IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aea/aejmic/v9y2017i1p63-87.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Resale Price Maintenance with Secret Contracts and Retail Service Externalities

Author

Listed:
  • Tommy Staahl Gabrielsen
  • Bjørn Olav Johansen

Abstract

We analyze a setting where a monopolist sells through retailers that set prices and provide valuable but non-contractible services to customers. We assume that contracts are private. We find that purely bilateral price restraints have no effect on the equilibrium outcome and that the standard Bertrand prices and service levels prevail. We also show that if manufacturers can commit to industry-wide resale prices, they can obtain higher prices and service levels but will generally not be able to achieve the fully integrated outcome. Using a specific linear demand system, we find that industry-wide price floors are harmful to consumers.

Suggested Citation

  • Tommy Staahl Gabrielsen & Bjørn Olav Johansen, 2017. "Resale Price Maintenance with Secret Contracts and Retail Service Externalities," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 9(1), pages 63-87, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejmic:v:9:y:2017:i:1:p:63-87
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/mic.20140280
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/mic.20140280
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/articles/attachments?retrieve=HmN_ekJtgUuAdt574SRGoc13WKCtHYTd
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daniel P. O'Brien & Greg Shaffer, 1992. "Vertical Control with Bilateral Contracts," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 23(3), pages 299-308, Autumn.
    2. Gabrielsen, Tommy Staahl & Johansen, Bjørn Olav, 2013. "Resale Price Maintenance And Up-Front Payments: Achieving Horizontal Control Under Seller And Buyer Power," Working Papers in Economics 02/13, University of Bergen, Department of Economics.
    3. Michael L. Katz, 1991. "Game-Playing Agents: Unobservable Contracts as Precommitments," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 22(3), pages 307-328, Autumn.
    4. Patrick Rey & Thibaud Vergé, 2004. "Bilateral Control with Vertical Contracts," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 35(4), pages 728-746, Winter.
    5. Patrick Rey & Thibaud Vergé, 2010. "Resale Price Maintenance And Interlocking Relationships," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(4), pages 928-961, December.
    6. Robert Innes & Stephen F. Hamilton, 2009. "Vertical restraints and horizontal control," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 40(1), pages 120-143, March.
    7. Dobson, Paul W. & Waterson, Michael, 2007. "The competition effects of industry-wide vertical price fixing in bilateral oligopoly," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 935-962, October.
    8. Jacques Cremer & Michael H. Riordan, 1987. "On Governing Multilateral Transactions with Bilateral Contracts," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 18(3), pages 436-451, Autumn.
    9. Leslie M. Marx & Greg Shaffer, 2004. "Opportunism in Multilateral Vertical Contracting: Nondiscrimination, Exclusivity, and Uniformity: Comment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(3), pages 796-801, June.
    10. Telser, Lester G, 1990. "Why Should Manufacturers Want Fair Trade II?," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 33(2), pages 409-417, October.
    11. McAfee, R Preston & Schwartz, Marius, 1994. "Opportunism in Multilateral Vertical Contracting: Nondiscrimination, Exclusivity, and Uniformity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(1), pages 210-230, March.
    12. G.F. Mathewson & R.A. Winter, 1984. "An Economic Theory of Vertical Restraints," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 15(1), pages 27-38, Spring.
    13. Marvel, Howard P & McCafferty, Stephen, 1985. "The Welfare Effects of Resale Price Maintenance," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 28(2), pages 363-379, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Staahl Gabrielsen, Tommy & Johansen, Bjørn Olav & Shaffer, Greg, 2018. "When is Double Marginalization a Problem?," Working Papers in Economics 7/18, University of Bergen, Department of Economics.
    2. Jullien, Bruno & Reisinger, Markus & Rey, Patrick, 2018. "Vertical foreclosure and multi-segment competition," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 31-34.
    3. Lømo, Teis Lunde, 2015. "Risk sharing mitigates opportunism in vertical contracting," Working Papers in Economics 10/15, University of Bergen, Department of Economics.
    4. Dertwinkel-Kalt, Markus & Wey, Christian, 2021. "Multi-Product Pricing and Minimum Resale Price Maintenance," VfS Annual Conference 2021 (Virtual Conference): Climate Economics 242338, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    5. Maruyama, Masayoshi & Zennyo, Yusuke, 2020. "Platform most-favored-customer clauses and investment incentives," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    6. Matthias Hunold & Johannes Muthers, 2023. "Manufacturer Collusion and Resale Price Maintenance," Volkswirtschaftliche Diskussionsbeiträge 197-23, Universität Siegen, Fakultät Wirtschaftswissenschaften, Wirtschaftsinformatik und Wirtschaftsrecht.
    7. Matthias Hunold & Johannes Muthers, 2020. "Manufacturer Cartels and Resale Price Maintenance," Economics working papers 2020-06, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    8. Dertwinkel-Kalt, Markus & Wey, Christian, 2023. "Resale price maintenance in a successive monopoly model," DICE Discussion Papers 395, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    9. Teis Lunde Lømo & Simen A. Ulsaker, 2021. "Lump‐Sum Payments and Retail Services: A Relational Contracting Perspective," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 69(1), pages 131-168, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nocke, Volker & Rey, Patrick, 2018. "Exclusive dealing and vertical integration in interlocking relationships," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 183-221.
    2. Chrysovalantou Milliou & Apostolis Pavlou, 2020. "Foreign direct investment in vertically related markets," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 53(1), pages 284-320, February.
    3. Dertwinkel-Kalt, Markus & Wey, Christian, 2023. "Resale price maintenance in a successive monopoly model," DICE Discussion Papers 395, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    4. Rey, Patrick & Vergé, Thibaud, 2016. "Secret contracting in multilateral relations," TSE Working Papers 16-744, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE), revised Dec 2020.
    5. Do, Jihwan & Miklós-Thal, Jeanine, 2023. "Partial secrecy in vertical contracting," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    6. Doh‐Shin Jeon & Yassine Lefouili, 2018. "Cross‐licensing and competition," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 49(3), pages 656-671, September.
    7. Lømo, Teis Lunde, 2015. "Risk sharing mitigates opportunism in vertical contracting," Working Papers in Economics 10/15, University of Bergen, Department of Economics.
    8. Hiroshi Kitamura & Noriaki Matsushima & Misato Sato, 2024. "How Does Downstream Firms’ Efficiency Affect Exclusive Supply Agreements?," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 64(2), pages 219-242, March.
    9. Bakaouka, Elpiniki & Milliou, Chrysovalantou, 2018. "Vertical licensing, input pricing, and entry," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 66-96.
    10. Claire Chambolle & Sofia Villas-Boas, 2007. "Buyer Power through Producer's Differentiation," Working Papers hal-00243058, HAL.
    11. Dertwinkel-Kalt, Markus & Wey, Christian, 2021. "Multi-Product Pricing and Minimum Resale Price Maintenance," VfS Annual Conference 2021 (Virtual Conference): Climate Economics 242338, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    12. Bonnet, Céline & Bouamra-Mechemache, Zohra & Molina, Hugo, 2016. "The Welfare Effects of Brand Portfolio Strategies in the Soft Drink Industry: A Structural Bargaining Approach with Limited Data," 149th Seminar, October 27-28, 2016, Rennes, France 245168, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    13. repec:dpr:wpaper:0918 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Marco Pagnozzi & Salvatore Piccolo, 2012. "Vertical Separation with Private Contracts," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 122(559), pages 173-207, March.
    15. João Montez, 2015. "Controlling opportunism in vertical contracting when production precedes sales," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 46(3), pages 650-670, September.
    16. Kiho Yoon, 2020. "Upstream competition, exclusive content provision, and vertical integration in media markets," Discussion Paper Series 2009, Institute of Economic Research, Korea University.
    17. Leda Maria Bonazzi & Raffaele Fiocco & Salvatore Piccolo, 2021. "Vertical Price Restraints and Free Entry Under Asymmetric Information," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 69(4), pages 854-899, December.
    18. Emanuele Bacchiega & Olivier Bonroy, 2021. "Secret contracting and Nash-in-Nash bargaining," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 1(11), pages 1-7, November.
    19. Milliou, Chrysovalantou & Petrakis, Emmanuel, 2007. "Upstream horizontal mergers, vertical contracts, and bargaining," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 963-987, October.
    20. Bjørn Olav Johansen & Tore Nilssen, 2016. "The Economics of Retailing Formats: Competition Versus Bargaining," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(1), pages 109-134, March.
    21. Pagnozzi, Marco & Piccolo, Salvatore & Reisinger, Markus, 2021. "Vertical contracting with endogenous market structure," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D42 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Monopoly
    • D62 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Externalities
    • D86 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Economics of Contract Law
    • L12 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Monopoly; Monopolization Strategies
    • L42 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Vertical Restraints; Resale Price Maintenance; Quantity Discounts
    • L60 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - General
    • L81 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Retail and Wholesale Trade; e-Commerce

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aea:aejmic:v:9:y:2017:i:1:p:63-87. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Michael P. Albert (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.