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Regulating a Monopolist with Unknown Demand

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  • Lewis, Tracy R
  • Sappington, David E M

Abstract

The authors analyze the optimal regulatory policy when the firm has better information about demand than the regulator from the outset of their relationship. The firm's cost structure is common knowledge, but monitoring of output is prohibitively costly. The authors find that, when marginal production costs increase with output, the firm command s no rents from its private information and the efficient price is established for each realization of demand. In contrast, with declining marginal costs, the same price is established by the regulator for all demand realizations and the firm's rents can be substantial. Overall, major qualitative differences in the optimal regulatory policy arise when the firm's private information concerns demand rather than costs. Copyright 1988 by American Economic Association.

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  • Lewis, Tracy R & Sappington, David E M, 1988. "Regulating a Monopolist with Unknown Demand," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(5), pages 986-998, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:78:y:1988:i:5:p:986-98
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    1. David Sappington, 1983. "Optimal Regulation of a Multiproduct Monopoly with Unknown Technological Capabilities," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 14(2), pages 453-463, Autumn.
    2. Laffont, Jean-Jacques & Tirole, Jean, 1986. "Using Cost Observation to Regulate Firms," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(3), pages 614-641, June.
    3. Myerson, Roger B, 1979. "Incentive Compatibility and the Bargaining Problem," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(1), pages 61-73, January.
    4. David P. Baron & David Besanko, 1984. "Regulation, Asymmetric Information, and Auditing," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 15(4), pages 447-470, Winter.
    5. Ingo Vogelsang & Jorg Finsinger, 1979. "A Regulatory Adjustment Process for Optimal Pricing by Multiproduct Monopoly Firms," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 10(1), pages 157-171, Spring.
    6. repec:ags:ucdavw:225747 is not listed on IDEAS
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    3. Robert Gary‐Bobo & Yossi Spiegel, 2006. "Optimal state‐contingent regulation under limited liability," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 37(2), pages 431-448, June.
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    6. Blackorby, Charles & Szalay, Dezso, 2008. "Regulating a Monopolist with unknown costs and unknown quality capacity," Economic Research Papers 269856, University of Warwick - Department of Economics.
    7. Armstrong, Mark, 1999. "Optimal Regulation with Unknown Demand and Cost Functions," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 84(2), pages 196-215, February.
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    11. Iossa, Elisabetta & Stroffolini, Francesca, 2002. "Price cap regulation and information acquisition," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 20(7), pages 1013-1036, September.
    12. van Egteren, Henry, 1996. "Regulating an externality-generating public utility: A multi-dimensional screening approach," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(9), pages 1773-1797, December.
    13. Shen, Yuelin & Willems, Sean P., 2012. "Coordinating a channel with asymmetric cost information and the manufacturer's optimality," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(1), pages 125-135.
    14. Mahenc, Philippe, 2008. "Signaling the environmental performance of polluting products to green consumers," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 59-68, January.
    15. Ismail SAGLAM, 2017. "Regulation versus regulated monopolization of a Cournot oligopoly with unknown cost," Theoretical and Applied Economics, Asociatia Generala a Economistilor din Romania / Editura Economica, vol. 0(1(610), S), pages 277-290, Spring.
    16. Wang, Gyu Ho, 2000. "Regulating an oligopoly with unknown costs," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 813-825, July.
    17. Wang, Jiao & Liu, Zhibing & Zhao, Ruiqing, 2019. "On the interaction between asymmetric demand signal and forecast accuracy information," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 277(3), pages 857-874.
    18. Barelli, Paulo & Basov, Suren & Bugarin, Mauricio & King, Ian, 2014. "On the optimality of exclusion in multi-dimensional screening," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 74-83.
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    20. Berry, S. Keith, 2000. "Stranded costs, access charges, and Ramsey pricing in the U.S. electric utility industry," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 503-517.
    21. Jørgensen, Finn & Pedersen, Pål Andreas, 2004. "Travel distance and optimal transport policy," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 415-430, June.
    22. Ayako Suzuki, 2008. "Yardstick Competition to Elicit Private Information: An Empirical Analysis of the Japanese Gas Distribution Industry," ISER Discussion Paper 0709, Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University.
    23. Kalu, Timothy Ch. U., 1995. "A uniform profit margin policy and its effects on mineral producing firms The case of the oil industry," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 61-72, March.
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    25. Cowan, Simon, 2004. "Optimal risk allocation for regulated monopolies and consumers," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(1-2), pages 285-303, January.

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