IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp16637.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Reciprocity and Learning Effects in Price Competition

Author

Listed:
  • Nese, Annamaria

    (University of Salerno)

  • O'Higgins, Niall

    (ILO International Labour Organization)

  • Sbriglia, Patrizia

    (University of Campania-Luigi Vanvitelli)

Abstract

One disputed topic in Organization and Management economics is how leadership and collusive agreements are set and maintained in industries where firms are characterised by similar technological opportunities and structures. This topic is particularly important to analyse online and digital markets, which can be regarded as networks where managers share information and where there are no structural differences among firms. In this paper we claim that strategic advantages may be the outcome of repeated interaction among managers and can be driven by two (in some cases) competing forces, information and reciprocity. In fact, on one side, full information on all firms' strategies, help agents to coordinate their decisions and drive the final outcomes towards more profitable solutions. On the other side, when information is limited only to their direct opponents, competitive advantages are maintained when each competitor views the individuals' share of profits as a "fair" allocation. Thus, pricing behaviour is affected both by the willingness to reciprocate the opponent behaviour and the willingness to imitate best strategies observed in other markets. Both pricing behaviours lead to different profit outcomes. We test our hypotheses with a lab experiment on a sequential pricing game. We find a striking difference in pricing behaviour across treatments, and a significant difference also in the ability of the second movers to establish and keep their leadership. Specifically, individuals are highly competitive when information on other players' prices is limited, and only in few markets we observe second movers' advantages. When information on prices on all markets is provided, the picture is entirely different, and prices are very close to the sub-game equilibrium level. Overall, reciprocity can explain the results, however, full information reduces negative reciprocity and competition.

Suggested Citation

  • Nese, Annamaria & O'Higgins, Niall & Sbriglia, Patrizia, 2023. "Reciprocity and Learning Effects in Price Competition," IZA Discussion Papers 16637, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16637
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp16637.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kubler, Dorothea & Muller, Wieland, 2002. "Simultaneous and sequential price competition in heterogeneous duopoly markets: experimental evidence," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 20(10), pages 1437-1460, December.
    2. Gal-Or, Esther, 1985. "First Mover and Second Mover Advantages," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 26(3), pages 649-653, October.
    3. Mark Armstrong & Steffen Huck, 2011. "Behavioral Economics as Applied to Firms: A Primer," Antitrust Chronicle, Competition Policy International, vol. 1.
    4. Stefan Bauernschuster & Oliver Falck & Niels Große, 2010. "Can Competition Spoil Reciprocity? - A Laboratory Experiment," CESifo Working Paper Series 2923, CESifo.
    5. Bruttel, Lisa V., 2009. "Group dynamics in experimental studies--The Bertrand Paradox revisited," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 51-63, January.
    6. Battigalli, Pierpaolo & Dufwenberg, Martin & Smith, Alec, 2019. "Frustration, aggression, and anger in leader-follower games," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 15-39.
    7. Ganglmair, Bernhard & Holcomb, Alex & Myung, Noah, 2020. "Expectations of reciprocity when competitors share information: Experimental evidence," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 244-267.
    8. Esther Gal-Or, 1987. "First Mover Disadvantages with Private Information," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 54(2), pages 279-292.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. S.N. O'Higgins & Arturo Palomba & Patrizia Sbriglia, 2010. "Second Mover Advantage and Bertrand Dynamic Competition: An Experiment," Labsi Experimental Economics Laboratory University of Siena 028, University of Siena.
    2. Bruttel, Lisa & Fischbacher, Urs, 2013. "Taking the initiative. What characterizes leaders?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 147-168.
    3. Luo, Huajiang & Niu, Baozhuang, 2022. "Impact of competition type on a competitive manufacturer's preference of decision timing," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 251(C).
    4. Matsui, Kenji, 2019. "A supply chain member should set its margin later if another member's cost is highly uncertain," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 275(1), pages 127-138.
    5. Dasgupta, Sudipto & Tsui, Kevin, 2003. "A "matching auction" for targets with heterogeneous bidders," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 331-364, October.
    6. Rhee, Byong-Duk, 2006. "First-mover disadvantages with idiosyncratic consumer tastes along unobservable characteristics," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 99-117, January.
    7. Chia-Hung Sun, 2020. "Simultaneous and sequential choice in a symmetric two-player game with canyon-shaped payoffs," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 71(2), pages 191-219, April.
    8. Sabatier, Mareva & Chollet, Barthélemy, 2017. "Is there a first mover advantage in science? Pioneering behavior and scientific production in nanotechnology," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 522-533.
    9. Arozamena, Leandro & Weinschelbaum, Federico, 2009. "Simultaneous vs. sequential price competition with incomplete information," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 104(1), pages 23-26, July.
    10. Eric Rasmusen & Young-Ro Yoon, 2007. "First versus Second-Mover Advantage with Information Asymmetry about the Size of New Mark," CAEPR Working Papers 2007-017, Center for Applied Economics and Policy Research, Department of Economics, Indiana University Bloomington.
    11. Argenton, Cédric & Müller, Wieland, 2012. "Collusion in experimental Bertrand duopolies with convex costs: The role of cost asymmetry," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 508-517.
    12. Tomoya Nakamura, 2014. "One-Leader and Multiple-Follower Stackelberg Games with Private Information," ISER Discussion Paper 0908r, Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University, revised Aug 2014.
    13. Kubler, Dorothea & Muller, Wieland, 2002. "Simultaneous and sequential price competition in heterogeneous duopoly markets: experimental evidence," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 20(10), pages 1437-1460, December.
    14. Shakun Datta Mago & Emmanuel Dechenaux, 2009. "Price leadership and firm size asymmetry: an experimental analysis," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 12(3), pages 289-317, September.
    15. repec:dpr:wpaper:0908 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Miguel A. Fonseca, 2019. "Endogenous Price Leadership with Asymmetric Costs: Experimental Evidence," Studies in Microeconomics, , vol. 7(1), pages 59-74, June.
    17. Kosuke Hirose & Sang-ho Lee & Toshihiro Matsumura, 2017. "Environmental corporate social responsibility : A note on the first-mover advantage under price competition," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 37(1), pages 214-221.
    18. Lenhard, Severin, 2022. "Imperfect competition with costly disposal," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    19. Cumbul, Eray, 2021. "Stackelberg versus Cournot oligopoly with private information," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    20. Eric Rasmusen & Young-Ro Yoon, 2008. "First versus Second-Mover Advantage with Information Asymmetry about the Size of New Markets," Working Papers 2008-15, Indiana University, Kelley School of Business, Department of Business Economics and Public Policy.
    21. Chen, Chia-Hui & Ishida, Junichiro & Mukherjee, Arijit, 2023. "Pioneer, early follower or late entrant: Entry dynamics with learning and market competition," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    price competition; learning direction theory; trust and reciprocity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C90 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - General
    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • L1 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:iza:izadps:dp16637. 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: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.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.