IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/bejtec/v9y2009i1n5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Oligopolistic Certification

Author

Listed:
  • Hvide Hans K.

    (University of Aberdeen, hans.hvide@abdn.ac.uk)

Abstract

The paper develops a simple theory of segmentation and fee-setting in certification markets. The basis for the theory is that certifiers offer differentiated tests; for a given object it is more difficult to pass the test of certifier i than the test of certifier j. Given the test standards, certifiers compete for customers via their fee-setting. Segmentation occurs in equilibrium: sellers with low unobservable quality self-select to an easy test and sellers with high unobservable quality self-select to a hard test. Moreover, sellers choosing an easy test pay a lower (endogenous) certification fee than sellers choosing a hard test. These results are consistent with evidence from the market for auditors and other markets, not readily explained by existing theories.

Suggested Citation

  • Hvide Hans K., 2009. "Oligopolistic Certification," The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 9(1), pages 1-21, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:bejtec:v:9:y:2009:i:1:n:5
    DOI: 10.2202/1935-1704.1230
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.2202/1935-1704.1230
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.2202/1935-1704.1230?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Gill, David & Sgroi, Daniel, 2012. "The optimal choice of pre-launch reviewer," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 147(3), pages 1247-1260.
    2. Etilé, Fabrice & Teyssier, Sabrina, 2013. "Corporate social responsibility and the economics of consumer social responsibility," Revue d'Etudes en Agriculture et Environnement, Editions NecPlus, vol. 94(02), pages 221-259, June.
    3. Creane, Anthony & Jeitschko, Thomas D. & Sim, Kyoungbo, 2022. "Welfare effects of product certification under latent adverse selection," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).

    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:bpj:bejtec:v:9:y:2009:i:1:n:5. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    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.