We analyze the incentives of internet service providers (ISPs) to break net neutrality by excluding internet applications competing with their own products, a typical example being the exclusion of VoIP applications by telecom companies offering internet and voice services. Exclusion is not a...

In a payment card association such as Visa, each time a consumer pays by card, the bank of the merchant (acquirer) pays an interchange fee (IF) to the bank of the cardholder (issuer) to carry out the transaction. This paper studies the determinants of socially and privately optimal IFs in a card...

Payment card networks, such as Visa, require merchants' banks to pay substantial quot;interchangequot; fees to cardholders' banks, on a per transaction basis. This paper shows that a network's profit-maximizing fee induces an inefficient price structure, over-subsidizing card usage and...

In this paper, we present a model of endogenous vertical integration and horizontal differentiation. There exists two output brands and two versions of the input. The only mean for output differentiation is the input version used in output production. Firms may choose to vertically integrate to...

A new concept of equilibrium in secure strategies (EinSS) in non-cooperative games is presented. The EinSS coincides with the Nash-Cournot Equilibrium when Nash-Cournot Equilibrium exists and postulates the incentive of players to maximize their profit under the condition of security against...

This paper shows that the adoption of flexible manufacturing techniques by firms leads to a tougher price regime. This need not benefit consumers since the tougher regime deters entry and facilitates segmented market structures. The ability of flexible manufacturing to deter entry is moderated...

In a model of horizontal product differentiation, we show that local monopolies may exist under free entry when capital is perfectly mobile. In contrast both with the situation of restricted entry and with the zero-profit approach to free entry outcomes of Salop (1979), the unit profit rate of...