Does the absence of competition in the market foster competition for the market? A dynamic approach to aftermarkets

In this paper, we investigate dynamic price competition when firms strategically interact in two distinct but interrelated markets: a primary market and an aftermarket, where indirect network effects arise. We set up a differential game of two-dimensional price competition and we conclude that the absence of price competition in the aftermarket (competition in the market) fosters dynamic price competition in the primary market (competition for the market). We also investigate the impact of network sizes on firms' prices in the primary market concluding that, in equilibrium, larger firms have incentives to compete more fiercely for new "uncolonized" consumers.dynamic competition, differential games, Linear Markov Perfect Equilibrium, aftermarkets, network effects.

The Sources of Protectionist Drift in Representative Democracies

We analyze a two country-two good model of international trade in which citizens in each country differ by their specific factor endowments. The trade policy in each country is set by the politician who has been elected by the citizens in a previous stage. Due to a delegation effect citizens generally favor candidates who are more protectionist than they are. The (multiple) one candidate per country-equilibria exhibit a “protectionist drift“ owing to this delegation effect. In addition, we find an additional source of “protectionist drift“ which we call the abstention effect. Not only do candidates wish to delegate to more protectionist colleagues, but these more protectionist colleagues who can win election, prefer still more protectionist candidates than themselves. Therefore, they have an incentive to abstain, that is, not run for election. We show that because of this “abstention effect“ there exists a range of electable citizens all of whom are more protectionist than the median voter’s most preferred candidate.Tariffs, Political Economy, Commercial Policy

Does the absence of competition in the market foster competition for the market ? A dynamic approach to aftermarkets

In this paper, we investigate dynamic price competition when firms strategically interact in two distinct but interrelated markets : a primary market and an aftermarket, where indirect network effects arise. We set up a differential game of two-dimensional price competition and we conclude that the absence of price competition in the aftermarket (competition in the market) fosters dynamic price competition in the primary market (competition for the market). We also investigate the impact of network sizes on firms’ prices in the primary market concluding that, in equilibrium, larger firms have incentives to compete more fiercely for new ‘uncolonized’ consumers.dynamic competition; differential games; Linear Markov Perfect equilibrium

The Sources of Protectionist Drift in Representative Democracies

We analyze a two country-two goods model of international trade in which citizens in each country differ by their specific factor endowments. The trade policy in each country is set by the politician who has been elected by the citizens in a previous stage. Due to a delegation effect citizens generally favor candidates who are more protectionist than they are. The (multiple) one candidate per country-equilibria exhibit a ''protectionist drift'' owing to this delegation effect and an abstention effect.

Fixed Transport Costs and International Trade

We develop a simple two country model of international trade that assumes that there is a fixed cost of doing international trade. We show that this leads to multiple equilibria that can be Pareto-ranked. We examine the stability properties of these equilibria.

The Sources of Protectionist Drift in Representative Democracies

We analyze a two country-two good model of international trade in which citizens in each country differ by their specific factor endowments. The trade policy in each country is set by the politician who has been elected by the citizens in a previous stage. Due to a delegation effect citizens generally favor candidates who are more protectionist than they are. The (multiple) one candidate per country-equilibria exhibit a protectionist drift owing to this delegation effect. In addition, we find an additional source of protectionist drift which we call the abstention effect. Not only do candidates wish to delegate to more protectionist colleagues, but these more protectionist colleagues who can win election, prefer still more protectionist candidates than themselves. Therefore, they have an incentive to abstain, that is, not run for election. We show that because of this abstention effect there exists a range of electable citizens all of whom are more protectionist than the median voter's most preferred candidate

To acquire, or to compete? An entry dilemna

In this paper we address the following question: is it more profitable, for an entrant in a differentiated market, to acquire an existing firm than to compete? We illustrate the answer by considering competition in the banking sector.Vertical differentiation, entry, banking competition

Fixed transport costs and international trade

We develop a simple two country model of international trade that assumes that there is a fixed cost of doing international trade. We show that this leads to multiple equilibria that can be Pareto-ranked. We examine the stability properties of these equilibria

Advertising and the rise of the free daily newspapers

We analyze the competition between two newspapers in a vertical differentiation model where the qualities of the journals are determined endogenously in the first stage of the game. We show that when the advertising revenues per reader increase there is a critical value above which the quality of the low quality newspaper discontinuously falls while it become similtaneously a free newspaper. This is beneficial to the high quality journal and detrimental to the readers.Advertising, Newspaper quality

To acquire or to compete ? An entry dilemna

In this paper we address the following question : is it more profitable, for an entrant in a differentiated market, to acquire an existing firm than to compete ? We illustrate the answer by considering competition in the banking sectorvertical differentiation; entry; banking competition