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Bertrand competition with asymmetric costs: Experimental evidence

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  • Boone, Jan
  • Larraín Aylwin, María Jose
  • Müller, Wieland
  • Ray Chaudhuri, Amrita

Abstract

We provide supporting evidence from the laboratory for the Nash predictions of the homogeneous-good Bertrand model under asymmetric constant unit costs.

Suggested Citation

  • Boone, Jan & Larraín Aylwin, María Jose & Müller, Wieland & Ray Chaudhuri, Amrita, 2012. "Bertrand competition with asymmetric costs: Experimental evidence," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 117(1), pages 134-137.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:117:y:2012:i:1:p:134-137
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2012.04.098
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Ockenfels, Axel & Selten, Reinhard, 2005. "Impulse balance equilibrium and feedback in first price auctions," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 155-170, April.
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    5. Martin Dufwenberg & Uri Gneezy & Jacob Goeree & Rosemarie Nagel, 2007. "Price floors and competition," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 33(1), pages 211-224, October.
    6. Isaac, R. Mark & Walker, James M., 1985. "Information and conspiracy in sealed bid auctions," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 6(2), pages 139-159, June.
    7. Kartik, Navin, 2011. "A note on undominated Bertrand equilibria," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 111(2), pages 125-126, May.
    8. Huck, Steffen & Normann, Hans-Theo & Oechssler, Jorg, 2004. "Two are few and four are many: number effects in experimental oligopolies," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 53(4), pages 435-446, April.
    9. Mathias Erlei, 2002. "Some forgotten equilibria of the Bertrand duopoly!?," TUC Working Papers in Economics 0004, Abteilung für Volkswirtschaftslehre, Technische Universität Clausthal (Department of Economics, Technical University Clausthal).
    10. Bruttel, Lisa V., 2009. "Group dynamics in experimental studies--The Bertrand Paradox revisited," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 51-63, January.
    11. Dufwenberg, Martin & Gneezy, Uri, 2002. "Information disclosure in auctions: an experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 48(4), pages 431-444, August.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Ensthaler, Ludwig & Huck, Steffen & Leutgeb, Johannes, 2020. "Games played through agents in the laboratory — a test of Prat & Rustichini's model," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 30-55.
    2. Paolo Crosetto & Alexia Gaudeul, 2014. "Choosing whether to compete: Price and format competition with consumer confusion," Jena Economics Research Papers 2014-026, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    3. Soetevent, Adriaan R. & Bao, Te & Schippers, Anouk L., 2016. "A commercial gift for charity," Research Report 16002-EEF, University of Groningen, Research Institute SOM (Systems, Organisations and Management).
    4. Butler, Jeffrey V. & Carbone, Enrica & Conzo, Pierluigi & Spagnolo, Giancarlo, 2020. "Past performance and entry in procurement: An experimental investigation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 179-195.
    5. Jan Boone & Wieland Müller & Sigrid Suetens, 2014. "Naked Exclusion in the Lab: The Case of Sequential Contracting," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(1), pages 137-166, March.
    6. Jan Potters & Sigrid Suetens, 2013. "Oligopoly Experiments In The Current Millennium," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(3), pages 439-460, July.
    7. Jan Boone & Wieland Müller & Sigrid Suetens, 2014. "Naked Exclusion in the Lab: The Case of Sequential Contracting," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(1), pages 137-166, March.
    8. Hefti, Andreas & Shen, Peiyao, 2019. "Supply function competition with asymmetric costs: Theory and experiment," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 24-27.
    9. Subhasish Dugar & Arnab Mitra, 2016. "Bertrand Competition With Asymmetric Marginal Costs," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 54(3), pages 1631-1647, July.
    10. Andreas Hefti & Peiyao Shen & Regina Betz, 2019. "Market power and information effects in a multi-unit auction," ECON - Working Papers 320, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.
    11. Vintila Alexandra & Roman Mihai Daniel, 2021. "Bertrand competition under asymmetric conditions," Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence, Sciendo, vol. 15(1), pages 235-244, December.
    12. Argenton, Cédric & Müller, Wieland, 2012. "Collusion in experimental Bertrand duopolies with convex costs: The role of cost asymmetry," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 508-517.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Bertrand competition; Asymmetric costs; Experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • C92 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Group Behavior
    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games

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