Oligopoly And Dynamic Competition

The book has three main objectives. Firstly, to provide an up-dated analysis of the most important theoretical developments, secondly, to present significant empirical verifications and thirdly, to assess the micro-macro debate and the relations which link the market structure to the function of the economic system.

James Friedman provides a thorough survey of oligopoly theory using numerical examples and careful verbal explanations to make the ideas clear and accessible. While the earlier ideas of Cournot, Hotelling, and Chamberlin are presented, the larger part of the book is devoted to the modern work on oligopoly that has resulted from the application of dynamic techniques and game theory to this area of economics. The book begins with static oligopoly theory. Cournot's model and its more recent elaborations are covered in the first substantive chapter. Then the Chamberlinian analysis of product differentiation, spatial competition, and characteristics space is set out. The subsequent chapters on modern work deal with reaction functions, advertising, oligopoly with capital, entry, and oligopoly using noncooperative game theory. A large bibliography is provided.

Fudenberg and Tirole use the game-theoretic issues of information, commitment and timing to provide a realistic approach to oligopoly.

This book provides a methodology for the analysis of oligopolistic markets from an equilibrium viewpoint, considering competition within and between groups of firms. It proposes a well-founded measure of competitive toughness that can be used in empirically relevant applications. This measure reflects the weight put by each firm on competition for market share relative to competition for market size – two dimensions of competition involving conflicting and convergent interests, respectively. It further explores several applications, such as the effect of tougher competition on innovation and of output market power on the emergence of involuntary unemployment, as well as the importance of strategic interactions for investment decisions. Relative to the dominant model of monopolistic competition, The Economics of Competition, Collusion and In-between aims to explore an alternative tractable model of firm competition opening the application of oligopoly theory to many fields in economics where general equilibrium features are crucial. It will be relevant to those interested in applied industrial organization, trade, macroeconomics (in particular macrodynamics) and quantitative economics.

This book reviews recent progress in the theory of oligopoly and market leadership and provides new results on the theory of Stackelberg competition and Nash competition with strategic investment under endogenous entry. These theories are applied to models of competition in quantities, prices and to patent races. The results are used to propose a new approach to competition policy and issues of the abuse of dominance.

Essay from the year 2004 in the subject Economics - Micro-economics, grade: 72%, University of Bradford (-), course: Micro-Economics, 16 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: The phrase oligopoly is derived from the Greek language and means “few sellers”. Sloman & Sutcliffe (2001) defines an oligopoly as a type of imperfect market in which a ‘few firms between them share a large proportion of the industry.’ (p.236). Thus, industries like oligopolies are dominated by a small number of manufacturers that may produce either differentiated or nearly identical products. It is necessary to distinguish between two types of oligopoly structures. Therefore Harrison, Smith & Davies (1992) suggests the distinction between perfect oligopoly and imperfect oligopoly. Perfect oligopolies feature market players that produce nearly identical products such as sugar or CD’s whereas imperfect oligopolies distinguish themselves by differentiated products like cars or airplanes. [...]

Dynamic oligopolistic competition has implications both for the strategic management of firms and for the design of an effective competition policy. Consequently, the present book considers the issue from a private and social perspective. It discusses the potential pro- and anticollusive effects of long-term business strategies, especially for cooperation and reinvestment in production, financing and management compensation, in markets with fluctuating demand. The method of supergame theory is applied to integrate long-run decisions and different types of demand into the analysis. Aside from its contributions to the theoretical literature, the book provides valuable insights into the design of competition policy. The observed development of prices is an indicator of the extent of collusion in the market and can thereby be used to assess antitrust regulation in certain business areas, and to focus the resources of competition authorities on markets where conditions are conducive to collusion.

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