Quality and Reputation: Is Competition Beneficial to Consumers?

In this paper we develop a model of product quality and firms' reputation. If quality is not verifiable and there is repeated interaction between firms and consumers, we show that reputation emerges as a means of disciplining the former to deliver high quality. In order to that, we also prove that competitive firms can extract some rent in producing high quality, thus providing a solution to Stiglitz (1989) puzzle, alternative and complementary to Hörner's (2002) one. Positive profit are generated in equilibria characterized by the emergence of a social norm which prescribes a minimum quality level. Moreover, we demonstrate that more concentrated industry structures deliver better quality and higher social and consumer welfare. This finding should induce cautiousness in enhancing competition when product quality is at stake. We derive our results in the specific context of after-sales service quality provided by insurance companies. Yet, we argue that our analysis is of general applicability.quality, reputation, Bertrand competition, insurance contracts.

Missing Contracts: On the Rationality of not Signing a Prenuptial Agreement

Many couples do not sign prenuptial agreements, even though this often leads to costly and inefficient litigation in case of divorce. In this paper we show that strategic reasons may prevent agents from signing prenuptial agreements. Partners who value more the benefit of the marriage wish to signal their type by running the risk of a costly divorce. Hence this contract incompleteness arises as a screening device. Moreover, the threat of costly divorce is credible since the lack of an ex-ante agreement leads to a moral hazard problem within the couple, which induces partners to reject any ex-post amicable agreement.symmetric information, incomplete contracts, prenuptial agreement.

Endogenous Knowledge Spillovers and Labor Mobility in Industrial Clusters

Knowledge spillovers and labor mobility in industrial clusters are interrelated phenomena. A firm's knowledge is embodied in the entrepreneur and in the specialized workers. Knowledge can spill over from one firm to another through two channels: direct revelation from one entrepreneur to another and labor mobility. We show that, in equilibrium, an entrepreneur can disclose information to another in order to avoid labor poaching. The incentive of firms to disclose information voluntarily is one of the novel contributions of our paper. In the absence of information disclosure, spillovers can still occur through labor poaching. Labor poaching and voluntary disclosure of information can also occur simultaneously in equilibrium. We also provide a rationale for the localized character of the spillovers and for the limited geographical extensions of industrial clusters.Spillover, Industrial Cluster, Labor Mobility

Missing Contracts: On the Rationality of not Signing a Prenuptial Agreement

Many couples do not sign prenuptial agreements, even though this often leads to costly and inefficient litigation in case of divorce. In this paper we show that strategic reasons may prevent agents from signing a prenuptial agreement. Partners which have high productivity in marital activities wish to signal their type by running the risk of a costly divorce. Hence this contract incompleteness arises as a screening device. Moreover, the threat of costly divorce is credible since the lack of an ex-ante agreement leads to a moral hazard problem within the couple, which induces partners to reject any ex-post amicable agreement, under specific circumstances. We also investigate conditions that make this contract incompleteness an optimal form of contracting and we briefly discuss the effects of enforceable and/or mandatory premarital agreements on the rate of divorce and on the social welfare. Finally, our model suggests that there is no major objection in making prenuptial agreements enforceable, but also that there are not good reasons to make them mandatory.asymmetric information, incomplete contracts, prenuptial agreement.

Credit Markets with Ethical Banks and Motivated Borrowers

This paper investigates banks’ corporate social responsibility. Two different competitive credit markets do exist: one for standard projects and one for ethical ones. Ethical projects have also a social profitability, but a lower (positive) expected revenue with respect to standard ones. Ethical projects are financed by ethical banks and undertaken by motivated borrowers. These borrowers obtain additional benefit (a social responsibility premium) from accomplishing ethical projects when trading with ethical banks. If the expected profitability of ethical project is sufficiently close to that of standard ones and/or the social responsibility premium of motivated borrowers is sufficiently high, the market for ethical projects is active and the credit market is fully segmented. This result holds true irrespective of the information structure: only moral hazard on the borrower side, moral hazard and screening on the borrower side, moral hazard on the borrower side and screening on the lender side. The optimal contract in our set-up is always a debt contract. However, its precise form and welfare properties depend on the information structure.corporate social responsibility; ethical banks; motivated borrowers; microfinance

Would you like to enter first with a low-quality good?

Using a two-period duopoly model with vertical differentiation, we show that there exists a unique subgame perfect equilibrium where the first entrant supplies a lower quality and gains higher profits than the second entrant. We also prove that this entry sequence is socially efficient.entry, vertical differentiation

Sequential Entry in a Vertically Differentiated Duopoly

We analyse a model of vertical differentiation focusing on the trade-off between entering early and exploiting monopoly power with a low quality, versus waiting and enjoying a dominant market position with a superior product. We show that, in a relevant parameter region, there exists a unique equilibrium where the leader enters with a lower quality than the follower. This happens when the time span spent by the leader as a monopolist matters the most, i.e., in correspondence of sufficiently low discount rate values, low costs of quality improvement and high consumers' willingness to pay for quality.vertical differentiation, product innovation, monopoly rent

Do Process Innovations Induce Product Ones?

We study the relationship between process and product innovations in vertically differentiated duopolies. A process innovation can lead two competing firms to improve the quality of their goods introducing a product innovation. In fact, a cost reducing innovation has two effects: it spurs production and it enhances price competition. The former effect induces both firms to increase quality. The latter encourages differentiation, inducing low quality firm to decrease it. Therefore, high quality firm always improves its quality, while the other may or may not. The prevailing effect depends on the nature of quality costs (fixed or variable).Process Innovation, Product Innovation

Termination Clauses in Partnerships

In this paper, we prove that two firms may prefer not to include a termination clause in their partnership contract, thus inducing a costly termination in case of failure of the joint project. This ex-post inefficiency induces partners to exert large levels of non-contractible efforts (investments) in order to decrease the probability of failure. Therefore, the absence of a termination clause works as a "discipline device" that mitigates the hold-up problem within the partnership. We show that writing a contract without a termination clause is a credible commitment even when partners can add such a clause in the contract in any moment of their relationship. Comparative statics analysis suggests that contracts lacking a termination clause are suited to alliances in R&D, when partners are not rivals or when they have strong technological complementarities.hold-up; termination clauses; partnerships; joint ventures

Termination Clauses in Partnerships

In this paper, we prove that two firms can choose not to include a termination clause in their partnership contract, thus inducing a costly termination in case of failure of the joint project. This ex-post inefficiency induces partners to exert large non-contractible efforts (investments) to decrease the probability of failure. Therefore, the absence of a termination clause works as a ``discipline device''\ that mitigates the moral hazard problem within the partnership. We show that writing a contract without a termination clause is a credible commitment even when partners can add such a clause in the contract in any moment of their relationship.moral hazard, termination clauses, partnerships, joint ventures