Competition authorities impose substantial penalties on firms engaging in illegal pricefixing. We examine how basing cartel fines on either revenue, profit, or price overcharge influences cartel and market prices, as well as cartel incidence and stability. In an infinitely repeated Bertrand...

We investigate the impact of an environmental award in a Bertrand duopoly with green consumers considering a three-stage game. First, the regulator designs the environmental contest. Second, firms choose their green investments, and the winner of the contest is awarded. Third, firms compete in...

This paper considers a delegation game between one multi-input firm and one single-input firm engaging in Cournot competition in the downstream market. Both firms purchase a standard input from a core input supplier, and the multi-input firm also needs a supplementary input provided by an...

This article examines the price effects of gasoline stations following a retail merger in 2022. Using detailed station-level price data from 2020 to 2024, the analysis shows that fuel prices increase at both merging stations and their competitors, but with regional differences. These regional...

Federated Learning (FL) is an innovative technique that allows multiple firms to collaborate in training machine learning models while preserving data privacy. This is especially important in industries where data is sensitive or subject to regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation...

This paper provides a simple unified discrete-choice framework for analyzing differentiated duopolies. This framework nests models of horizontal and vertical differentiation, including standard textbook models (Hotelling and Shaked-Sutton). Contrary to these models, it also applies to economic...

We present a simple model where, before competing in prices, firms announce which prices they intend to choose. Deviating from these announcements involves a cost. We show that sharing pricing intentions results in prices being set above their competitive levels. All equilibria result in prices...

This paper studies a class of two-player all-pay contests with externalities that encompass a general version of duopoly price competition. This all-pay contest formulation puts little restriction on production technologies, demand, and demand rationing. There are two types of possible...

The objective of this work is to evaluate the effects of adopting technological innovation, non-technological innovation, and their complementarity on price competitiveness. This work employs a recursive bivariate probit model applied to microdata from 1897 firms in three Sub-Saharan countries:...

We show that MRPM can increase manufacturer profits and total output even in the absence of traditional justifications based on point-of-sale services, retailer effort, or free-riding. The key insight is that MRPM mitigates channel conflict by altering how retailers balance extracting surplus...

Consumers increasingly value the environmental and social responsibility of the production processes used by firms, yet these processes often remain unobservable, even after consumption. In this paper, we develop a simple model to examine firms’ technology choices and subsequent price...

Submarine cables enable international connectivity and are essential for high- speed internet access. This paper examines their impact on internet access price, focusing on price reductions driven by cost savings and competition intensity. Using a dataset of submarine cable capacity and internet...

This study constructs a model of exclusive-offer competition between two existing up-stream firms. Under exclusive-offer competition, the upstream firm's profit depends on the rival's exclusive offer. If the rival makes an exclusive offer acceptable for the downstream firm, the upstream firm is...

We develop a tractable model of competitive price cycles where prices are chosen alternatingly and consumers have heterogenous information. The model yields sharp empirical predictions about price patterns, impact of captive consumers and pass-through. Using rich station-level price data from...

Over the last decades, dynamic pricing has become increasingly popular. To solve pricing problems, however, is particularly challenging if the customers' and competitors' behavior are both strategic and unknown. Reinforcement Learning (RL) methods are promising for solving such dynamic problems...

Pass-through rates are relevant in a variety of contexts, such as estimating antitrust damages. It is often alleged that focal pricing, the practice of charging only special prices, e.g. ending in 9s, reduces the degree of pass-through in an industry. This claim has serious consequences,...

Pass-through rates are relevant in a variety of contexts, such as estimating antitrust damages. It is often alleged that focal pricing, the practice of charging only special prices, e.g. ending in 9s, reduces the degree of pass-through in an industry. This claim has serious consequences,...

In 2021 and particularly in 2022, gas prices rose sharply in Europe due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the previous throttling of Russian gas supply to Western Europe. Because of the merit-order system, this also led to an increase in electricity prices in Austria and in many other EU...

This study analyzes the impact of patent rights on duopolistic competition with price leadership. The willingness of companies with significant patent rights to form a cartel was assessed. The main aim of the analysis was to determine the role of patents in maintaining the stability of the...

Background Introducing more generics has been a successful strategy for lowering pharmaceutical prices and expenditure. However, the effect of the strategy depends on the pricing schemes for generics. We aimed to update the South Korean generic markets in terms of effective competition, and to...