IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aea/aecrev/v106y2016i7p1849-77.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Discounts as a Barrier to Entry

Author

Listed:
  • Enrique Ide
  • Juan-Pablo Montero
  • Nicolás Figueroa

Abstract

To what extent can an incumbent manufacturer use discount contracts to foreclose efficient entry? We show that off-list-price rebates that do not commit buyers to unconditional transfers--like the rebates in EU Commission v. Michelin II, for instance--cannot be anticompetitive. This is true even in the presence of cost uncertainty, scale economies, or intense downstream competition, all three market settings where exclusion has been shown to emerge with exclusive dealing contracts. The difference stems from the fact that, unlike exclusive dealing provisions, rebates do not contractually commit retailers to exclusivity when signing the contract.

Suggested Citation

  • Enrique Ide & Juan-Pablo Montero & Nicolás Figueroa, 2016. "Discounts as a Barrier to Entry," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(7), pages 1849-1877, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:106:y:2016:i:7:p:1849-77
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.20140131
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.20140131
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/articles/attachments?retrieve=nHD1WL3SwBnmrPyWB8Cu5E0UqKewoHDX
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/articles/attachments?retrieve=eT2ec3Xh20Psn7feYtjzaT_xy7jE47DF
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Patrick Rey & Michael D. Whinston, 2013. "Does retailer power lead to exclusion?," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 44(1), pages 75-81, March.
    2. Philippe Choné & Laurent Linnemer, 2015. "Nonlinear pricing and exclusion: I. buyer opportunism," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 46(2), pages 217-240, June.
    3. David Spector, 2011. "Exclusive contracts and demand foreclosure," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 42(4), pages 619-638, December.
    4. Motta, Massimo & Persson, Lars & Fumagalli, Chiara, 2005. "Exclusive Dealing, Entry and Mergers," CEPR Discussion Papers 4902, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Christopher T. Conlon & Julie Holland Mortimer, 2021. "Efficiency and Foreclosure Effects of Vertical Rebates: Empirical Evidence," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 129(12), pages 3357-3404.
    6. Abito, Jose Miguel & Wright, Julian, 2008. "Exclusive dealing with imperfect downstream competition," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 227-246, January.
    7. Mathias Dewatripont, 1988. "Commitment Through Renegotiation-Proof Contracts with Third Parties," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 55(3), pages 377-390.
    8. Gual, Jordi & Hellwig, Martin F. & Perrot, Anne & Polo, Michele & Rey, Patrick & Schmidt, Klaus M. & Stenbacka, Rune, 2005. "An Economic Approach to Article 82," Discussion Papers in Economics 745, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    9. John Asker & Heski Bar-Isaac, 2014. "Raising Retailers' Profits: On Vertical Practices and the Exclusion of Rivals," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(2), pages 672-686, February.
    10. Chiara Fumagalli & Massimo Motta, 2006. "Exclusive Dealing and Entry, when Buyers Compete," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(3), pages 785-795, June.
    11. Aghion, Philippe & Bolton, Patrick, 1987. "Contracts as a Barrier to Entry," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(3), pages 388-401, June.
    12. Gual, Jordi & Hellwig, Martin & Perrot, Anne & Polo, Michele & Rey, Patrick & Schmidt, Klaus M. & Stenbacka, Rune, 2005. "An Economic Approach to Article 82 - Report by the European Advisory Group on Competition Policy," Discussion Paper Series of SFB/TR 15 Governance and the Efficiency of Economic Systems 82, Free University of Berlin, Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Bonn, University of Mannheim, University of Munich.
    13. Yong Chao & Guofu Tan & Adam Chi Leung Wong, 2018. "All†units discounts as a partial foreclosure device," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 49(1), pages 155-180, March.
    14. Barry Nalebuff, 2004. "Bundling as an Entry Barrier," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(1), pages 159-187.
    15. Greenlee, Patrick & Reitman, David & Sibley, David S., 2008. "An antitrust analysis of bundled loyalty discounts," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 1132-1152, September.
    16. Kathryn E. Spier & Michael D. Whinston, 1995. "On the Efficiency of Privately Stipulated Damages for Breach of Contract: Entry Barriers, Reliance, and Renegotiation," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 26(2), pages 180-202, Summer.
    17. Ilya Segal & Michael D. Whinston, 2000. "Exclusive Contracts and Protection of Investments," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 31(4), pages 603-633, Winter.
    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. Zhijun Chen & Greg Shaffer, 2016. "Are Market-Share Contracts a Poor Man’s Exclusive Dealing?," Monash Economics Working Papers 44-16, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    2. Xinyu Hua & Kathryn E. Spier, 2021. "Settling Lawsuits with Pirates," HKUST CEP Working Papers Series 202104, HKUST Center for Economic Policy.
    3. Thiago Cacicedo, 2021. "Price discrimination and market concentration: Evidence from the laundry detergent market," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 89(6), pages 594-609, December.
    4. Zhijun Chen & Greg Shaffer, 2019. "Market Share Contracts, Exclusive Dealing, and the Integer Problem," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(1), pages 208-242, February.
    5. Calzolari, Giacomo & Denicolò, Vincenzo, 2020. "Loyalty discounts and price-cost tests," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    6. Chiara Fumagalli & Massimo Motta, 2024. "Economic Principles for the Enforcement of Abuse of Dominance Provisions," Working Papers 1431, Barcelona School of Economics.
    7. Martimort, David & Pouyet, Jérôme & Trégouët, Thomas, 2021. "Contracts as a barrier to entry: Impact of Buyer’s asymmetric information and bargaining power," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    8. Yong Chao & Guofu Tan & Adam Chi Leung Wong, 2018. "All†units discounts as a partial foreclosure device," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 49(1), pages 155-180, March.
    9. Calzolari, Giacomo & Denicolo, Vincenzo, 2020. "Exploiting rivals' strengths," CEPR Discussion Papers 15520, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Gavin, Sebnem & Ross, Thomas W., 2018. "Long-term contracts as barriers to entry with differentiated products," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 514-537.
    11. Martimort, David & Pouyet, Jérôme & Trégouët, Thomas, 2021. "Contracts as a barrier to entry: Impact of Buyer’s asymmetric information and bargaining power," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    12. Jay Pil Choi & Christodoulos Stefanadis, 2018. "Sequential innovation, naked exclusion, and upfront lump-sum payments," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 65(4), pages 891-915, June.
    13. Xinyu Hua & Kathryn E. Spier, 2023. "Settling Lawsuits With Pirates," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 64(2), pages 543-575, May.

    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. Zhijun Chen & Greg Shaffer, 2016. "Are Market-Share Contracts a Poor Man’s Exclusive Dealing?," Monash Economics Working Papers 44-16, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    2. Yongmin Chen & David E. M. Sappington, 2011. "Exclusive Contracts, Innovation, and Welfare," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(2), pages 194-220, May.
    3. Hiroshi Kitamura & Noriaki Matsushima & Misato Sato, 2024. "How Does Downstream Firms’ Efficiency Affect Exclusive Supply Agreements?," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 64(2), pages 219-242, March.
    4. Martimort, David & Pouyet, Jérôme & Trégouët, Thomas, 2021. "Contracts as a barrier to entry: Impact of Buyer’s asymmetric information and bargaining power," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    5. Giacomo Calzolari & Vincenzo Denicolò, 2015. "Exclusive Contracts and Market Dominance," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(11), pages 3321-3351, November.
    6. Kitamura, Hiroshi & Matsushima, Noriaki & Sato, Misato, 2018. "Exclusive contracts with complementary inputs," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 145-167.
    7. Jan Boone & Wieland Müller & Sigrid Suetens, 2014. "Naked Exclusion in the Lab: The Case of Sequential Contracting," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(1), pages 137-166, March.
    8. Dongyeol Lee, 2015. "The Competitive Effect of Exclusive Dealing in the Presence of Renegotiation Breakdown," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 47(1), pages 25-50, August.
    9. Gavin, Sebnem & Ross, Thomas W., 2018. "Long-term contracts as barriers to entry with differentiated products," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 514-537.
    10. repec:dpr:wpaper:0918 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Aggey Semenov & Julian Wright, 2014. "Exclusion via Non-Exclusive Contracts," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 47(1), pages 325-347, February.
    12. Martimort, David & Pouyet, Jérôme & Trégouët, Thomas, 2021. "Contracts as a barrier to entry: Impact of Buyer’s asymmetric information and bargaining power," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    13. Bogdan Genchev & Julie Holland Mortimer, 2016. "Empirical Evidence on Conditional Pricing Practices," NBER Working Papers 22313, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Chiara Fumagalli & Massimo Motta & Lars Persson, 2009. "On The Anticompetitive Effect Of Exclusive Dealing When Entry By Merger Is Possible," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(4), pages 785-811, December.
    15. Muriel Fadairo & Jianyu Yu, 2014. "Economic Rationales of Exclusive Dealing ; Empirical Evidence from the French Distribution Networks," Working Papers 1405, Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon St-Étienne (GATE Lyon St-Étienne), Université de Lyon.
    16. Etro, Federico, 2011. "Endogenous market structures and contract theory: Delegation, principal-agent contracts, screening, franchising and tying," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(4), pages 463-479, May.
    17. Guy Meunier, 2011. "Imperfect Competition and Long-term Contracts in Electricity Markets: Some Lessons from Theoretical Models," Chapters, in: Jean-Michel Glachant & Dominique Finon & Adrien de Hauteclocque (ed.), Competition, Contracts and Electricity Markets, chapter 6, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    18. Kitamura Hiroshi, 2011. "Exclusive Contracts under Financial Constraints," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 11(1), pages 1-31, September.
    19. Johannes Münster & Markus Reisinger, 2021. "Sequencing Bilateral Negotiations with Externalities," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 096, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    20. Cédric Argenton, 2010. "Exclusive Quality," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(3), pages 690-716, September.
    21. Tianle Song, 2022. "Quality Disclosure and Product Selection," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(2), pages 323-346, June.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection
    • D86 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Economics of Contract Law
    • K21 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law - - - Antitrust Law
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L14 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Transactional Relationships; Contracts and Reputation
    • L42 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Vertical Restraints; Resale Price Maintenance; Quantity Discounts
    • L60 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - General

    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:aea:aecrev:v:106:y:2016:i:7:p:1849-77. 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: Michael P. Albert (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeaaaea.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.