IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ebl/ecbull/eb-08l50013.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Is a Minimum Quality Standard Socially Optimal?

Author

Listed:
  • Stephan Marette

    (UMR Economie Publique INRA)

Abstract

This paper explores the role of a minimum quality standard when the quality choice is discrete. A minimum quality standard is never a socially optimal policy under Bertrand and Cournot competition. Conversely, it is often optimal to subsidize or tax the high quality in order to implement different firms' choices corresponding to a situation of welfare maximization.

Suggested Citation

  • Stephan Marette, 2008. "Is a Minimum Quality Standard Socially Optimal?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 12(39), pages 1-8.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-08l50013
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.accessecon.com/pubs/EB/2008/Volume12/EB-08L50013A.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Valletti, Tommaso M, 2000. "Minimum Quality Standards under Cournot Competition," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 235-245, November.
    2. Mussa, Michael & Rosen, Sherwin, 1978. "Monopoly and product quality," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 301-317, August.
    3. Uri Ronnen, 1991. "Minimum Quality Standards, Fixed Costs, and Competition," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 22(4), pages 490-504, Winter.
    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. L. Lambertini & A. Tampieri, 2012. "On the Emergence of Overcompliance with Endogenous Environmental Standards and Patronising Consumers," Working Papers wp847, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    2. Boccard Nicolas & Wauthy Xavier Y., 2010. "Ensuring Quality Provision through Capacity Regulation under Price Competition," The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-27, October.
    3. Olivier Bonroy, 2006. "Le standard de qualité minimale est-il un instrument socialement optimal ?. Une revue de littérature," Revue économique, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 57(1), pages 35-53.
    4. Mario Pezzino, 2010. "Hospital competition when patients have different willingness to pay for quality," Economics Discussion Paper Series 1014, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    5. Lambertini, Luca & Tampieri, Alessandro, 2012. "Do minimum quality standards bite in polluting industries?," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2), pages 184-194.
    6. Stefan Lutz & Mario Pezzino, 2010. "Mixed oligopoly, vertical product differentiation and fixed qualitydependent costs," Economics Discussion Paper Series 1015, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    7. repec:lic:licosd:27611 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Stéphan Marette, 2007. "Minimum safety standard, consumers’ information and competition," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 32(3), pages 259-285, December.
    9. Calzada, Joan, 2009. "Universal service obligations in the postal sector: The relationship between quality and coverage," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 10-20, February.
    10. Birg, Laura & Voßwinkel, Jan S., 2015. "Minimum quality standards and non-compliance," University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics 228, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.
    11. Stefan Lutz & Mario Pezzino, 2014. "Vertically Differentiated Mixed Oligopoly with Quality-dependent Fixed Costs," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 82(5), pages 596-619, September.
    12. Sergio Daga & Pedro Mendi, 2022. "Informal input suppliers, quality choice and welfare," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 136(2), pages 149-176, July.
    13. MartI´nez-Sánchez, Francisco, 2010. "Avoiding commercial piracy," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 398-408, December.
    14. John R. Bowblis & Andrew Ghattas, 2017. "The Impact of Minimum Quality Standard Regulations on Nursing Home Staffing, Quality, and Exit Decisions," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 50(1), pages 43-68, February.
    15. Arlan Brucal & Michael Roberts, 2015. "Can Energy Efficiency Standards Reduce Prices and Improve Quality? Evidence from the US Clothes Washer Market," Working Papers 2015-5, University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization, University of Hawaii at Manoa.
    16. Cédric Argenton, 2010. "Exclusive Quality," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(3), pages 690-716, September.
    17. Ya‐chin Wang & Leonard F.s. Wang, 2009. "Equivalence Of Competition Mode In A Vertically Differentiated Duopoly With Delegation," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 77(4), pages 577-590, December.
    18. Nagurney, Anna & Saberi, Sara & Shukla, Shivani & Floden, Jonas, 2015. "Supply chain network competition in price and quality with multiple manufacturers and freight service providers," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 248-267.
    19. Spurlock, C. Anna & Fujita, K. Sydny, 2022. "Equity implications of market structure and appliance energy efficiency regulation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    20. Fischer, Carolyn, 2005. "On the importance of the supply side in demand-side management," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 165-180, January.
    21. Pio Baake & Vanessa Schlippenbach, 2011. "Quality distortions in vertical relations," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 103(2), pages 149-169, June.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • L5 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy

    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:ebl:ecbull:eb-08l50013. 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: John P. Conley (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.