10 research outputs found
Computing welfare losses from data under imperfect competition with heterogeneous goods
We study the percentage of welfare losses (PWL) yielded by imperfect competition under
product differentiation. When demand is linear, if prices, outputs, costs and the number of firms
can be observed, PWL is arbitrary in both Cournot and Bertrand equilibria. If in addition, the
elasticity of demand (resp. cross elasticity of demand) is known, we can calculate PWL in
Cournot (resp. Bertrand) equilibrium. When demand is isoelastic and there are many firms, PWL
can be computed from prices, outputs, costs and the number of .rms. In all these cases we find
that price-marginal cost margins and demand elasticities may influence PWL in a
counterintuitive way. We also provide conditions under which PWL increases or decreases with
concentration