Private Enforcement against Collusion in Mechanism Design

This paper brings a new point of view into the theory of collusion-proof mechanism design, which highlights the principle of divide and conquer. We relax the restriction of publicly enforced grand contract in the framework of Laffont-Martimort-Itoh, which allows us to incorporate the approach of private enforcement into the theory. In a setting of moral hazard with mutually observable actions, we develop a multi-stage mechanism integrated with secret reporting and private transferring and show that the first-best allocation can be implememted in spite of collusion, which implies that preventing collusion entails no cost under new approach.secret report; private enforcement; collusion-proof mechanism design

Fighting Collusion in Tournaments

This paper proposes a new approach of fighting collusion in tournaments which sheds light on the principle of divide and conquer: the principal can benefit from manipulating information revelation, by which he brings asymmetric information between the agents and thus creates a distortion of efficiency in the coalition. We employ a simple tournament setting where, due to perfect collusion, the efficient effort levels are impossible to be implemented through simple mechanisms. We propose a sophisticated mechanism with a biased promotion rule that allows the principal to manipulate the revelation of information and make asymmetric information between the agents, which brings trade-offs between rent-extraction and distortion of efficiency into the coalition. We show that, it is possible to implement efficient effort levels under the sophisticated mechanism. JEL Classification: C72, D82collusion; tournament

Divide and Conquer

Tournaments are well known to be vulnerable to collusion as shown by the impossibility theorem in Ishiguro (2004), which asserts that efficient effort levels are impossible to be implemented through a collusion-proof contract. However, we argue that this impossibility is a product of simple mechanisms that prevail in collusion-proof mechanism design. In this paper, we explore more sophisticated mechanisms with discrimination and asymmetric information to prevent collusion, outlining the principle of “divide and conquer”. As a result, we establish a possibility theorem of implementing efficient effort levels, and thus break down the impossibility theorem in Ishiguro (2004).Collusion, Discrimination, Moral Hazard, Tournament Model

Loss Leading as an Exploitative Practice

Large retailers, enjoying substantial market power in some local markets, often compete with smaller retailers who carry a narrower range of products in a more efficient way. We find that these large retailers can exercise their market power by adopting a loss-leading pricing strategy, which consists of pricing below cost some of the products also offered by smaller rivals, and raising the prices on the other products. In this way, the large retailers can better discriminate multi-stop shoppers from one-stop shoppers — and may even earn more profit than in the absence of the more efficient rivals. Loss leading thus appears as an exploitative device, designed to extract additional surplus from multi-stop shoppers, rather than as an exclusionary instrument to foreclose the market, although the small rivals are hurt as a by-product of exploitation. We show further that banning below-cost pricing increases consumer surplus, small rivals’ profits, and social welfare. Our insights apply generally to industries where a firm, enjoying substantial market power in one segment, competes with more efficient rivals in other segments, and procuring these products from the same supplier generates customer-specific benefits. They also apply to complementary products, such as platforms and applications. There as well, our analysis provides a rationale for below-cost pricing based on exploitation rather than exclusion.loss leading, exploitative practice, retail power

Loss Leading as an Exploitative Practice

Large retailers, enjoying substantial market power in some local markets, often compete with smaller retailers who carry a narrower range of products in a more efficient way. We find that these large retailers can exercise their market power by adopting a loss-leading pricing strategy, which consists of pricing below cost some of the products also offered by smaller rivals, and raising the prices on the other products. In this way, the large retailers can better discriminate multi-stop shoppers from one-stop shoppers — and may even earn more profit than in the absence of the more efficient rivals. Loss leading thus appears as an exploitative device, designed to extract additional surplus from multi-stop shoppers, rather than as an exclusionary instrument to foreclose the market, although the small rivals are hurt as a by-product of exploitation. We show further that banning below-cost pricing increases consumer surplus, small rivals' profits, and social welfare. Our insights apply generally to industries where a firm, enjoying substantial market power in one segment, competes with more efficient rivals in other segments, and procuring these products from the same supplier generates customer-specific benefits. They also apply to complementary products, such as platforms and applications. There as well, our analysis provides a rationale for below-cost pricing based on exploitation rather than exclusion.loss leading, exploitative practice, retail power

The Model of Ecological System of Real Estate Enterprises and the Research on Dynamic Strategic Cost

In the early stage of the development of the real estate business ecosystem, the majority of the enterprises in the system are niche enterprises. There is some symbiotic relationship, tend harm relations and symbiotic relationship among enterprises. In the gap of the real estate business ecosystem, it is necessary to study the relationship model of the niche real estate enterprises. Through the establishment of three models, the competition, concurrence and cooperation do to help the niche real estate enterprises in different stages outline the dynamic strategy. With this model, this paper makes an empirical study on the Y Company. The empirical results reflect the dynamic strategic cost situation of Real Estate Development Company, and it helps to put forward the strategy of dynamic cost strategy. The effect of this model is obvious, and its scientific and practical application has been verified