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Price and quality decisions under network effects

Author

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  • Noemí Navarro

    (Département d'économique and GRÉDI, Université de Sherbrooke)

Abstract

I analyze monopoly pricing and quality decisions under network effects. High quality premium and low quality punishment are found to depend on how the impact of marginal costs on quality relates to the intensity of the network effect and the optimism of the producer about final demand. More precisely, marginal costs have to be low enough (but not too low) with respect to the intensity of the network effects and/or the optimism about final demand so that higher prices reflect higher quality. A similar conclusion can be drawn about incentives for quality provision, whenever quality is considered endogenous together with price.

Suggested Citation

  • Noemí Navarro, 2012. "Price and quality decisions under network effects," Cahiers de recherche 12-01, Departement d'économique de l'École de gestion à l'Université de Sherbrooke.
    • Handle: RePEc:shr:wpaper:12-01
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    File URL: http://gredi.recherche.usherbrooke.ca/wpapers/GREDI-1201.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Tomas Rodriguez Barraquer, 2013. "From sets of equilibria to structures of interaction underlying binary games of strategic complements," Discussion Paper Series dp655, The Federmann Center for the Study of Rationality, the Hebrew University, Jerusalem.
    3. Wei Qi & Xinggang Luo & Xuwang Liu & Yang Yu & Zhongliang Zhang, 2019. "Product Line Pricing under Marginal Moment Model with Network Effect," Complexity, Hindawi, vol. 2019, pages 1-13, February.
    4. Naixin Zhu, 2023. "Dissertation on Applied Microeconomics of Freemium Pricing Strategies in Mobile App Market," Papers 2305.09479, arXiv.org.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Network effects; optimal pricing; quality provision;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L12 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Monopoly; Monopolization Strategies
    • L14 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Transactional Relationships; Contracts and Reputation
    • L15 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Information and Product Quality
    • D42 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Monopoly
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • C7 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory

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