IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jemstr/v1y1992i4p629-650.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Price Competition When Consumersare Uncertain About Which Firm Sells Which Quality

Author

Listed:
  • Jean J. Gabszewicz
  • Isabel Grilo

Abstract

In this paper we analyze the properties of price equilibria in a duopoly market where firms sell vertically differentiated products, consumers being uncertain about which firm sells which quality. Both existence and properties of price equilibria are characterized by the beliefs of the consumers' population about the distribution of quality between firms.

Suggested Citation

  • Jean J. Gabszewicz & Isabel Grilo, 1992. "Price Competition When Consumersare Uncertain About Which Firm Sells Which Quality," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 1(4), pages 629-650, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jemstr:v:1:y:1992:i:4:p:629-650
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1430-9134.1992.00629.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1430-9134.1992.00629.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1430-9134.1992.00629.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Steven Salop & Joseph Stiglitz, 1977. "Bargains and Ripoffs: A Model of Monopolistically Competitive Price Dispersion," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 44(3), pages 493-510.
    2. Gene M. Grossman & Henrik Horn, 1988. "Infant-Industry Protection Reconsidered: The Case of Informational Barriers to Entry," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 103(4), pages 767-787.
    3. Carl Shapiro, 1982. "Consumer Information, Product Quality, and Seller Reputation," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 13(1), pages 20-35, Spring.
    4. Joseph Farrell, 1986. "Moral Hazard as an Entry Barrier," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 17(3), pages 440-449, Autumn.
    5. Paul Klemperer, 1987. "Markets with Consumer Switching Costs," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 102(2), pages 375-394.
    6. Stahl, Konrad, 1982. "Differentiated Products, Consumer Search, and Locational Oligopoly," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1-2), pages 97-113, September.
    7. Caplin, Andrew & Nalebuff, Barry, 1991. "Aggregation and Imperfect Competition: On the Existence of Equilibrium," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 59(1), pages 25-59, January.
    8. Carlson, John A & McAfee, R Preston, 1983. "Discrete Equilibrium Price Dispersion," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 91(3), pages 480-493, June.
    9. George A. Akerlof, 1970. "The Market for "Lemons": Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 84(3), pages 488-500.
    10. Klemperer, Paul D, 1987. "Entry Deterrence in Markets with Consumer Switching Costs," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 97(388a), pages 99-117, Supplemen.
    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. Paulson Gjerde, Kathy A. & Slotnick, Susan A., 2004. "Quality and reputation: The effects of external and internal factors over time," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 1-20, May.
    2. Olivier Bonroy & Christos Constantatos, 2008. "On the use of labels in credence goods markets," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 33(3), pages 237-252, June.
    3. Mark N. Hertzendorf & Per Baltzer Overgaard, 2001. "Price Competition and Advertising Signals: Signaling by Competing Senders," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(4), pages 621-662, December.
    4. Moscarini, Giuseppe & Ottaviani, Marco, 2001. "Price Competition for an Informed Buyer," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 101(2), pages 457-493, December.
    5. Olivier Bonroy & Christos Constantatos, 2015. "On the Economics of Labels: How Their Introduction Affects the Functioning of Markets and the Welfare of All Participants," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 97(1), pages 239-259.
    6. Yukiko Hirao, 2017. "Firms’ Information Acquisition with Heterogeneous Consumers and Trend," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 50(3), pages 323-344, May.
    7. John Crespi & Stéphan Marette, 2003. "“Does Contain” vs. “Does Not Contain”: Does it Matter which GMO Label is Used?," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 327-344, November.
    8. Koji Domon & Alessandro Melcarne & Giovanni B. Ramello, 2022. "Fake & original: the case of Japanese food in Southeast Asian countries," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 54(2), pages 327-347, October.
    9. repec:gbl:wpaper:2013-01 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Bonroy, Olivier & Constantatos, Christos, 2003. "Consumer Uncertainty about which Firm Sells the High Quality: on the Slow Penetration of Some Credence Goods," Cahiers de recherche 0307, GREEN.
    11. Alberto Cavaliere & Giovanni Crea, 2016. "Vertical Differentiation With Consumers Misperceptions And Information Disparities," DEM Working Papers Series 122, University of Pavia, Department of Economics and Management.
    12. Gerhard O. Orosel & Klaus G. Zauner, 2011. "Quality Diversity and Prices in Markets for Experience Goods," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(3), pages 709-738, September.
    13. Dughera, Stefano & Giraudo, Marco, 2020. "Privacy Rights in Online Interactions and Litigation Dynamics: a Social Custom View," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 202003, University of Turin.
    14. GABSZEWICZ, Jean J. & RESENDE, Joana, 2011. "Credence, goods and product differentiation," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2011048, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    15. Gabszewicz, Jean J. & Resende, Joana, 2012. "Differentiated credence goods and price competition," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 277-287.
    16. Alberto Cavaliere & Giovanni Crea, 2017. "Vertical Differentiation With Optimistic Misperceptions And Information Disparities," DEM Working Papers Series 137, University of Pavia, Department of Economics and Management.
    17. Cheng, Yi-Ling, 2014. "Vertical product differentiation under demand uncertainty," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 51-57.
    18. Olivier Bonroy & Christos Constantatos, 2004. "Biens de confiance et concurrence en prix. Quand aucun producteur ne souhaite l'introduction d'un label," Revue économique, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 55(3), pages 527-532.
    19. Galasso, Alberto, 2004. "Subjective price search and public intervention," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 159-173, June.
    20. Gerhard Orosel & Klaus G. Zauner, 2004. "Vertical Product Differentiation When Quality is Unobservable to Buyers," CESifo Working Paper Series 1271, CESifo.

    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. Belleflamme,Paul & Peitz,Martin, 2015. "Industrial Organization," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107687899.
    2. Xavier Gabaix & David Laibson, 2018. "Shrouded attributes, consumer myopia and information suppression in competitive markets," Chapters, in: Victor J. Tremblay & Elizabeth Schroeder & Carol Horton Tremblay (ed.), Handbook of Behavioral Industrial Organization, chapter 3, pages 40-74, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Huck, Steffen & Zhou, Jidong, 2011. "Consumer behavioural biases in competition: A survey," MPRA Paper 31794, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Howard Smith & Simon Latcovich, 2000. "Sinking the Internet: Pricing, Sunk Costs, and Market Structure Online," Economics Series Working Papers 36, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    5. Laurent Reynald-Alexandre, 2007. "Probalilistic duopoly with differentiation by attributes," Working Papers halshs-00587847, HAL.
    6. de Bijl, Paul W. J., 1997. "Entry deterrence and signaling in markets for search goods," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 1-19, November.
    7. Anthony Heyes & Sandeep Kapur, 2012. "Customer Anger and Incentives for Quality Provision," Birkbeck Working Papers in Economics and Finance 1215, Birkbeck, Department of Economics, Mathematics & Statistics.
    8. ANDERSON, Simon & de PALMA, André, 2003. "Price dispersion," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2003032, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    9. Anna Bottasso, 1996. "Firms’ Financial Structure And Real Decisions: A Critical Survey Of The Empirical Literature," CERIS Working Paper 199623, CNR-IRCrES Research Institute on Sustainable Economic Growth - Torino (TO) ITALY - former Institute for Economic Research on Firms and Growth - Moncalieri (TO) ITALY.
    10. Carlton, Dennis W. & Perloff, Jeffrey M., 1989. "The Economics of Information," Research Reports 25156, University of Connecticut, Food Marketing Policy Center.
    11. Sander Heinsalu, 2021. "Competitive pricing despite search costs when lower price signals quality," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 71(1), pages 317-339, February.
    12. Teece, David J., 2010. "Technological Innovation and the Theory of the Firm," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 679-730, Elsevier.
    13. John Romley & Tiffany Shih, 2017. "Product safety spillovers and market viability for biologic drugs," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 135-158, June.
    14. Simon P. Anderson & André De Palma, 2005. "Price Dispersion and Consumer Reservation Prices," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(1), pages 61-91, March.
    15. Paulo Somaini & Liran Einav, 2013. "A Model of Market Power in Customer Markets," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(4), pages 938-986, December.
    16. Allen, Beth & Thisse, Jacques-Francois, 1992. "Price Equilibria in Pure Strategies for Homogeneous Oligopoly," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 1(1), pages 63-81, Spring.
    17. Bouckaert, Jan & Degryse, Hans & Provoost, Thomas, 2010. "Enhancing market power by reducing switching costs," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 109(2), pages 131-133, November.
    18. Canoy, Marcel & van Ours, Jan C. & van der Ploeg, Frederick, 2006. "The Economics of Books," Handbook of the Economics of Art and Culture, in: V.A. Ginsburgh & D. Throsby (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Art and Culture, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 21, pages 721-761, Elsevier.
    19. Jean-Bernard Chatelain, 1999. "Taux de marge et structure financière," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 53, pages 127-147.
    20. Alessio Emanuele BIONDO, 2011. "High-Tech Products and the Double Adverse Selection: Does Commercial Distribution Worsen Efficiency?," Journal of Knowledge Management, Economics and Information Technology, ScientificPapers.org, vol. 1(7), pages 1-18, December.

    More about this item

    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:bla:jemstr:v:1:y:1992:i:4:p:629-650. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/research/journals/JEMS/ .

    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.