IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pqs/wpaper/042013.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Flawed Economic Models have Misled RPM Policy in the US, Canada and the EU

Author

Listed:
  • Tarcisio da Graca

    (Université du Québec (Outaouais))

  • Robert Masson

    (Cornell University)

Abstract

We show that some influential literature supporting the RPM efficiency view is flawed when it relies on the presale service justification for RPM. In particular we consider presale services that do not modify in use value of a good, what we term sterile services. We debunk what we call the Bork proposition, using Bork¹s own assumptions except one. Specifically Bork does not consider the fact that value in use may differ from prepurchase perceived value in use. We apply the value-in-use standard which exposes the loss in consumer surplus in Bork¹s model and reveals that even Bork¹s dissenters significantly underestimate their calculated losses to inframarginal consumers When consumer surplus is the antitrust/competition policy standard, our results suggest that a rule of reason regime in which competition/antitrust authorities or consumer protection agencies bear the burden of proof is inferior to a per se regime.

Suggested Citation

  • Tarcisio da Graca & Robert Masson, 2013. "Flawed Economic Models have Misled RPM Policy in the US, Canada and the EU," RePAd Working Paper Series UQO-DSA-wp042013, Département des sciences administratives, UQO.
  • Handle: RePEc:pqs:wpaper:042013
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.repad.org/ca/qc/uq/uqo/dsa/RePAD042013.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2013
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Raymond Deneckere & Howard P. Marvel & James Peck, 1996. "Demand Uncertainty, Inventories, and Resale Price Maintenance," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 111(3), pages 885-913.
    2. Patrick Rey & Thibaud Vergé, 2010. "Resale Price Maintenance And Interlocking Relationships," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(4), pages 928-961, December.
    3. Avinash Dixit & Victor Norman, 1978. "Advertising and Welfare," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 9(1), pages 1-17, Spring.
    4. Klein, Benjamin & Murphy, Kevin M, 1988. "Vertical Restraints as Contract Enforcement Mechanisms," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 31(2), pages 265-297, October.
    5. John Asker & Heski Bar-Isaac, 2010. "Exclusionary Minimum Resale Price Maintenance," NBER Working Papers 16564, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Bagwell, Kyle, 2007. "The Economic Analysis of Advertising," Handbook of Industrial Organization, in: Mark Armstrong & Robert Porter (ed.), Handbook of Industrial Organization, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 28, pages 1701-1844, Elsevier.
    7. Daniel P. O'Brien & Greg Shaffer, 1992. "Vertical Control with Bilateral Contracts," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 23(3), pages 299-308, Autumn.
    8. Bruno Jullien & Patrick Rey, 2007. "Resale price maintenance and collusion," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 38(4), pages 983-1001, December.
    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. Tarcisio B. da Graça & Robert T. Masson, 2012. "The “Services” Explanation for Resale Price Maintenance: Deleterious Results Missed in the Economics Literature and in Legal Decisions," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 79(2), pages 450-463, October.
    2. Tarcisio da Graça & Robert Masson, 2017. "Flawed Economic Models Have Misled RPM Policy: Changes in Canada, Europe and the United States," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 50(2), pages 181-207, March.
    3. Kálecz-Simon, András & Bakó, Barna, 2012. "Vertikális korlátozások - növelik vagy csökkentik a jólétet?. Érvek az irodalomból [Vertical constraints - do they increase or reduce welfare?. Arguments in the literature]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(10), pages 1138-1159.
    4. John Asker & Heski Bar-Isaac, 2012. "Vertical Practices Facilitating Exclusion," Working Papers 12-20, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Department of Economics.
    5. Bang, Se Hoon & Jin, Yangsoo, 2015. "Brand-specificity of pre-sale services and inter-brand competition with resale price maintenance," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 1-9.
    6. Ralph A. Winter, 2009. "Presidential Address: Antitrust restrictions on single-firm strategies," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 42(4), pages 1207-1239, November.
    7. Dertwinkel-Kalt, Markus & Wey, Christian, 2023. "Resale price maintenance in a successive monopoly model," DICE Discussion Papers 395, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    8. John Asker & Heski Bar-Isaac, 2010. "Exclusionary Minimum Resale Price Maintenance," NBER Working Papers 16564, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Foros, Øystein & Kind, Hans Jarle & Shaffer, Greg, 2015. "Apple's Agency Model and the Role of Resale Price Maintenance," Discussion Papers 2015/32, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Business and Management Science.
    10. Marcel Boyer & Thomas W. Ross & Ralph A. Winter, 2017. "The rise of economics in competition policy: A Canadian perspective," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 50(5), pages 1489-1524, December.
    11. Haucap, Justus & Klein, Gordon J., 2012. "Einschränkungen der Preisgestaltung im Einzelhandel aus wettbewerbsökonomischer Perspektive," DICE Ordnungspolitische Perspektiven 22, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    12. Dertwinkel-Kalt, Markus & Wey, Christian, 2021. "Multi-Product Pricing and Minimum Resale Price Maintenance," VfS Annual Conference 2021 (Virtual Conference): Climate Economics 242338, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    13. Belleflamme,Paul & Peitz,Martin, 2015. "Industrial Organization," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107687899.
    14. Lømo, Teis Lunde & Ulsaker, Simen Aardal, 2016. "Promotional allowances," Working Papers in Economics 08/16, University of Bergen, Department of Economics.
    15. Pinar Akman & D. Daniel Sokol, 2017. "Online RPM and MFN Under Antitrust Law and Economics," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 50(2), pages 133-151, March.
    16. Nocke, Volker & Rey, Patrick, 2018. "Exclusive dealing and vertical integration in interlocking relationships," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 183-221.
    17. Xiao, Ping & (Jack) Chen, Xinlei & Chen, Yuxin & Lu, Wei, 2021. "Violation behavior in vertical restraint: Empirical analyses in the case of retail price maintenance," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 953-973.
    18. Reiffen, David, 1999. "On the equivalence of resale price maintenance and quantity restrictions," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 277-288, February.
    19. Butz, David A, 1997. "Vertical Price Controls with Uncertain Demand," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 40(2), pages 433-459, October.
    20. J. K. Pappalardo, 2022. "Economics of Consumer Protection: Contributions and Challenges in Estimating Consumer Injury and Evaluating Consumer Protection Policy," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 45(2), pages 201-238, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Resale Price Maintenance; Welfare Effects; Antitrust.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L42 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Vertical Restraints; Resale Price Maintenance; Quantity Discounts

    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:pqs:wpaper:042013. 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: Christian Calmes (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dsuqoca.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.