Advanced Search
MyIDEAS: Login

Regulating a Monopolist with Unknown Demand and Cost Functions

Contents:

Author Info

  • Tracy R. Lewis
  • David E.M. Sappington

Abstract

We consider the design of regulatory policy when the regulator is imperfectly informed about both the firm's cost function and the demand function it faces. To some extent the optimal policy here is the natural "combination" of the optimal policies when there is uncertainty only about either demand or cost. Important qualitative differences also exist, however. For example, it may be optimal to set prices below marginal cost, and the pricing authority delegated to the firm may be more limited when there is uncertainty about both cost and demand.

Download Info

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
File URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0741-6261%28198823%2919%3A3%3C438%3ARAMWUD%3E2.0.CO%3B2-I&origin=repec
File Function: full text
Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to JSTOR subscribers. See http://www.jstor.org for details.

As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.

Bibliographic Info

Article provided by The RAND Corporation in its journal RAND Journal of Economics.

Volume (Year): 19 (1988)
Issue (Month): 3 (Autumn)
Pages: 438-457

as in new window
Handle: RePEc:rje:randje:v:19:y:1988:i:autumn:p:438-457

Contact details of provider:
Web page: http://www.rje.org

Order Information:
Web: http://gemini.econ.umd.edu/cgi-bin/rje_online.cgi

Related research

Keywords:

References

No references listed on IDEAS
You can help add them by filling out this form.

Citations

Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
as in new window

Cited by:
  1. Jehiel, Philippe & Moldovanu, Benny & Stacchetti, Ennio, 1999. "Multidimensional Mechanism Design for Auctions with Externalities," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 85(2), pages 258-293, April.
  2. Evans, Lewis & Hahn, Robert W., 2010. "Regulating Dynamic Markets: Progress in Theory and Practice," Working paper 606, Regulation2point0.
  3. Wang, Gyu Ho, 2000. "Regulating an oligopoly with unknown costs," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 813-825, July.
  4. Osmundsen, Petter, 2002. "Regulation of common property resources under private information about resource externalities," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 349-366, November.
  5. Berry, S. Keith, 2000. "Stranded costs, access charges, and Ramsey pricing in the U.S. electric utility industry," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 503-517.
  6. Armstrong, Mark, 1999. "Optimal Regulation with Unknown Demand and Cost Functions," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 84(2), pages 196-215, February.
  7. Norsworthy, J. R. & Tsai, Diana H., 1999. "The role of service quality and capital technology in telecommunication regulation," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 127-145, July.
  8. Iossa, Elisabetta & Stroffolini, Francesca, 2002. "Price cap regulation and information acquisition," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 20(7), pages 1013-1036, September.
  9. Kalu, Timothy Ch. U., 1995. "A uniform profit margin policy and its effects on mineral producing firms The case of the oil industry," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 61-72, March.
  10. van Egteren, Henry, 1996. "Regulating an externality-generating public utility: A multi-dimensional screening approach," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(9), pages 1773-1797, December.
  11. Cowan, Simon, 2004. "Optimal risk allocation for regulated monopolies and consumers," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(1-2), pages 285-303, January.
  12. Mahenc, Philippe, 2008. "Signaling the environmental performance of polluting products to green consumers," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 59-68, January.

Lists

This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

Statistics

Access and download statistics

Corrections

When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:rje:randje:v:19:y:1988:i:autumn:p:438-457

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ().

If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.

If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.