Quality and Imperfect Competition

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Gaudin, Germain
• 署名单位: University of Freiburg
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-MICROECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7669
• DOI: 10.1257/mic.20240045
• 发表日期: 2026
• 关键词: price-competition; product quality; pass-through; mergers; CHOICE; oligopoly; monopoly; taxation; cournot; differentiation

摘要

We study quality distortions when firms hold market power. We develop a model allowing for flexible functional forms of demand in order to extend Spence's (1975) monopoly analysis to imperfect competition. We show that quality distortions are determined by a competition effect that captures the externality a firm exerts on its competitors when raising both its price and its quality, in addition to Spence's (1975) effect related to the shape of total market demand. Our approach also allows us to analyze the effects of commodity taxation and technology shocks on the equilibrium allocation when firms compete in prices and qualities. (JEL D43, D62, H22, L13, L15, O31)