IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jindec/v49y2001i2p197-221.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

FOB or Uniform Delivered Prices: Strategic Choice and Welfare Effects

Author

Listed:
  • Mingxia Zhang
  • Richard J. Sexton

Abstract

In spatial markets firms typically use either FOB (mill) or uniform delivered (UD) pricing. What competitive factors motivate this choice and what are the welfare implications of the choice? We study these questions in a duopsony market, where farmers with unit elastic supply curves sell to processing firms. In results that differ considerably from prior work, we show that the equilibrium price policy depends upon the extent of competition in the market, with FOB pricing emerging under very competitive structures and UD pricing emerging under less competition. Mixed FOB‐UD pricing may also emerge in equilibrium. In most cases welfare is higher under UD than FOB pricing.

Suggested Citation

  • Mingxia Zhang & Richard J. Sexton, 2001. "FOB or Uniform Delivered Prices: Strategic Choice and Welfare Effects," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(2), pages 197-221, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:jindec:v:49:y:2001:i:2:p:197-221
    DOI: 10.1111/1467-6451.00146
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-6451.00146
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1467-6451.00146?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. B. Curtis Eaton & Nicolas Schmitt, 1993. "Endogenous Pricing Modes in Markets for Inputs," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Hiroshi Ohta & Jacques-François Thisse (ed.), Does Economic Space Matter?, chapter 18, pages 352-373, Palgrave Macmillan.
    2. Beckmann, Martin J. & Thisse, Jacques-Francois, 1987. "The location of production activities," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: P. Nijkamp (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 2, pages 21-95, Elsevier.
    3. Amoz Kats & Jacques-François Thisse, 1993. "Spatial Oligopolies with Uniform Delivered Pricing," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Hiroshi Ohta & Jacques-François Thisse (ed.), Does Economic Space Matter?, chapter 14, pages 274-302, Palgrave Macmillan.
    4. Schuler, Richard E & Hobbs, Benjamin F, 1982. "Spatial Price Duopoly under Uniform Delivered Pricing," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1-2), pages 175-187, September.
    5. Hiroshi Ohta & Jacques-François Thisse (ed.), 1993. "Does Economic Space Matter?," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-349-22906-2, December.
    6. Greenhut,Melvin L. & Norman,George & Hung,Chao-Shun, 1987. "The Economics of Imperfect Competition," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521315647, October.
    7. Partha Dasgupta & Eric Maskin, 1986. "The Existence of Equilibrium in Discontinuous Economic Games, I: Theory," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 53(1), pages 1-26.
    8. Balcer, Yves, 1983. "F.O.B. Pricing versus uniform delivered pricing: A welfare analysis in a stochastic environment," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 54-73, June.
    9. Aguirre, Inaki & Espinosa, Maria Paz & Macho-Stadler, Ines, 1998. "Strategic entry deterrence through spatial price discrimination," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 297-314, May.
    10. Thisse, Jacques-Francois & Vives, Xavier, 1988. "On the Strategic Choice of Spatial Price Policy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(1), pages 122-137, March.
    11. repec:bla:econom:v:48:y:1981:i:189:p:79-86 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Maria Paz Espinosa, 1992. "Delivered Pricing, FOB Pricing, and Collusion in Spatial Markets," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 23(1), pages 64-85, Spring.
    13. Anderson, Simon P & de Palma, Andre & Thisse, Jacques-Francois, 1989. "Spatial Price Policies Reconsidered," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(1), pages 1-18, September.
    14. H. W. Singer, 1937. "A Note on Spatial Price Discrimination," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 5(1), pages 75-77.
    15. Martin J. Beckmann, 1976. "Spatial Price Policies Revisited," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 7(2), pages 619-630, Autumn.
    16. AM Alvarez & EG Fidalgo & RJ Sexton & M Zhang, 2000. "Oligopsony power with uniform spatial pricing: theory and application to milk processing in Spain," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 27(3), pages 347-364, September.
    17. Shilony, Yuval, 1977. "Mixed pricing in oligopoly," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 373-388, April.
    18. Anderson, S. & De Palma, A. & Thisse, J-F., 1989. "Social Surplus And Profitability Under Different Spacial Pricing Policies," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 1989010, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    19. Edgar M. Hoover, 1937. "Spatial Price Discrimination," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 4(3), pages 182-191.
    20. Greenhut,Melvin L. & Norman,George & Hung,Chao-Shun, 1987. "The Economics of Imperfect Competition," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521305525, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Panagiotou, Dimitrios & Stavrakoudis, Athanassios, 2018. "Free-on-board and uniform delivered pricing strategies in pure and mixed spatial duopolies: The strategic role of cooperatives," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 18(C), pages 1-1.
    2. Jen-Te Yao, 2019. "The impact of transportation asymmetry on the choice of a spatial price policy," Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 3(3), pages 793-811, October.
    3. Zhang, Mingxia & Sexton, Richard J., 1999. "Fob Or Uniform Delivered Pricing: Strategic Choice And Welfare Effects," 1999 Annual meeting, August 8-11, Nashville, TN 21667, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    4. Marten Graubner & Richard J. Sexton, 2023. "More competitive than you think? Pricing and location of processing firms in agricultural markets," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 105(3), pages 784-808, May.
    5. Marten Graubner, 2018. "Lost in space? The effect of direct payments on land rental prices," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 45(2), pages 143-171.
    6. Fousekis, Panos, 2011. "Spatial Price Competition Between Cooperatives Under Hotelling – Smithies Conjectures," Agricultural Economics Review, Greek Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 12(2).
    7. Hrachya Kyureghian & Maria Plotnikova & Sudipta Sarangi, 2013. "When Consumers and Firms Share Transportation Costs," Studies in Microeconomics, , vol. 1(1), pages 91-111, June.
    8. Sudipta Sarangi & Hrachya Kyureghian, 2002. "Transport Cost Sharing," Departmental Working Papers 2002-08, Department of Economics, Louisiana State University.
    9. Hueth, Brent & Taylor, Christopher W., 2013. "Spatial Competition in Agricultural Markets: A Discrete-Choice Approach," 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. 150506, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    10. Boyer, Marcel & Laffont, Jean-Jacques & Mahenc, Philippe & Moreaux, Michel, 1995. "Sequential Location Equilibria under Incomplete Information," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 6(2), pages 323-350, July.
    11. Li, Chao & Hayes, Dermot J. & Jacobs, Keri L., 2018. "Biomass for bioenergy: Optimal collection mechanisms and pricing when feedstock supply does not equal availability," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 403-410.
    12. Hamed Khalili, 2024. "Deep Learning Pricing of Processing Firms in Agricultural Markets," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-14, April.
    13. Aguirre, Inaki & Paz Espinosa, Maria, 2004. "Product differentiation with consumer arbitrage," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 219-239, February.
    14. Sudipta Sarangi & Hrachya Kyureghian, 2001. "Transport Cost Sharing and Spatial Competition," Departmental Working Papers 2001-03, Department of Economics, Louisiana State University.
    15. Marten Graubner, 2020. "Spatial monopoly pricing under non-constant marginal costs," Letters in Spatial and Resource Sciences, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 81-97, April.
    16. Mengying Xue & Long He, 2020. "Spatial pricing and product allocation in online retailing," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 67(8), pages 670-684, December.
    17. Graubner, Marten & Sexton, Richard J., 2021. "Spatial competition in agricultural procurement markets," 2021 Annual Meeting, August 1-3, Austin, Texas 313962, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    18. Graubner, Marten & Sexton, Richard J., 2023. "More competitive than you think? Pricing and location of processing firms in agricultural markets," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 105(3), pages 784-808.
    19. Simon P. Anderson & Régis Renault, 2011. "Price Discrimination," Chapters, in: André de Palma & Robin Lindsey & Emile Quinet & Roger Vickerman (ed.), A Handbook of Transport Economics, chapter 22, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    20. Debashis Pal, 1994. "Cournot Competition and Spatial Agglomeration," Microeconomics 9402002, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    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:jindec:v:49:y:2001:i:2:p:197-221. 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.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0022-1821 .

    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.