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Intertemporal Price Discrimination in Sequential Quantity-Price Games

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This paper develops an oligopoly model in which firms first choose capacity and then compete in prices in a series of advance-purchase markets. We show that when the elasticity of demand falls across periods, strong competitive forces prevent firms from utilizing intertemporal price discrimination. We then enrich the model by allowing firms to use inventory controls, or sales limits assigned to individual prices. We show that competing firms can profitably use inventory controls. Thus, although typically viewed as a tool to manage demand uncertainty, we show that inventory controls can also facilitate price discrimination in oligopoly.

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  • James D. Dana Jr. & Kevin R. Williams, 2018. "Intertemporal Price Discrimination in Sequential Quantity-Price Games," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2136R3, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University, revised Feb 2020.
    • Handle: RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:2136r3
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    Cited by:

    1. Kevin R. Williams, 2017. "Dynamic Airline Pricing and Seat Availability," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2103R, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University, revised May 2020.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Capacity-pricing games; Intertemporal price discrimination; Oligopoly models; Inventory controls;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory
    • D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets

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