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Monopolistic Competition, As You Like It

Author

Listed:
  • Paolo Bertoletti

    (Department of Economics and Management, University Of Pavia)

  • Federico Etro

    (Department of Economics, University Of Venice CÃ Foscari)

Abstract

We study imperfect and monopolistic competition with asymmetric preferences over a variety of goods provided by heterogeneous firms. We show how to compute equilibria through the Morishima elasticities of substitution. Simple pricing rules and closed-form solutions emerge under monopolistic competition when demands depend on common aggregators. This is the case for Generalized Additively Separable preferences (encompassing additive preferences and their Gorman-Pollak extensions), implicitly additive preferences and others. For applications to trade, with markups variable across goods of different quality, and to macroeconomics, with markups depending on aggregate variables, we propose specifications of indirectly additive, self-dual addilog and implicit CES preferences.

Suggested Citation

  • Paolo Bertoletti & Federico Etro, 2017. "Monopolistic Competition, As You Like It," Working Papers 2017:08, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
  • Handle: RePEc:ven:wpaper:2017:08
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    Cited by:

    1. Shon M. Ferguson, 2015. "Endogenous Product Differentiation, Market Size and Prices," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(1), pages 45-61, February.
    2. Paolo Bertoletti, 2016. "Monopolistic Marginal Cost Pricing," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 36(3), pages 1384-1387.
    3. d’Aspremont, Claude & Dos Santos Ferreira, Rodolphe, 2017. "The Dixit–Stiglitz economy with a ‘small group’ of firms: A simple and robust equilibrium markup formula," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(4), pages 729-739.
    4. Federico Etro, 2023. "Hybrid Marketplaces with Free Entry of Sellers," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 62(2), pages 119-148, March.
    5. Etro, Federico, 2019. "The Romer model with monopolistic competition and general technologies," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 1-6.
    6. Colin J. Hottman & Ryan Monarch, 2018. "Estimating Unequal Gains across U.S. Consumers with Supplier Trade Data," Working Papers 18-04, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    7. Monika Mrázová & J. Peter Neary, 2017. "Not So Demanding: Demand Structure and Firm Behavior," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(12), pages 3835-3874, December.
    8. Commendatore, Pasquale & Kubin, Ingrid & Sushko, Iryna, 2022. "Big or small? A new economic geography model with an endogenous switch in the market structure," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    9. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/2adadp8ijs8ij8c4htsg0puqid is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Thierry Mayer & Marc J. Melitz & Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano, 2021. "Product Mix and Firm Productivity Responses to Trade Competition," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 103(5), pages 874-891, December.
    11. Mrázová, Monika & Neary, J. Peter, 2020. "IO for exports(s)," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    12. Impullitti, Giammario & Licandro, Omar & Rendahl, Pontus, 2022. "Technology, market structure and the gains from trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    13. Kichko, Sergey & Kokovin, Sergey & Zhelobodko, Evgeny, 2014. "Trade patterns and export pricing under non-CES preferences," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(1), pages 129-142.
    14. Fally, Thibault, 2019. "Generalized separability and the gains from trade," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 8-12.
    15. Kristian Behrens & Sergey Kichko & Philip Ushchev & Sergei Kichko, 2018. "Intersectoral Markup Divergence," CESifo Working Paper Series 6965, CESifo.
    16. Etro, Federico, 2023. "Technologies for endogenous growth," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    17. Fally, Thibault, 2022. "Generalized separability and integrability: Consumer demand with a price aggregator," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    18. Paolo Bertoletti, 2016. "A Note on Consumer Surplus and the Structure of Preferences," DEM Working Papers Series 130, University of Pavia, Department of Economics and Management.
    19. Etro, Federico, 2018. "The Economics of Renaissance Art," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 78(2), pages 500-538, June.
    20. Dixit, Avinash, 2017. "The past and future of monopolistic competition modeling," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(4), pages 650-652.
    21. Paolo Bertoletti, 2022. "A Preference-Based Model of Platform Competition," Working Papers 486, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics.
    22. Monika Mrázová & J. Peter Neary & Mathieu Parenti, 2021. "Sales and Markup Dispersion: Theory and Empirics," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 89(4), pages 1753-1788, July.
    23. Thibault Fally, 2018. "Integrability and Generalized Separability," NBER Working Papers 25025, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    24. Lilia Cavallari & Federico Etro, 2017. "Demand, Markups and the Business Cycle. Bayesian Estimation and Quantitative Analysis in Closed and Open Economies," Working Papers 2017:09, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Imperfect competition; Monopolistic competition; Asymmetric preferences; Heterogeneous firms;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D11 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Theory
    • D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms

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