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Survival at the center--The stability of minimum differentiation

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  • Hehenkamp, Burkhard
  • Wambach, Achim

Abstract

We model a Hotelling market with multidimensional product differentiation in an evolutionary framework. Both evolutionary stability (in the sense of Schaffer, 1989) and stochastic stability (following [Kandori et al., 1993] and [Young, 1993]) are analyzed. It is shown that firms move towards the center in product space, i.e. a "principle of minimum differentiation" on all dimensions of the product space applies.

Suggested Citation

  • Hehenkamp, Burkhard & Wambach, Achim, 2010. "Survival at the center--The stability of minimum differentiation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 76(3), pages 853-858, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:76:y:2010:i:3:p:853-858
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    Cited by:

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    3. Khan, Abhimanyu & Peeters, Ronald, 2017. "Imitation and price competition in a differentiated market," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 177-194.
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    6. Bertrand Ottino-Loffler & Forrest Stonedahl & Vipin Veetil & Uri Wilensky, 2017. "Spatial Competition with Interacting Agents," International Journal of Microsimulation, International Microsimulation Association, vol. 10(3), pages 75-91.
    7. Yasuhiro Shirata, 2020. "Evolution of a Collusive Price in a Networked Market," Dynamic Games and Applications, Springer, vol. 10(2), pages 528-554, June.
    8. Buechel, Berno & Klein, Jan, 2014. "Do Consumers' Preferences Really Matter? - A Note on Spatial Competition with Restricted Strategies," MPRA Paper 55288, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Kevin Hasker, 2014. "The Emergent Seed: A Representation Theorem for Models of Stochastic Evolution and two formulas for Waiting Time," Levine's Working Paper Archive 786969000000000954, David K. Levine.
    10. Hehenkamp, Burkhard & Wambach, Achim, 2010. "Survival at the center--The stability of minimum differentiation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 76(3), pages 853-858, December.
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    12. Shuaicheng Liu, 2023. "Location choice with asymmetric data in the Hotelling model," International Journal of Economic Theory, The International Society for Economic Theory, vol. 19(4), pages 855-878, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Hotelling Evolutionary game theory Product differentiation Location choice;

    JEL classification:

    • C73 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Stochastic and Dynamic Games; Evolutionary Games
    • L1 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance
    • R3 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location

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