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Entry and espionage with noisy signals

Author

Listed:
  • Alex Barrachina

    (University Carlos III)

  • Yair Tauman

    (IDC Herzliya and Stony Brook)

  • Amparo Urbano Salvador

    (ERI-CES)

Abstract

We analyze industrial espionage in the context of entry deterrence. We consider a monopoly incumbent, who may expand capacity to deter entry, and a potential entrant who owns an inaccurate Intelligence System. The Intelligence System generates a noisy signal on incumbent’s actions and the potential entrant decides whether to enter based on this signal. If the precision of the Intelligence System is commonly known, the incumbent will signal-jam to manipulate the distribution of likely signals and hence the entrant’s decisions. Therefore, the incumbent will benefit from his rival’s espionage. In contrast, the spying firm (the entrant) will typically gain if the espionage accuracy is sufficiently high and privately known by her. In this setting, the market will be more competitive under espionage.

Suggested Citation

  • Alex Barrachina & Yair Tauman & Amparo Urbano Salvador, 2013. "Entry and espionage with noisy signals," Discussion Papers in Economic Behaviour 0113, University of Valencia, ERI-CES.
  • Handle: RePEc:dbe:wpaper:0113
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Itai Arieli & Moran Koren & Rann Smorodinsky, 2019. "The Implications of Pricing on Social Learning," Papers 1905.03452, arXiv.org.
    2. Barrachina, Alex & Forner-Carreras, Teresa, 2022. "Market must be defended: The role of counter-espionage policy in protecting domestic market welfare," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    3. Alex Barrachina, 2016. "Entry under an information-gathering monopoly," Working Papers 2016/09, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).
    4. Tao Wang, 2020. "Competitive Intelligence and Disclosure of Cost Information in Duopoly," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 57(3), pages 665-699, November.
    5. Stupak, O., 2023. "Industrial cyberespionage in research and development races," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2337, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    6. Alex Barrachina & Yair Tauman & Amparo Urbano Salvador, 2014. "Entry with Two Correlated Signals," Discussion Papers in Economic Behaviour 0714, University of Valencia, ERI-CES.
    7. Jonas Send, 2021. "Contest Copycats: Adversarial Duplication of Effort in Contests," Working Papers tax-mpg-rps-2021-17, Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance.
    8. Alex Barrachina & Yair Tauman & Amparo Urbano, 2021. "Entry with two correlated signals: the case of industrial espionage and its positive competitive effects," International Journal of Game Theory, Springer;Game Theory Society, vol. 50(1), pages 241-278, March.
    9. Fan, Cuihong & Jun, Byoung Heon & Wolfstetter, Elmar G., 2022. "Spying in Bertrand markets under incomplete information: Who benefits and is it stable?," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    10. Arieli, Itai & Koren, Moran & Smorodinsky, Rann, 2022. "The implications of pricing on social learning," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 17(4), November.
    11. Po-Lu Chen, 2016. "Cross-Country Economic Espionage and Investment in Research and Development," International Journal of Economics and Finance, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 8(4), pages 146-155, April.
    12. Lihi Dery & Dror Hermel & Artyom Jelnov, 2021. "Cheating in Ranking Systems," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 58(2), pages 303-320, March.
    13. Cuihong Fan & Byoung Heon Jun & Elmar G. Wolfstetter, 2019. "Induced Price Leadership and (Counter-)Spying Rivals' Play under Incomplete Information," CESifo Working Paper Series 7476, CESifo.
    14. Cuihong Fan & Byoung Heon Jun & Elmar G. Wolfstetter, 2023. "Spying and imperfect commitment in first-price auctions: a case of tacit collusion," Economic Theory Bulletin, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 11(2), pages 255-275, October.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Espionage; Entry; Asymmetric information; Signal-Jamming.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • L10 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - General
    • L12 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Monopoly; Monopolization Strategies

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