IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/bol/bodewp/334.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Monopoly, Quality, and Network Externalities

Author

Listed:
  • L. Lambertini
  • R. Orsini

Abstract

We describe the behaviour of a monopolist supplying a vertically di erentiated good with network externalities. Assuming a fixed cost of quality improvements we show that the presence of network externalities enhances the incentive to expand output associated with scale economies. Although the quality distortion operated by the monopolist increases with network externalities, the outputexpansion effect is dominant, so that the welfare loss due to monopoly power shrinks as the role of network externalities in determining consumers satisfaction becomes more relevant.

Suggested Citation

  • L. Lambertini & R. Orsini, 1998. "Monopoly, Quality, and Network Externalities," Working Papers 334, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    • Handle: RePEc:bol:bodewp:334
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://amsacta.unibo.it/4975/1/334.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Besanko & Shabtai Donnenfeld & Lawrence J. White, 1987. "Monopoly and Quality Distortion: Effects and Remedies," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 102(4), pages 743-767.
    2. Joseph Farrell & Garth Saloner, 1985. "Standardization, Compatibility, and Innovation," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 16(1), pages 70-83, Spring.
    3. Mussa, Michael & Rosen, Sherwin, 1978. "Monopoly and product quality," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 301-317, August.
    4. Cabral, Luis M. B. & Salant, David J. & Woroch, Glenn A., 1999. "Monopoly pricing with network externalities," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 199-214, February.
    5. Averill M. Law & W. David Kelton, 1984. "Confidence Intervals for Steady-State Simulations: I. A Survey of Fixed Sample Size Procedures," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 32(6), pages 1221-1239, December.
    6. Beggs, Alan W & Klemperer, Paul, 1992. "Multi-period Competition with Switching Costs," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 60(3), pages 651-666, May.
    7. Luca Lambertini & Raimondello Orsini, 2005. "The Existence Of Equilibrium In A Differentiated Duopoly With Network Externalities," The Japanese Economic Review, Japanese Economic Association, vol. 56(1), pages 55-66, March.
    8. Shaked, Avner & Sutton, John, 1983. "Natural Oligopolies," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 51(5), pages 1469-1483, September.
    9. Farrell, Joseph & Saloner, Garth, 1986. "Standardization and variety," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 71-74.
    10. Unknown, 1986. "Letters," Choices: The Magazine of Food, Farm, and Resource Issues, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 1(4), pages 1-9.
    11. Church, Jeffrey & Gandal, Neil, 1992. "Network Effects, Software Provision, and Standardization," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(1), pages 85-103, March.
    12. Sheshinski, Eytan, 1976. "Price, Quality and Quantity Regulation in Monopoly Situations," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 43(17), pages 127-137, May.
    13. Joseph Farrell & Hunter K. Monroe & Garth Saloner, 1998. "The Vertical Organization of Industry: Systems Competition versus Component Competition," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 7(2), pages 143-182, June.
    14. Economides, Nicholas & Encaoua, David, 1996. "Special issue on network economics: Business conduct and market structure," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 14(6), pages 669-671, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Tsuyoshi Toshimitsu, 2007. "A Note on Quality Choice, Monopoly, and Network Externality," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 7(2), pages 131-142, June.
    2. Garcia Filomena, 2013. "When Should a Monopolist Improve Quality in a Network Industry?," The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 13(1), pages 1-34, September.
    3. Luca Lambertini & Raimondello Orsini, 2010. "R&D for Quality Improvement and Network Externalities," Networks and Spatial Economics, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 113-124, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Oz Shy, 2011. "A Short Survey of Network Economics," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 38(2), pages 119-149, March.
    2. Belleflamme,Paul & Peitz,Martin, 2015. "Industrial Organization," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107687899, January.
    3. Matutes, Carmen & Regibeau, Pierre, 1996. "A selective review of the economics of standardization. Entry deterrence, technological progress and international competition," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 183-209, September.
    4. S. Baranzoni & P. Bianchi & L. Lambertini, 2000. "Multiproduct Firms, Product Differentiation, and Market Structure," Working Papers 368, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    5. Luca Lambertini & Raimondello Orsini, 2005. "The Existence Of Equilibrium In A Differentiated Duopoly With Network Externalities," The Japanese Economic Review, Japanese Economic Association, vol. 56(1), pages 55-66, March.
    6. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:12:y:2004:i:1:p:1-9 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Anne Perrot, 1995. "Ouverture à la concurrence dans les réseaux : l'approche stratégique de l'économie des réseaux," Économie et Prévision, Programme National Persée, vol. 119(3), pages 59-71.
    8. Clements, Matthew T., 2004. "Direct and indirect network effects: are they equivalent?," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 22(5), pages 633-645, May.
    9. Laura Baraldi, 2004. "Esternalita' Di Rete: Una Rassegna," Working Papers 12_2004, D.E.S. (Department of Economic Studies), University of Naples "Parthenope", Italy.
    10. Church, Jeffrey & Gandal, Neil, 1996. "Strategic entry deterrence: Complementary products as installed base," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 331-354, September.
    11. Choi, Jay Pil, 1996. "Standardization and experimentation: Ex ante vs. ex post standardization," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 273-290, September.
    12. Luca Lambertini & Raimondello Orsini, 2001. "Network Externalities and the Overprovision of Quality by a Monopolist," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 67(4), pages 969-982, April.
    13. Cecere, Grazia & Corrocher, Nicoletta & Battaglia, Riccardo David, 2015. "Innovation and competition in the smartphone industry: Is there a dominant design?," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 162-175.
    14. De Bijl, Paul W. J. & Goyal, Sanjeev, 1995. "Technological change in markets with network externalities," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 307-325, September.
    15. Markovich, Sarit & Moenius, Johannes, 2009. "Winning while losing: Competition dynamics in the presence of indirect network effects," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 346-357, May.
    16. Knieps, Günter, 2011. "Wettbewerb und Pfadabhängigkeit in Netzen," Discussion Papers 140, University of Freiburg, Institute for Transport Economics and Regional Policy.
    17. Michal Grajek, 2003. "Estimating Network Effects and Compatibility in Mobile Telecommunications," CIG Working Papers SP II 2003-26, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin (WZB), Research Unit: Competition and Innovation (CIG).
    18. Crampes, Claude & Hollander, Abraham, 1995. "Duopoly and quality standards," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 71-82, January.
    19. Jullien, Bruno & Pavan, Alessandro & Rysman, Marc, 2021. "Two-sided Markets, Pricing, and Network Effects," TSE Working Papers 21-1238, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    20. David, Paul A. & Rothwell, Geoffrey S., 1996. "Standardization, diversity and learning: Strategies for the coevolution of technology and industrial capacity," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 181-201.
    21. Hans Zenger, 2006. "The Optimal Regulation of Product Quality under Monopoly," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 12(13), pages 1-4.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bol:bodewp:334. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    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 CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc 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 RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sebolit.html .

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.