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Capacity Choice under Uncertainty: The Impact of Market Structure

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Author Info
Veronika Grimm
Gregor Zoettl
Abstract

We analyze a market game where firms choose capacities under uncertainty about future market conditions and make output choices after uncertainty has unraveled. We show existence and uniqueness of equilibrium under imperfect competition and provide an intuitive characterization of equilibrium investment. We show that investment in oligopoly, in the first and second best solution can be unambiguously ranked, in particular investment incentives are highest in the First Best solution and lowest under imperfect competition. We finally demonstrate that intervention of a social planer only at the production stage leads to strategic uncertainty at the investment stage and moreover decreases total investment below the level obtained under imperfect competition.

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Paper provided by University of Cologne, Department of Economics in its series Working Paper Series in Economics with number 23.

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Date of creation: 28 Feb 2006
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Handle: RePEc:kls:series:0023

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Related research
Keywords: Investment incentives; demand uncertainty; cost uncertainty; Cournot competition; First Best; Second Best; capacity obligations; spot market regulation;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure and Pricing - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection
L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
D41 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure and Pricing - - - Perfect Competition
D42 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure and Pricing - - - Monopoly
D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Catherine D. Wolfram, 1999. "Measuring Duopoly Power in the British Electricity Spot Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(4), pages 805-826, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Sandmo, Agnar, 1971. "On the Theory of the Competitive Firm under Price Uncertainty," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 61(1), pages 65-73, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Osborne, Martin J. & Pitchik, Carolyn, 1983. "Price Competition in a Capacity-Constrained Duopoly," Working Papers 83-08, C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics, New York University. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Jean J. Gabszewicz & Sougata Poddar, 1997. "Demand fluctuations and capacity utilization under duopoly," Economic Theory, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 131-146. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Sheshinski, Eytan & Dreze, Jacques H, 1976. "Demand Fluctuations, Capacity Utilization, and Costs," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 66(5), pages 731-42, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Xavier Vives, 2001. "Oligopoly Pricing: Old Ideas and New Tools," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 026272040x.
  7. Rabah Amir, 2000. "On the Effects of Entry in Cournot Markets," Econometric Society World Congress 2000 Contributed Papers 1475, Econometric Society. [Downloadable!]
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  8. Leland, Hayne E, 1972. "Theory of the Firm Facing Uncertain Demand," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 62(3), pages 278-91, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Crew, Michael A & Fernando, Chitru S & Kleindorfer, Paul R, 1995. "The Theory of Peak-Load Pricing: A Survey," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 8(3), pages 215-48, November.
  10. David M. Kreps & Jose A. Scheinkman, 1983. "Quantity Precommitment and Bertrand Competition Yield Cournot Outcomes," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 14(2), pages 326-337, Autumn. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Anette Boom & Stefan Buehler, 2007. "Restructuring Electricity Markets when Demand is Uncertain: Effects on Capacity Investments, Prices and Welfare," CIE Discussion Papers 2007-09, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. Centre for Industrial Economics. [Downloadable!]
  2. Veronika Grimm & Gregor Zoettl, 2006. "Access to Commitment Devices Reduces Investment Incentives in Oligopoly," Working Paper Series in Economics 25, University of Cologne, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  3. de Frutos, Maria-Angeles & Fabra, Natalia, 2007. "Endogenous Capacities and Price Competition: The Role of Demand Uncertainty," CEPR Discussion Papers 6096, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Flacher, David & Jennequin, Hugues & Lorenzi, Jean-Hervé, 2006. "Innovation, Investment and Regulation: What are the Options for Regulation in the Near Future?," MPRA Paper 3573, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
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