. YAY!!! Ohhh but I'm forgetting something. That's right, the best part about Bruce Brown is that he makes mistakes. Tons of them. But he doesn't catch them, because he has the handwriting of a child and it would probably make his own head explode looking through his own notes for errors. Sometimes I wonder if he makes them on purpose to test our knowledge of the material, but the dumbfounded look on his long face when he gets caught erases any hints of precognition. Bruce boobooed. I came to ucla expecting to learn my ropes, learn economic concepts that are affecting the world, and maybe finding something interesting to latch onto so I can make a living. This bastard ruined econ for me. He is not fit to teach college, high school, and I'd be damned if anyone lets him near kids, they just might turn out retarded like Bruce. So what do I think of him? If I were drunk enough I'd beat him and make him my _____.
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Most Helpful Review
The review below is pretty much exactly what I had to say. You have to listen back to the lectures. It does take a ton of time. But if you are willing to put in the time, the class isn't bad. The topics are also interesting and he is an entertaining lecturer so the 2.5 hours of class isn't too bad. But make sure you know the answers to all the questions in the reader.
The review below is pretty much exactly what I had to say. You have to listen back to the lectures. It does take a ton of time. But if you are willing to put in the time, the class isn't bad. The topics are also interesting and he is an entertaining lecturer so the 2.5 hours of class isn't too bad. But make sure you know the answers to all the questions in the reader.
Most Helpful Review
THIS REVIEW IS FOR ECON 164! Professor Hansen is a super passionate, knowledgeable professor. He's one of the few professors on this campus that actually smile at you when you approach him after class, whereas most others look at you standoffishly from down their nose. His lecture notes are fairly organized and he tries hard to ensure his students understand the material. Sometimes he'll blank out in the middle of a sentence or he'll pause and say "Oh wait.... no, no, no. I made a mistake! Do you guys know what it is?" and turn it into a learning lesson. It's kind of funny! Overall, this class wasn't too challenging. Just memorize his lecture notes and understand the concepts, and you'll be fine. That's what I did and I got an A.
THIS REVIEW IS FOR ECON 164! Professor Hansen is a super passionate, knowledgeable professor. He's one of the few professors on this campus that actually smile at you when you approach him after class, whereas most others look at you standoffishly from down their nose. His lecture notes are fairly organized and he tries hard to ensure his students understand the material. Sometimes he'll blank out in the middle of a sentence or he'll pause and say "Oh wait.... no, no, no. I made a mistake! Do you guys know what it is?" and turn it into a learning lesson. It's kind of funny! Overall, this class wasn't too challenging. Just memorize his lecture notes and understand the concepts, and you'll be fine. That's what I did and I got an A.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2017 - He is not helpful at all. He doesn't like to answer student questions after class, feels like he's just here for the salary. No practice materials for midterm or final, you have to find your own way to study for this class. There's nothing wrong with this course, I just took the wrong professor. Good luck!
Fall 2017 - He is not helpful at all. He doesn't like to answer student questions after class, feels like he's just here for the salary. No practice materials for midterm or final, you have to find your own way to study for this class. There's nothing wrong with this course, I just took the wrong professor. Good luck!
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Most Helpful Review
Mcdevitt is great ! he keeps things simple...all the material covered on his midterms and final come straight from his lectures and study questions. The book is useless. There are no tricks on his exams, just study well, study hard and you should be able to pull off a nice grade....This is getting a little too cliche now, but seriously, McDevitt IS the best econ professor this econ department has to offer.
Mcdevitt is great ! he keeps things simple...all the material covered on his midterms and final come straight from his lectures and study questions. The book is useless. There are no tricks on his exams, just study well, study hard and you should be able to pull off a nice grade....This is getting a little too cliche now, but seriously, McDevitt IS the best econ professor this econ department has to offer.
Most Helpful Review
do not take swanson. he talks way to fast in lecture and does not explain anything. it is very hard to follow along and becomes extremely boring. you are expected to read everything and then know eveything in the book and from lecture for every test. he wont give a review sheet or even a hint at what might be on the test. he tries to make jokes that arent funny and just confuses you even more, its a good thing there is a curve
do not take swanson. he talks way to fast in lecture and does not explain anything. it is very hard to follow along and becomes extremely boring. you are expected to read everything and then know eveything in the book and from lecture for every test. he wont give a review sheet or even a hint at what might be on the test. he tries to make jokes that arent funny and just confuses you even more, its a good thing there is a curve
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