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Cartel Formation with Quality Differentiation

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  • Bos, Iwan
  • Marini, Marco A.
  • Saulle, Riccardo

Abstract

Research on collusion in vertically differentiated markets is conducted under one or two potentially restrictive assumptions. Either there is a single industry-wide cartel or costs are assumed to be independent of quality or quantity. We explore the extent to which these assumptions are indeed restrictive by relaxing both. For a wide range of coalition structures, profit-maximizing cartels of any size price most of their lower quality products out of the market as long as production costs do not increase too much with quality. If these costs rise sufficiently, however, then market share is maintained for all product variants. All cartel sizes may emerge in equilibrium when exclusively considering individual deviations, but the industry-wide cartel is the only one immune to deviations by coalitions of members. Overall, our findings suggest that firms have a strong incentive to coordinate prices when the products involved are vertically differentiated.

Suggested Citation

  • Bos, Iwan & Marini, Marco A. & Saulle, Riccardo, 2019. "Cartel Formation with Quality Differentiation," MPRA Paper 97820, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:97820
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Bos, Iwan & Marini, Marco A., 2019. "Cartel stability under quality differentiation," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 70-73.
    2. Giulio Ecchia & Luca Lambertini, 1997. "Minimum Quality Standards and Collusion," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(1), pages 101-113, March.
    3. Gabszewicz Jean J. & Marini Marco A. & Tarola Ornella, 2019. "Endogenous Mergers in Markets with Vertically Differentiated Products," The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 19(1), pages 1-22, January.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Iwan Bos & Marco A. Marini, 2022. "Collusion in quality‐segmented markets," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 24(2), pages 293-323, April.
    2. Leonardo Madio & Aldo Pignataro, 2022. "Collusion sustainability with a capacity constrained firm," "Marco Fanno" Working Papers 0295, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche "Marco Fanno".
    3. Amit Gayer, 2023. "Duopoly and Endogenous Single Product Quality Strategies," Games, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-11, August.
    4. Martin, Simon & Schmal, W. Benedikt, 2021. "Collusive compensation schemes aided by algorithms," DICE Discussion Papers 375, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    5. Leonardo Madio & Aldo Pignataro, 2022. "Collusion Sustainability with a Capacity Constrained Firm," CESifo Working Paper Series 10170, CESifo.
    6. Innocenti, Federico & Menicucci, Domenico, 2021. "Partial compatibility in oligopoly," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 351-378.
    7. Bovin, Andreas & Bos, Iwan, 2023. "Market Shares as Collusive Marker: Evidence from the European Truck Industry," Research Memorandum 011, Maastricht University, Graduate School of Business and Economics (GSBE).
    8. Stanislav Stoykov & Ivan Kostov, 2023. "Price Competition with Differentiated Products on a Two-Dimensional Plane: The Impact of Partial Cartel on Firms’ Profits and Behavior," Games, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-25, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Cartel Formation; Collusion; Vertical Differentiation; Endogenous Coalition Formation; Industry-wide Cartel; Partial Cartels.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C70 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - General
    • C71 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Cooperative Games
    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • D0 - Microeconomics - - General
    • D01 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles
    • D02 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact
    • D04 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Policy: Formulation; Implementation; Evaluation
    • D4 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design
    • D42 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Monopoly
    • D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection

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