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Price Competition in an Inflationary Environment

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  • Duersch, Peter
  • Eife, Thomas

Abstract

We study how inflation and deflation affect firms' ability to cooperate in an experimental Bertrand duopoly with differentiated products. We find that there is significantly less cooperation in the treatments with inflation and deflation compared to the no-inflation treatments. The difficulties to cooperate affect prices and welfare: Depending on the market structure, inflation and deflation lead to significantly lower (real) prices and higher welfare.

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  • Duersch, Peter & Eife, Thomas, 2013. "Price Competition in an Inflationary Environment," Working Papers 0547, University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:awi:wpaper:0547
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    2. Camille Cornand & Frank Heinemann, 2014. "Experiments on Monetary Policy and Central Banking," Research in Experimental Economics, in: Experiments in Macroeconomics, volume 17, pages 167-227, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    3. Bulutay, Muhammed & Hales, David & Julius, Patrick & Tasch, Weiwei, 2021. "Imperfect tacit collusion and asymmetric price transmission," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 584-599.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Bertrand Duopoly; Inflation; Experiment; Money Illusion;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C92 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Group Behavior
    • D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection
    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation

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