In an oligopoly supergame, firms' actions in prices and quantities are subject to non-negativity constraints. These constraints can obstruct the practicability of optimal punishment (a la Abreu (1986), Lambson (1987), and Hackner (1996)) in sustaining tacit collusion. Noting that the prospect of single-period optimal punishment depends indispensably upon firms' ability to charge prices strictly below marginal costs (loss-making pricing), under the presence of positive price constraints, marginal costs can serve as a "fudge" to materialise single-period optimal punishment. In this paper we characterise the effects of profit-cost ratios (or mark-ups) on the sustainability of tacit collusion, in light of optimal punishment.
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Length: 20 pages Date of creation: 1999 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:mlb:wpaper:710
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Find related papers by JEL classification: L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure and Pricing - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
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