AØKK08391U Seminar: Getting inside the digital economies

Volume 2025/2026
Education

MSc programme in Economics

The seminar is primarily for students at the MSc of Economics

Content

This seminar aims to enable the student to understand how the new digital economy works when earnings are made from a different source than the direct service delivered. Also, it is the objective to enable the student to apply known economic models to the altered digital market system. Three examples of possible discussions that could be made in this seminar:

  • How could Facebook, Google, and Uber become so profitable when the service they provide is free?
  • What is the impact when megamarkets such as Amazon or Alibaba enter an industry?
  • Is it possible (and if so how) to move or integrate a business into an online business environment?
Learning Outcome

After completing the seminar the student is expected to be able to fulfill the learning outcome specified in the Master curriculum and to be able to:

Understanding how digital economies work, how profits are made, and how the economic models from “old” economies can be applied to the digital economy. Also, an understanding of how the (infamous) algorithms used in social media and otherwise help determine user/customer profiles to then transform this identification into economic models based on consumer behavior.

 

Knowledge:

  • Account for how digital economies work both in existing (non-digital) industries and in digital industries.
  • Describe how the digital economy is either similar to or different from the “old” economy and put it in perspective to known economic models from either industrial organization or microeconomic theory.
  • Define what economic model that will be best suited to describe a business operating in a digital economy. The arguments for the description must be soundly founded.

 

Skills:

  • Analyze a business or an industry and be able to advocate for or against if either is able to perform well in a digital economy.
  • Evaluate what parameters that describe either a business or an industry and compare these parameters with known economic models.
  • Discuss the possible economic consequences for a business or an industry if it either initiates in a digital economy or how it will be influenced by competition from a digital service or product.
  • Understand how consumer behavior can be determined from algorithms and later be used in an economic model to optimize business or industry market approach

 

Competences:

  • Plan a move into a digital economy for either an existing business or a new initiative or company.
  • Implement the necessary steps to execute the planned move into a digital economy. This ability of implementation will also be based on the recognition of the underlying economic model.
  • Identify and Initiate collaborations within the business or industry with relevant parties that will help execute the planned move of a business into a digital economy.
  • Be able to use user segmentation algorithms in economic models to optimize business market behavior.

Important: This list is not complete and is only to give a perspective on the areas that are relevant to the seminar.Hence, it will of course not be expected nor necessary to have read all the below mentioned litterature:

Kim, W.C.; Mauborgne, R. (2005). Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. ISBN  978-1591396192.
Porter, Michael E. (1985). Competitive Advantage. Free Press. ISBN  0-684-84146-0.
Malinvaud, Edmond. Lectures on microeconomic theory, North-Holland, 1972. ISBN: 9780444876508
Tirole, Jean: “The Theory of Industrial Organization” MIT press, 1988, ISBN: 9780262200714
Tapscott, Don (2015): “The Digital Economy: Promise and Peril in the Age of Networked Intelligence Anniversary Edition” McGraw-Hill. ISBN-13: 978-0070622005
Juan-José Ganuza and Gerard Llobert (2018). “ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION”. Funcas. ISBN: 978-84-15722-94-6

Articles and papers:
Frank Nagle, Roberts Seamans & Steven Tadelis. Transaction Cost Economics in the Digital Economy”. Harvard Business School Working Papers November 2020 -21-009
Must read:Avi Goldfarb, Catherine Tucker (2019). Digital Economics. Journal of Economic Literature 57 (1), 3-43– this paper the students are expected to have read before attending the seminar.

BSc in Economics or similar
The student should have a basic knowledge of Industrial Organization following the courses Industrial Organization and Microeconomic I + II or be interested in these subjects.
The student will benefit from attending one of the courses Advanced Industrial Organization, Advanced Strategic Management, or Strategic Management but is not a prerequisite for taking the seminar

Relation to subjects and courses: This seminar will draw on models from industrial organization and microeconomic theory as basics to understand and recognize how digital economics works. Hence the basic courses such as Micro Economic Theory and Industrial Organization are highly recommended to join this seminar. The approach to the seminar is seen from a business perspective, so there will only be little reference to the macroeconomic impacts of the digital economy.
Students receive individual guidance from the instructor.
Students prepare a draft assignment, which they present to the teacher and the other students. The students take turns acting as opponents during each other’s presentations. The feedback should especially focus on the written presentation in the draft assignment, with particular emphasis on the introduction.

At the end of the seminar each student will be asked to have an individual talk about their assignment and have a Q&A on possible issues before the exam.
Exact dates will be available in the seminar’s course room no later than 14 days before the start of the semester

• Kick-off meeting: Week 6 / 36. See exact date in Absalon.

• Additional meetings/introductory teaching/guidance: Optional. See Absalon.

• Deadline for submission of commitment paper/project description:
No later than February 28 / September 30.

• Deadline for uploading seminar paper draft in Absalon: No later than one week before the presentations. See exact date in Absalon.

• Presentations: In the period November 20 – December 11 for the autumn semester and May 1 – 23 for the spring semester.
See exact dates in Absalon.

• Common submission date for all seminars: December 20 at 10:00 for the autumn semester and June 1 at 10:00 for the spring semester.
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Project work
  • 186
  • Seminar
  • 20
  • Total
  • 206
Written
Oral
Individual
Collective
Continuous feedback during the course of the semester
Feedback by final exam (In addition to the grade)
Peer feedback (Students give each other feedback)

 

The objective for this type of seminar (in my view) is to give as much learning as possible as it is one of the few Econ offerings where the student is in direct dialogue with the teacher and fellow students. This is why all of the mentioned feedback types will be used.

Credit
7.5 ECTS
Type of assessment
Home assignment
Type of assessment details
Individual or in groups of up to 3.
A seminar paper of 15 standard pages for one person, 22.5 standard pages for 2 and 30 standard pages for 3 students.
See further exam information in the Masters Programme Curriculum.
Examination prerequisites

Attendance in all seminar activities as stated in the Master curriculum.

Reexam: Hand in and have approved a synopsis.

Aid
All aids allowed

Use of AI tools is permitted. You must explain how you have used the tools. When text is solely or mainly generated by an AI tool, the tool used must be quoted as a source.

Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
External censorship
Exam period

The seminar paper must be uploaded in Digital Exam.

Common submission date for all seminars: December 20 at 10:00 for the autumn semester and June 1 at 10:00 for the spring semester.

For enrolled students more information about examination, rules, aids etc. is available at the intranet for  Master (UK) and  Master (DK ).

Re-exam

Individual seminar paper of 15 standard pages. See further exam information in the Masters Programme Curriculum.

Deadline and more information is available at  MSc in Economics - KUnet

More information about reexam etc. is available at  Master(UK) and  Master(DK).

Criteria for exam assesment

Students are assessed on the extent to which they master the learning outcome for the seminar and can make use of the knowledge, skills and competencies listed in the learning outcomes in the Curriculum of the Master programme.