In a differentiated oligopoly market, it is often the case that consumers' ex post preferences over different product qualities depend upon the state of nature that is not yet observable to the consumers at the time of purchase. One of the most typical examples is a market for durable goods or...

Consider an oligopolistic industry where production is time-consuming, so that each firm needs to make quantity commitment by producing before the market opens. If demand uncertainty resolves some time before the market arrives, then those firms who produce early behave as simultaneous leaders...

Can punitive product liability enhance economic efficiency? A very simple economic theory, assuming that the probability and the degree of product dissatisfaction are functions only of the producer's not of the consumer's effort, is modelled and analysed in this paper. The qualitative conclusion...

We consider a game of endogenous timing of sequential choice of capacity and quantity with observable delay in a mixed duopoly and a private duopoly. In mixed duopoly, we find that a simultaneous play at the capacity stage or at the quantity stage can never be supported as subgame perfect Nash...

The aim of this paper is to investigate a vertically differentiated market served either by a multiproduct monopolist or by duopolists, in which a public authority aiming at increasing the welfare level can choose among two instruments, namely, quality taxation/subsidisation, and minimum quality...

The choice of the roles by firms in a vertically differentiated duopoly is analyzed introducing a preplay stage where firms set the timing of moves, under the alternative assumptions of full or non full market coverage. Under the first, it turns out that the unique subgame perfect equilibrium...

We analyse positional effects in a monopoly market with vertical differentiation, comparing monopoly and social planning. The provision of quality under monopoly depends upon the relative size of positional effects and the hedonic evaluation of quality. An elitarian equilibrium where quality...