IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/rwirep/575.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Price and non-price competition in oligopoly: An analysis of relative payoff maximizers

Author

Listed:
  • Moghadam, Hamed M.

Abstract

Do firms under relative payoffs maximizing (RPM) behavior always choose a strategy profile that results in tougher competition compared to firms under absolute payoffs maximizing (APM) behavior? In this paper we will address this issue through a simple model of symmetric oligopoly where firms select a two dimensional strategy set of price and a non-price variable known as quality simultaneously. In conclusion, our results show that equilibrium solutions of RPM and APM are distinct. We further characterize the comparison between these two equilibrium concepts. In particular, RPM does not always lead to stricter competition compared to the Nash equilbrium (APM). In fact, the comparison between two equilibrium concepts is influenced by the parameters of demand curve and cost function. The conditions, derived in this paper, determine under which circumstances RPM induces more competition or less competition w.r.t the price or non-price dimension.

Suggested Citation

  • Moghadam, Hamed M., 2015. "Price and non-price competition in oligopoly: An analysis of relative payoff maximizers," Ruhr Economic Papers 575, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
  • Handle: RePEc:zbw:rwirep:575
    DOI: 10.4419/86788664
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/119460/1/835353281.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.4419/86788664?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Glenn Ellison, 2000. "Basins of Attraction, Long-Run Stochastic Stability, and the Speed of Step-by-Step Evolution," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 67(1), pages 17-45.
    2. Leininger, Wolfgang & Moghadam, Hamed Markazi, 2018. "Asymmetric oligopoly and evolutionary stability," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 1-9.
    3. Hehenkamp, Burkhard & Possajennikov, Alex & Guse, Tobias, 2010. "On the equivalence of Nash and evolutionary equilibrium in finite populations," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 254-258, February.
    4. Brécard, Dorothée, 2010. "On production costs in vertical differentiation models," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 109(3), pages 183-186, December.
    5. Ania, Ana B., 2008. "Evolutionary stability and Nash equilibrium in finite populations, with an application to price competition," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 65(3-4), pages 472-488, March.
    6. Acemoglu, Daron & Jensen, Martin Kaae, 2013. "Aggregate comparative statics," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 27-49.
    7. Fernando Vega-Redondo, 1997. "The Evolution of Walrasian Behavior," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(2), pages 375-384, March.
    8. Khan, Abhimanyu & Peeters, Ronald, 2015. "Imitation by price and quantity setting firms in a differentiated market," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 28-36.
    9. Jean Tirole, 1988. "The Theory of Industrial Organization," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262200716, December.
    10. Wolfgang Leininger, 2006. "Fending off one means fending off all: evolutionary stability in quasi-submodular aggregative games," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 29(3), pages 713-719, November.
    11. Steven Berry & Joel Waldfogel, 2010. "Product Quality And Market Size," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(1), pages 1-31, March.
    12. Carlos Alós-Ferrer & Ana Ania, 2005. "The evolutionary stability of perfectly competitive behavior," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 26(3), pages 497-516, October.
    13. Tanaka, Yasuhito, 2001. "Evolution to equilibrium in an asymmetric oligopoly with differentiated goods," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 19(9), pages 1423-1440, November.
    14. Apesteguia, Jose & Huck, Steffen & Oechssler, Jörg & Weidenholzer, Simon, 2010. "Imitation and the evolution of Walrasian behavior: Theoretically fragile but behaviorally robust," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 145(5), pages 1603-1617, September.
    15. Xavier Vives, 2001. "Oligopoly Pricing: Old Ideas and New Tools," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 026272040x, December.
    16. Xavier Vives, 2008. "Innovation And Competitive Pressure," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(3), pages 419-469, December.
    17. Schaffer, Mark E., 1989. "Are profit-maximisers the best survivors? : A Darwinian model of economic natural selection," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 29-45, August.
    18. Armen A. Alchian, 1950. "Uncertainty, Evolution, and Economic Theory," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 58, pages 211-211.
    19. repec:zbw:rwirep:0497 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Shaked, Avner & Sutton, John, 1987. "Product Differentiation and Industrial Structure," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(2), pages 131-146, December.
    21. Hehenkamp, Burkhard & Wambach, Achim, 2010. "Survival at the center--The stability of minimum differentiation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 76(3), pages 853-858, December.
    22. Avinash Dixit, 1979. "Quality and Quantity Competition," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 46(4), pages 587-599.
    23. Yasuhito Tanaka, 1999. "Long run equilibria in an asymmetric oligopoly," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 14(3), pages 705-715.
    24. Rajiv D. Banker & Inder Khosla & Kingshuk K. Sinha, 1998. "Quality and Competition," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 44(9), pages 1179-1192, September.
    25. Tanaka, Yasuhito, 2000. "Stochastically stable states in an oligopoly with differentiated goods: equivalence of price and quantity strategies," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 235-253, October.
    26. Leininger, Wolfgang & Moghadam, Hamed M., 2014. "Evolutionary Stability in Asymmetric Oligopoly. A Non-Walrasian Result," Ruhr Economic Papers 497, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    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. Leininger, Wolfgang & Moghadam, Hamed M., 2014. "Evolutionary Stability in Asymmetric Oligopoly. A Non-Walrasian Result," Ruhr Economic Papers 497, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    2. Leininger, Wolfgang & Moghadam, Hamed Markazi, 2018. "Asymmetric oligopoly and evolutionary stability," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 1-9.
    3. Abhimanyu Khan & Ronald Peeters, 2020. "Evolution of Behavior When Duopolists Choose Prices and Quantities," Dynamic Games and Applications, Springer, vol. 10(2), pages 493-508, June.
    4. Jonas Hedlund, 2015. "Imitation in Cournot oligopolies with multiple markets," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 60(3), pages 567-587, November.
    5. Khan, Abhimanyu & Peeters, Ronald, 2017. "Imitation and price competition in a differentiated market," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 177-194.
    6. Wolfgang Leininger & Hamed Moghadam, 2014. "Evolutionary Stability in Asymmetric Oligopoly. A Non-Walrasian Result," Ruhr Economic Papers 0497, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    7. Alos-Ferrer, Carlos, 2004. "Cournot versus Walras in dynamic oligopolies with memory," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 193-217, February.
    8. repec:zbw:rwirep:0497 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Khan, Abhimanyu & Peeters, Ronald, 2015. "Imitation by price and quantity setting firms in a differentiated market," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 28-36.
    10. Gu, Yiquan & Hehenkamp, Burkhard & Leininger, Wolfgang, 2019. "Evolutionary equilibrium in contests with stochastic participation: Entry, effort and overdissipation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 469-485.
    11. Schipper, Burkhard C., 2009. "Imitators and optimizers in Cournot oligopoly," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 33(12), pages 1981-1990, December.
    12. Ania, Ana B. & Wagener, Andreas, 2016. "Decentralized redistribution in a laboratory federation," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 49-59.
    13. Duersch, Peter & Oechssler, Jörg & Schipper, Burkhard C., 2010. "Pure Saddle Points and Symmetric Relative Payoff Games," Working Papers 0500, University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics.
    14. Duersch, Peter & Oechssler, Jörg & Schipper, Burkhard C., 2010. "Pure Saddle Points and Symmetric Relative Payoff Games," Working Papers 0500, University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics.
    15. Duersch, Peter & Oechssler, Jörg & Schipper, Burkhard C., 2012. "Unbeatable imitation," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 76(1), pages 88-96.
    16. Burkhard C. Schipper, 2021. "The evolutionary stability of optimism, pessimism, and complete ignorance," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 90(3), pages 417-454, May.
    17. Carlos Alós-Ferrer & Nick Netzer, 2015. "Robust stochastic stability," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 58(1), pages 31-57, January.
    18. Hehenkamp, Burkhard & Possajennikov, Alex & Guse, Tobias, 2010. "On the equivalence of Nash and evolutionary equilibrium in finite populations," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 254-258, February.
    19. Ania, Ana B., 2008. "Evolutionary stability and Nash equilibrium in finite populations, with an application to price competition," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 65(3-4), pages 472-488, March.
    20. Moghadam, Hamed Markazi, 2021. "A nonparametric approach to evolutionary oligopoly games: An application to the crude oil industry," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    21. Robert Philipowski, 2016. "Spiteful behavior can make everybody better off," Evolutionary and Institutional Economics Review, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 113-116, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    relative payoff s maximizing (RPM); quality; price; oligopoly;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C73 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Stochastic and Dynamic Games; Evolutionary Games
    • 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
    • L15 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Information and Product Quality

    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:zbw:rwirep:575. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/rwiesde.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.