Consumer myopia, compatibility and aftermarket monopolization

In this paper, I show that the standard Bertrand competition argument does not apply when firms compete for myopic consumers who optimize period-by-period. I develop the model in the context of aftermarket. With overlapping-generations of consumers, simultaneous product offerings in the primary market and aftermarket establishes a price floor for the primary good. This constraint prevents aftermarket rents from being dissipated by the primary market competition. Duopoly firms earn positive profits despite price competition with undifferentiated products. Nonetheless, government interventions to reinforce aftermarket competition such as a standardization requirement may lead to the partial collapse of the primary market.aftermarket, Bertrand competition, bounded rationality, standardization.

Search and Information Costs

In many markets, consumers obtain price quotes before making purchases. In this paper, I consider a fixed-sample size model of search for price quotes when sellers must spend resources to learn the true cost of providing goods/services. I find that (1) even with ex ante identical and rational consumers and sellers, there is price dispersion in the equilibrium; (2) the expected equilibrium price can decrease with the search cost of consumers; (3) consumers may engage in excessive search that is detrimental to their own welfare; (4) a decline in the search cost can leave consumers worse off, due to their lack of commitment

Tying, Compatibility and Planned Obsolescence

According to the hypothesis of planned obsolescence, a durable goods monopolist without commitment power has an excessive incentive to introduce new products that make old units obsolete, and this reduces its overall profitability. In this paper, I reconsider the above hypothesis by examining the role of competition in a monopolist's upgrade decision. I find that, when a system add-on is competitively supplied, a monopolist chooses to tie the add-on to a new system that is only backward compatible, even if a commitment of not introducing the new system is available and socially optimal. Tying facilitates a price squeeze

Consumer myopia, compatibility and aftermarket monopolization

In this paper, I show that the standard Bertrand competition argument does not apply when firms compete for myopic consumers who optimize period-by-period. I develop the model in the context of aftermarket. With overlapping-generations of consumers, simultaneous product offerings in the primary market and aftermarket establishes a price floor for the primary good. This constraint prevents aftermarket rents from being dissipated by the primary market competition. Duopoly firms earn positive profits despite price competition with undifferentiated products. Nonetheless, government interventions to reinforce aftermarket competition such as a standardization requirement may lead to the partial collapse of the primary market

Sequential Innovation and the Duration of Technology Licensing

We model an innovator's choice of payment scheme and duration as a joint decision in a multi-period licensing game with potential sequential innovations and some irreversibility of technology transfer. We find that it may be optimal to license the innovation for less than the full length of the patent and that royalty contracts can be used to overcome a time-consistency problem faced by the innovator. Our results suggest that licensing contracts based on royalty have a longer duration than fixed-fee licenses and are more likely to be used in industries where sequential innovations are frequent

On the Duration of Technology Licensing

We model an innovator's choice of payment scheme and duration as a joint decision in a multi-period licensing game with potential sequential innovations and some irreversibility of technology transfer. We find that it may be optimal to license the innovation for less than the full length of the patent and that royalty contracts can be more profitable than fixed-fee licensing even in the absence of information asymmetry and risk aversion. Moreover, licensing contracts based on royalty have a longer duration than fixed-fee licenses and are more likely to be used in industries where sequential innovations are frequent and intellectual property protection is weak. Our paper also highlights an important link between the study of technology licensing and the theory of durable goods

Two isostructural coordination polymers showing diverse magnetic behaviors: weak coupling (NiII) and an ordered array of single-chain magnets (CoII)

Two isomorphic 3-D complexes with the formulas [M3(TPTA) (OH)2(H2O)4]n (M = Ni for 1 and Co for 2; H4TPTA = [1,1′:4′,1″-terphenyl]-2′,3,3″,5′-tetracarboxylic acid) have been synthesized and magnetically characterized. Complexes 1 (NiII) and 2 (CoII) have the same 1-D rod-shaped inorganic SBUs but exhibit significantly different magnetic properties. Complex 2(CoII) is a 3-D arrangement of a 1-D CoII single-chain magnet (SCM), while complex 1(NiII) exhibits weak couplin