IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/hit/hitjec/v53y2012i2p177-200.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Comparing Cournot Duopoly And Monopoly With Asymmetric Differentiated Goods

Author

Listed:
  • CHANG, MING CHUNG
  • LIN, YUN-CHIEH
  • LIN, CHIU FEN

Abstract

This study compares a differentiated Cournot duopoly with a two-product monopoly by using the socially optimal solution as a reference point. Each solution is allowedto be either an interior or a corner solution. We establish that the ranking regarding each individual price is clear-cut and normal. In contrast, every one of the rankings regarding individual outputs and industry output can go either way. More importantly, the duopoly may be less welfare-efficient than the monopoly. For example, when demands are linear, lower welfare is achieved if the asymmetry between firms is strong enough. One reason is that when firms are asymmetric, the output structure in the duopoly is distorted with probability one, whereas the output structure in the monopoly is generally socially optimal.

Suggested Citation

  • Chang, Ming Chung & Lin, Yun-Chieh & Lin, Chiu Fen, 2012. "Comparing Cournot Duopoly And Monopoly With Asymmetric Differentiated Goods," Hitotsubashi Journal of Economics, Hitotsubashi University, vol. 53(2), pages 177-200, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:hit:hitjec:v:53:y:2012:i:2:p:177-200
    DOI: 10.15057/25380
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hermes-ir.lib.hit-u.ac.jp/hermes/ir/re/25380/HJeco0530217700.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.15057/25380?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jean Tirole, 1988. "The Theory of Industrial Organization," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262200716, December.
    2. Hugo Sonnenschein, 1968. "The Dual of Duopoly Is Complementary Monopoly: or, Two of Cournot's Theories Are One," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 76(2), pages 316-316.
    3. Ming Chung Chang & Hsiao-Ping Peng, 2012. "Cournot And Bertrand Equilibria Compared: A Critical Review And An Extension From The Output-Structure Viewpoint," The Japanese Economic Review, Japanese Economic Association, vol. 63(4), pages 467-496, December.
    4. Avinash Dixit, 1979. "A Model of Duopoly Suggesting a Theory of Entry Barriers," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 10(1), pages 20-32, Spring.
    5. Symeonidis, George, 2003. "Comparing Cournot and Bertrand equilibria in a differentiated duopoly with product R&D," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 39-55, January.
    6. Oleksiy Andriychenko & Audrius Girnius & Atanu Saha, 2006. "Complementary Goods: Prices and Consumer Welfare Under Duopoly and Monopoly," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(3), pages 373-386.
    7. Hur, Jung, 2006. "Preferential Tariff Policy, Product Quality and Welfare," Hitotsubashi Journal of Economics, Hitotsubashi University, vol. 47(2), pages 197-217, December.
    8. Piercarlo Zanchettin, 2006. "Differentiated Duopoly with Asymmetric Costs," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(4), pages 999-1015, December.
    9. Amir, Rabah & Jin, Jim Y., 2001. "Cournot and Bertrand equilibria compared: substitutability, complementarity and concavity," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 19(3-4), pages 303-317, March.
    10. Ming Chung Chang & Hsiao‐Ping Peng, 2009. "Structure Regulation, Price Structure, Cross‐Subsidization And Marginal Cost Of Public Funds," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 77(6), pages 675-698, December.
    11. Ming Chang, 2010. "An Asymmetric Oligopolist can Improve Welfare by Raising Price," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 36(1), pages 75-96, February.
    12. Leonard Cheng, 1985. "Comparing Bertrand and Cournot Equilibria: A Geometric Approach," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 16(1), pages 146-152, Spring.
    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. Ming Chang & Yan-Ching Ho, 2014. "Comparing Cournot and Bertrand equilibria in an asymmetric duopoly with product R&D," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 113(2), pages 133-174, October.

    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. Ming Chang & Yan-Ching Ho, 2014. "Comparing Cournot and Bertrand equilibria in an asymmetric duopoly with product R&D," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 113(2), pages 133-174, October.
    2. Choné, Philippe & Linnemer, Laurent, 2020. "Linear demand systems for differentiated goods: Overview and user’s guide," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    3. Philippe Choné & Laurent Linnemer, 2019. "The quasilinear quadratic utility model: An overview," Working Papers hal-02318633, HAL.
    4. Ming Chang, 2010. "An Asymmetric Oligopolist can Improve Welfare by Raising Price," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 36(1), pages 75-96, February.
    5. Ming Chung Chang & Hsiao‐Ping Peng, 2009. "Structure Regulation, Price Structure, Cross‐Subsidization And Marginal Cost Of Public Funds," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 77(6), pages 675-698, December.
    6. Luciano Fanti & Nicola Meccheri, 2015. "On the Cournot–Bertrand Profit Differential and the Structure of Unionisation in a Managerial Duopoly," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(4), pages 266-287, December.
    7. Sonja Brangewitz & Jochen Manegold, 2015. "Competition and Product Innovation of Intermediaries in a Differentiated Duopoly," Working Papers CIE 90, Paderborn University, CIE Center for International Economics.
    8. Ryo Hashizume & Tatsuhiko Nariu, 2020. "Price and quantity competition with network externalities: Endogenous choice of strategic variables," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 88(6), pages 847-865, December.
    9. Lee, DongJoon & Choi, Kangsik & Nariu, Tatsuhiko, 2016. "Endogenous Choice of Price or Quantity Contract with Upstream R&D Investment: Linear Pricing and Two-part Tariff Contract with Bargaining," MPRA Paper 72752, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Mónica Correa‐López, 2007. "Price and Quantity Competition in a Differentiated Duopoly with Upstream Suppliers," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(2), pages 469-505, June.
    11. Manasakis, Constantine & Vlassis, Minas, 2014. "Downstream mode of competition with upstream market power," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 84-93.
    12. Rupayan Pal, "undated". "The Cournot-Bertrand profit differential: A Reversal result in network goods duopoly," Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai Working Papers 2013-014, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India.
    13. Tsuyoshi Toshimitsu, 2016. "Price and Quantity Competition in a Differentiated Duopoly With Network Compatibility Effects," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 67(4), pages 495-512, December.
    14. Jochen Manegold, 2016. "Stackelberg Competition among Intermediaries in a Differentiated Duopoly with Product Innovation," Working Papers CIE 98, Paderborn University, CIE Center for International Economics.
    15. Ya‐chin Wang & Leonard F.s. Wang, 2009. "Equivalence Of Competition Mode In A Vertically Differentiated Duopoly With Delegation," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 77(4), pages 577-590, December.
    16. Dawid, Herbert & Kopel, Michael & Kort, Peter M., 2013. "New product introduction and capacity investment by incumbents: Effects of size on strategy," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 230(1), pages 133-142.
    17. Jan Zouhar & Martina Zouharova, 2020. "Stackelberg versus Cournot duopoly with asymmetric costs: primary markups, entry deterrence, and a comparison of social welfare and industry profits," Economic Theory Bulletin, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 8(1), pages 89-96, April.
    18. Manipushpak Mitra & Rupayan Pal & Arindam Paul & P. M. Sharada, 2020. "Equilibrium Coexistence of Public and Private Firms and the Plausibility of Price Competition," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 176(2), pages 217-242.
    19. Krishnendu Ghosh DASTIDAR & YANO Makoto, 2017. "In many emerging economies corruption, poor quality of information and poor governance lead to restricted entry. In this paper we analyze the determinants of the .height.of entry barrier in a developi," Discussion papers 17010, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    20. Kangsik, Choi, 2012. "Cournot and Bertrand competition with asymmetric costs in a mixed duopoly revisited," MPRA Paper 37704, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 28 Mar 2012.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Cournot duopoly; multi-product monopoly; output structure; horizontal merger; antitrust policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L12 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Monopoly; Monopolization Strategies
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L41 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Monopolization; Horizontal Anticompetitive Practices

    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:hit:hitjec:v:53:y:2012:i:2:p:177-200. 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: Digital Resources Section, Hitotsubashi University Library (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fehitjp.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.