IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wsi/igtrxx/v06y2004i04ns0219198904000320.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Private And Social Incentives Towards Investment In Product Differentiation

Author

Listed:
  • ROBERTO CELLINI

    (Department of Economics, University of Catania, Corso Italia 55, 95129 Catania, Italy)

  • LUCA LAMBERTINI

    (Department of Economics, University of Bologna, Strada Maggiore 45, 40125 Bologna, Italy)

Abstract

We consider a dynamic oligopoly where firms invest to increase product differentiation and an externality effect operates in the R&D activity. We compare the steady state solutions under alternative decision rules, namely, the open-loop and the closed-loop Nash equilibrium. Significant differences emerge, concerning the effect of the number of firms upon the optimal degree of product differentiation. We also compare the private optima with the social optimum, and derive implications concerning the social desirability of different decision rules.

Suggested Citation

  • Roberto Cellini & Luca Lambertini, 2004. "Private And Social Incentives Towards Investment In Product Differentiation," International Game Theory Review (IGTR), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 6(04), pages 493-508.
    • Handle: RePEc:wsi:igtrxx:v:06:y:2004:i:04:n:s0219198904000320
    DOI: 10.1142/S0219198904000320
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S0219198904000320
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1142/S0219198904000320?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Majerus, David W., 1988. "Price vs. quantity competition in oligopoly supergames," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 293-297.
    2. Curtis Eaton, B. & Lipsey, Richard G., 1989. "Product differentiation," Handbook of Industrial Organization, in: R. Schmalensee & R. Willig (ed.), Handbook of Industrial Organization, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 12, pages 723-768, Elsevier.
    3. Lambertini, Luca & Poddar, Sougata & Sasaki, Dan, 1998. "Standardization and the stability of collusion," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(3), pages 303-310, March.
    4. Kenneth Arrow, 1962. "Economic Welfare and the Allocation of Resources for Invention," NBER Chapters, in: The Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity: Economic and Social Factors, pages 609-626, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Lambertini, Luca, 1997. "Prisoners' Dilemma in Duopoly (Super)Games," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 181-191, November.
    6. Jean Tirole, 1988. "The Theory of Industrial Organization," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262200716, December.
    7. Drew Fudenberg & Jean Tirole, 1991. "Game Theory," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262061414, December.
    8. Lambertini, Luca & Rossini, Gianpaolo, 1998. "Product homogeneity as a prisoner's dilemma in a duopoly with R&D," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(3), pages 297-301, March.
    9. Dockner,Engelbert J. & Jorgensen,Steffen & Long,Ngo Van & Sorger,Gerhard, 2000. "Differential Games in Economics and Management Science," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521637329.
    10. Cellini, Roberto & Lambertini, Luca, 1998. "A Dynamic Model of Differentiated Oligopoly with Capital Accumulation," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 83(1), pages 145-155, November.
    11. R. Schmalensee & R. Willig (ed.), 1989. "Handbook of Industrial Organization," Handbook of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 2, number 2.
    12. Harrington Jr. , Joseph E., 1995. "Experimentation and Learning in a Differentiated-Products Duopoly," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 275-288, June.
    13. Cellini, Roberto & Lambertini, Luca, 2002. "A differential game approach to investment in product differentiation," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 51-62, November.
    14. R. Schmalensee & R. Willig (ed.), 1989. "Handbook of Industrial Organization," Handbook of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1.
    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. Luca Lambertini & Andrea Mantovani, 2010. "Process and product innovation: A differential game approach to product life cycle," International Journal of Economic Theory, The International Society for Economic Theory, vol. 6(2), pages 227-252, June.
    2. De Giovanni, Pietro & Zaccour, Georges, 2023. "A survey of dynamic models of product quality," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 307(3), pages 991-1007.
    3. R. Cellini & L. Lambertini, 2005. "R&D Incentives and Market Structure: Dynamic Analysis," Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, Springer, vol. 126(1), pages 85-96, July.
    4. Guido Candela & Roberto Cellini, 2006. "Investment in Tourism Market: A Dynamic Model of Differentiated Oligopoly," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 35(1), pages 41-58, September.
    5. Steffen Jørgensen & Georges Zaccour, 2007. "Developments in differential game theory and numerical methods: economic and management applications," Computational Management Science, Springer, vol. 4(2), pages 159-181, April.
    6. Roberto Cellini & Luca Lambertini, 2011. "R&D Incentives Under Bertrand Competition: A Differential Game," The Japanese Economic Review, Japanese Economic Association, vol. 62(3), pages 387-400, September.
    7. Luca Lambertini, 2009. "Optimal Product Proliferation in Monopoly: A Dynamic Analysis," Review of Economic Analysis, Digital Initiatives at the University of Waterloo Library, vol. 1(1), pages 80-97, September.
    8. Lambertini, Luca & Mantovani, Andrea, 2009. "Process and product innovation by a multiproduct monopolist: A dynamic approach," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 508-518, July.

    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. Cellini, Roberto & Lambertini, Luca, 2002. "A differential game approach to investment in product differentiation," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 51-62, November.
    2. R. Cellini & L. Lambertini, 2000. "Differential Games and Oligopoly Theory: An Overview," Working Papers 369, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    3. Luca Lambertini & Andrea Mantovani, 2010. "Process and product innovation: A differential game approach to product life cycle," International Journal of Economic Theory, The International Society for Economic Theory, vol. 6(2), pages 227-252, June.
    4. Dragone, Davide & Lambertini, Luca & Palestini, Arsen, 2022. "Emission taxation, green innovations and inverted-U aggregate R&D efforts in a linear state differential game," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(1), pages 62-68.
    5. Luca Lambertini, 2009. "Optimal Product Proliferation in Monopoly: A Dynamic Analysis," Review of Economic Analysis, Digital Initiatives at the University of Waterloo Library, vol. 1(1), pages 80-97, September.
    6. Joachim Henkel & Eric von Hippel, 2005. "Welfare Implications of User Innovation," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 30(2_2), pages 73-87, January.
    7. F. Delbono & L. Lambertini, 2016. "On Globally Optimal Punishments in the Repeated Cournot Game," Working Papers wp1091, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    8. Navas, Jorge & Kort, Peter M., 2007. "Time to complete and research joint ventures: A differential game approach," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 1672-1696, May.
    9. Martin Gaynor, "undated". "What Do We Know About Competition and Quality in Health Care Markets?," GSIA Working Papers 2006-E62, Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business.
    10. Lambertini, Luca & Mantovani, Andrea, 2009. "Process and product innovation by a multiproduct monopolist: A dynamic approach," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 508-518, July.
    11. Motchenkova, Evgenia, 2008. "Determination of optimal penalties for antitrust violations in a dynamic setting," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 189(1), pages 269-291, August.
    12. Asplund, Marcus & Sandin, Rickard, 1999. "Competition in interrelated markets: An empirical study," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 353-369, April.
    13. Boone, Jan, 2002. "'Be Nice, Unless it Pays to Fight': A New Theory of Price Determination with Implications for Competition Policy," CEPR Discussion Papers 3342, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    14. Charles Bérubé & Marc Duhamel & Daniel Ershov, 2012. "Market Incentives for Business Innovation: Results from Canada," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 47-65, March.
    15. Iritié, B. G. Jean-Jacques, 2014. "Enjeux des politiques industrielles basées sur les clusters d'innovation: cas des pôles de compétitivité [Issues of Innovative Clusters-based Industrial Policy: Case of Pole of Competitiveness]," MPRA Paper 54429, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Ping Lin & Tianle Zhang & Wen Zhou, 2020. "Vertical integration and disruptive cross‐market R&D," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 51-73, January.
    17. Czarnitzki, Dirk & Kraft, Kornelius, 2004. "An empirical test of the asymmetric models on innovative activity: who invests more into R&D, the incumbent or the challenger?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 153-173, June.
    18. Moldovanu, Benny & Sela, Aner, 2003. "Patent licensing to Bertrand competitors," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 1-13, January.
    19. Brander, James A., 1995. "Strategic trade policy," Handbook of International Economics, in: G. M. Grossman & K. Rogoff (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 27, pages 1395-1455, Elsevier.
    20. Jason G. Cummins & Ingmar Nyman, 2005. "The Dark Side of Competitive Pressure," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 36(2), pages 361-397, Summer.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Differential games; research and development; product differentiation; spillovers; JEL Classification Code: C73; JEL Classification Code: L13; JEL Classification Code: O31;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B4 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Economic Methodology
    • C0 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - General
    • C6 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling
    • C7 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory
    • D5 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium
    • D7 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making
    • M2 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Economics

    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:wsi:igtrxx:v:06:y:2004:i:04:n:s0219198904000320. 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: Tai Tone Lim (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.worldscinet.com/igtr/igtr.shtml .

    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.