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Price Caps as Welfare-Enhancing Coopetition

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  • Rey, Patrick
  • Tirole, Jean

Abstract

The paper makes two related contributions. First, and in contrast with the rich body of literature on collusion with (mainly perfect) substitutes, it derives general results on the sustainability of tacit coordination for a class of nested demand functions that allows for the full range between perfect substitutes and perfect complements. Second, it studies the desirability of joint marketing alliances, an alternative to mergers. It shows that a combination of two informationfree regulatory requirements, mandated unbundling by the joint marketing entity and unfettered independent marketing by the firms, makes joint-marketing alliances always socially desirable, whether tacit coordination is feasible or not.

Suggested Citation

  • Rey, Patrick & Tirole, Jean, 2013. "Price Caps as Welfare-Enhancing Coopetition," TSE Working Papers 13-439, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE), revised Jan 2018.
    • Handle: RePEc:tse:wpaper:27695
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    5. David Encaoua, 2014. "Kaplow, Louis: Competition policy and price fixing," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 113(2), pages 205-209, October.
    6. Josh Lerner & Jean Tirole, 2015. "Standard-Essential Patents," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 123(3), pages 547-586.
    7. David Bounies & Antoine Dubus & Patrick Waelbroeck, 2020. "Market for Information and Selling Mechanisms," Working Papers ECARES 2020-07, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    8. López, Ángel L. & Vives, Xavier, 2016. "Cross-ownership, R&D Spillovers, and Antitrust Policy," IESE Research Papers D/1140, IESE Business School.
    9. Drew Fudenberg, 2015. "Tirole's Industrial Regulation and Organization Legacy in Economics," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 117(3), pages 771-800, July.
    10. David Bounie & Antoine Dubus & Patrick Waelbroeck, 2020. "Market for Information and Selling Mechanisms," CESifo Working Paper Series 8307, CESifo.
    11. Etro, Federico, 2023. "Platform competition with free entry of sellers," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    12. Friesen, Lana & Gangadharan, Lata & Khezr, Peyman & MacKenzie, Ian A., 2022. "Mind your Ps and Qs! Variable allowance supply in the US Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    13. Neven, Damien & Piccolo, Salvatore & Andreu, Enrique, 2021. "Price Authority and Information Sharing with Competing Principals," CEPR Discussion Papers 16753, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    14. Emanuele Bacchiega & Elias Carroni & Alessandro Fedele, 2023. "Monopolistic Duopoly," BEMPS - Bozen Economics & Management Paper Series BEMPS101, Faculty of Economics and Management at the Free University of Bozen.
    15. Pu‐yan Nie & Hong‐xing Wen & Chan Wang, 2023. "Price cap regulation under duopoly," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 44(3), pages 1376-1382, April.
    16. Wang, Lucy Xiaolu, 2022. "Global drug diffusion and innovation with the medicines patent pool," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    17. Chen, You-hua & Chen, Liu-man & Mishra, Ashok K., 2021. "Information, Capacity Constraints and Quality on Firms Competition," 2021 ASAE 10th International Conference (Virtual), January 11-13, Beijing, China 329427, Asian Society of Agricultural Economists (ASAE).
    18. Andreu, Enrique & Neven, Damien & Piccolo, Salvatore, 2023. "Price authority and information sharing with competing supply chains," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    19. Spielmann, Nathalie & Williams, Christopher, 2016. "It goes with the territory: Communal leverage as a marketing resource," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(12), pages 5636-5643.
    20. David Bounie & Antoine Dubus & Patrick Waelbroeck, 2022. "Market for Information and Selling Mechanisms," CER-ETH Economics working paper series 22/367, CER-ETH - Center of Economic Research (CER-ETH) at ETH Zurich.
    21. Carmen D à lvarez-Albelo & José A Martínez-González, 2024. "Should antitrust regulators be wary of inter-firm coordination agreements through a tourism destination card?," Tourism Economics, , vol. 30(2), pages 324-344, March.
    22. Dosis, Anastasios, 2022. "Price caps and efficiency in markets with adverse selection," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    23. Thomas D. Jeitschko & Yeonjei Jung & Jaesoo Kim, 2017. "Bundling and joint marketing by rival firms," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(3), pages 571-589, September.
    24. Lana Friesen & Lata Gangadharan & Peyman Khezr & Ian A. MacKenzie, 2020. "Mind your Ps and Qs! An Experiment on Variable Allowance Supply in the US Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative," Discussion Papers Series 618, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    25. Griem Fabian, 2020. "Payment System Self-Regulation through Fee Caps," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 18(3), pages 141-167, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    tacit collusion; cooperation; substitutes and complements; essentiality; joint marketing agreements; patent pools; independent licensing; unbundling; co-opetition;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection
    • L24 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Contracting Out; Joint Ventures
    • L41 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Monopolization; Horizontal Anticompetitive Practices
    • O34 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital

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