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Market Structure, Scale Economies and Industry Performance

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Author Info
Rabah Amir (University of Copenhagen, Institute of Economics)

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Abstract

We provide an extensive and general investigation of the effects on industry performance (profits and social welfare) of exogenously changing the number of firms in a Cournot framework. This amounts to an in-depth exploration of the well-known trade-off between competition and production efficiency. We establish that under scale economies, welfare is maximized by a finite number of firms. Our results shed light on several theoretical issues and policy debates in industrial organization, including the relationship between the Herfindahl index and social welfare, free versus socially optimal entry, concentration and profitability, destructive competition and natural monopoly. Our analytical approach combines simplicity with generality

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics in its series Discussion Papers with number 00-08.

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Length: 30 pages
Date of creation: May 2000
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Handle: RePEc:kud:kuiedp:0008

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Related research
Keywords: Cournot oligopoly; Returns to scale; Entry; Equilibrium comparative statics;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure and Pricing - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection
D60 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - General
L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
L40 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - General

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
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    Other versions:
  2. Cox, James C. & Walker, Mark, 1998. "Learning to play Cournot duopoly strategies," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 141-161, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Diewert, Walter E & Wales, Terence J, 1987. "Flexible Functional Forms and Global Curvature Conditions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 55(1), pages 43-68, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. Milgrom, Paul & Roberts, John, 1990. "Rationalizability, Learning, and Equilibrium in Games with Strategic Complementarities," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 58(6), pages 1255-77, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Rabah Amir, 2000. "On the Effects of Entry in Cournot Markets," Econometric Society World Congress 2000 Contributed Papers 1475, Econometric Society. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. Okuguchi, Koji, 1973. "Quasi-Competitiveness and Cournot Oligopoly," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 40(1), pages 145-48, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Dewey, Donald, 1976. "Industrial Concentration and the Rate of Profit: Some Neglected Theory," Journal of Law & Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 19(1), pages 67-78, April.
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  10. Seade, Jesus K, 1980. "On the Effects of Entry," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(2), pages 479-89, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Spence, Michael, 1983. "Contestable Markets and the Theory of Industry Structure: A Review Article," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 21(3), pages 981-90, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Daughety, Andrew F, 1990. "Beneficial Concentration," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(5), pages 1231-37, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Novshek, William, 1980. "Cournot Equilibrium with Free Entry," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 47(3), pages 473-86, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Stephen W. Salant & Greg Shaffer, 1999. "Unequal Treatment of Identical Agents in Cournot Equilibrium," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(3), pages 585-604, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  16. Ramey, Valerie A, 1989. "Inventories as Factors of Production and Economic Fluctuations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(3), pages 338-54, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Susan Athey, 2002. "Monotone Comparative Statics Under Uncertainty," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 117(1), pages 187-223, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. Lambson, Val Eugene, 1987. "Is the Concentration-Profit Correlation Partly an Artifact of Lumpy Technology?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(4), pages 731-33, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  24. Perry, Martin K, 1984. "Scale Economies, Imperfect Competition, and Public Policy," Journal of Industrial Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 32(3), pages 313-33, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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    Other versions:
  26. Demsetz, Harold, 1973. "Industry Structure, Market Rivalry, and Public Policy," Journal of Law & Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 16(1), pages 1-9, April.
  27. Fauli-Oller, Ramon, 1997. "On merger profitability in a Cournot setting," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 75-79, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  28. Amir, Rabah, 1996. "Cournot Oligopoly and the Theory of Supermodular Games," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 132-148, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Boone, J., 2004. "A new way to measure competition," Discussion Paper 31, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Boone, J. & Ours, J.C. van & Wiel, H.P. van der, 2007. "How (Not) to Measure Competition," Discussion Paper 2007-32, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Jedlicka, Lorenz & Jumah, Adusei, 2006. "The Austrian Insurance Industry: A Structure, Conduct and Performance Analysis," Economics Series 189, Institute for Advanced Studies. [Downloadable!]
  4. Michiel van Leuvensteijn, 2008. "The Boone-indicator: Identifying different regimes of competition for the American Sugar Refining Company 1890-1914," Working Papers 08-37, Utrecht School of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  5. Paul Belleflamme & Eric Toulemonde, 2007. "Negative Intra-Group Externalities in Two-Sided Markets," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Lewis Evans and Patrick Hughes, 2003. "Competition Policy in Small Distant Open Economies: Some Lessons from the Economics Literature," Treasury Working Paper Series 03/31, New Zealand Treasury. [Downloadable!]
  7. Ben Zissimos, 2006. "The Structure and Performance of the World Market in a Cobb-Douglas Example," Working Papers 0623, Department of Economics, Vanderbilt University. [Downloadable!]
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