IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ebl/ecbull/eb-21-00216.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Price discrimination with network effects: different welfare results from identical demand functions

Author

Listed:
  • Ryo Hashizume

    (Faculty of Economics, Daito Bunka University)

  • Takeshi Ikeda

    (Faculty of Economics, Daito Bunka University)

  • Tatsuhiko Nariu

    (Graduate School of Business, Doshisha University)

Abstract

We show that the welfare effects of third-degree price discrimination depend on what kind of network effects are present—between-markets or within-market. Different combinations of parameters that determine the strength of network effects between-markets and within-market induce the same demand functions; however, measured consumer surplus and social welfare based on the demand functions vary across these parameters. This result indicates that welfare analysis of markets with network effects must be based on consumer utility functions that parameterize the network effects, and not on demand functions that, although sufficient to describe monopoly price-setting, mask the impact of network effects on consumer welfare.

Suggested Citation

  • Ryo Hashizume & Takeshi Ikeda & Tatsuhiko Nariu, 2021. "Price discrimination with network effects: different welfare results from identical demand functions," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 41(3), pages 1807-1812.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-21-00216
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.accessecon.com/Pubs/EB/2021/Volume41/EB-21-V41-I3-P153.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Schwartz, Marius, 1990. "Third-Degree Price Discrimination and Output: Generalizing a Welfare Result," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(5), pages 1259-1262, December.
    2. Naskar, Mili & Pal, Rupayan, 2020. "Network externalities and process R&D: A Cournot–Bertrand comparison," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 51-58.
    3. Lee, DongJoon & Choi, Kangsik & Han, Jae-Joon, 2018. "Strategic delegation under fulfilled expectations," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 80-82.
    4. Chirco, Alessandra & Scrimitore, Marcella, 2013. "Choosing price or quantity? The role of delegation and network externalities," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 121(3), pages 482-486.
    5. Lee, DongJoon & Choi, Kangsik, 2018. "The efficiency of competing vertical chains with network externalities," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 1-5.
    6. Schmalensee, Richard, 1981. "Output and Welfare Implications of Monopolistic Third-Degree Price Discrimination," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(1), pages 242-247, March.
    7. Katz, Michael L & Shapiro, Carl, 1985. "Network Externalities, Competition, and Compatibility," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(3), pages 424-440, June.
    8. Ryo Hashizume & Tatsuhiko Nariu, 2020. "Price and quantity competition with network externalities: Endogenous choice of strategic variables," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 88(6), pages 847-865, December.
    9. Hoernig, Steffen, 2012. "Strategic delegation under price competition and network effects," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 117(2), pages 487-489.
    10. Varian, Hal R., 1989. "Price discrimination," Handbook of Industrial Organization, in: R. Schmalensee & R. Willig (ed.), Handbook of Industrial Organization, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 10, pages 597-654, Elsevier.
    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. Takanori ADACHI, 2022. "Recent Advances in the Theory of Third-Degree Price Discrimination: A Brief Survey," Discussion papers e-22-006, Graduate School of Economics , Kyoto University.

    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. DongJoon Lee & Kangsik Choi & Tatsuhiko Nariu, 2020. "Endogenous vertical structure with network externalities," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 88(6), pages 827-846, December.
    2. Domenico Buccella & Luciano Fanti & Luca Gori, 2023. "Strategic product compatibility in network industries," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 140(2), pages 141-168, October.
    3. Chung-Hui Chou, 2020. "Do Consumers Gain or Lose when Network Externalities Become Stronger?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 40(3), pages 2193-2200.
    4. Debasmita Basak & Emmanuel Petrakis, 2021. "Social efficiency of entry: Implications of network externalities," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 820-829, November.
    5. Buccella, Domenico & Fanti, Luciano & Gori, Luca, 2023. "Optimal R&D disclosure in network industries," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 47(4).
    6. Yasuhiko Nakamura, 2021. "Price versus quantity in a duopoly with network externalities under active and passive expectations," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(1), pages 120-133, January.
    7. Onur A. Koska, 2022. "Investing in Network Strength, Consumer Expectations, and the Mode of Competition," Working Papers in Economics 22/09, University of Canterbury, Department of Economics and Finance.
    8. Stole, Lars A., 2007. "Price Discrimination and Competition," Handbook of Industrial Organization, in: Mark Armstrong & Robert Porter (ed.), Handbook of Industrial Organization, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 34, pages 2221-2299, Elsevier.
    9. Luciano Fanti & Domenico Buccella, 2016. "Bargaining Agenda and Entry in a Unionised Model with Network Effects," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 2(1), pages 91-121, March.
    10. Einer Elhauge & Barry Nalebuff, 2017. "The Welfare Effects of Metering Ties," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 33(1), pages 68-104.
    11. Luciano Fanti & Domenico Buccella, 2018. "Profitability of corporate social responsibility in network industries," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 65(3), pages 271-289, September.
    12. Naskar, Mili & Pal, Rupayan, 2020. "Network externalities and process R&D: A Cournot–Bertrand comparison," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 51-58.
    13. Buccella, Domenico & Fanti, Luciano, 2020. "Do labour union recognition and bargaining deter entry in a network industry? A sequential game model," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    14. Luciano Fanti & Domenico Buccella, 2016. "Network externalities and corporate social responsibility," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 36(4), pages 2043-2050.
    15. Buccella Domenico & Fanti Luciano & Gori Luca, 2024. "Product Quality and Product Compatibility in Network Industries," The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 24(1), pages 299-339, January.
    16. Yang, Chin W. & Peng, Hsiao P. & Li, Jian F., 1996. "The optimum uniform and discriminatory taxes or tariffs of third-degree price discrimination," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 77-84.
    17. Paolo Bertoletti, 2009. "On the output criterion for price discrimination," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 29(4), pages 2951-2956.
    18. Anomita Ghosh & Rupayan Pal, 2017. "Welfare Ranking of Alternative Export Taxes Revisited," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 37(2), pages 1033-1044.
    19. Inaki Aguirre, 2012. "Welfare Effects of Third-Degree Price Discrimination: Ippolito Meets Schmalensee and Varian," Chapters, in: Rosario Laratta (ed.), Social Welfare, IntechOpen.
    20. Luciano Fanti & Domenico Buccella, 2017. "Bargaining agenda in a unionised monopoly with network effects: when corporate social responsibility may be welfare-reducing," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 34(3), pages 471-489, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Monopoly; Network effects; Third-degree price discrimination;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L1 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance
    • D4 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design

    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-21-00216. 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.