IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolet/v116y2012i1p89-91.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can prices be insensitive to unit cost variations? A game-theoretic alternative to the kinked demand curve explanation

Author

Listed:
  • Stamatopoulos, Giorgos
  • Vlassis, Minas

Abstract

We provide a game-theoretic alternative of the kinked demand curve explanation of rigid prices. We analyze a duopoly where firms choose quantities and objectives. We identify cases under which firms choose to maximize their revenue. Under these cases, prices are insensitive to unit costs.

Suggested Citation

  • Stamatopoulos, Giorgos & Vlassis, Minas, 2012. "Can prices be insensitive to unit cost variations? A game-theoretic alternative to the kinked demand curve explanation," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 116(1), pages 89-91.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:116:y:2012:i:1:p:89-91
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2011.12.117
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165176511006409
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econlet.2011.12.117?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.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rotemberg, Julio J & Saloner, Garth, 1987. "The Relative Rigidity of Monopoly Pricing," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(5), pages 917-926, December.
    2. Paul M. Sweezy, 1939. "Demand Under Conditions of Oligopoly," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 47(4), pages 568-568.
    3. Maskin, Eric & Tirole, Jean, 1988. "A Theory of Dynamic Oligopoly, II: Price Competition, Kinked Demand Curves, and Edgeworth Cycles," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 56(3), pages 571-599, May.
    4. R. L. Hall & C. J. Hitch, 1939. "Price Theory And Business Behaviour," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 0(1), pages 12-45.
    5. Sen, Debapriya, 2004. "The kinked demand curve revisited," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 99-105, July.
    6. Bhaskar, V., 1988. "The kinked demand curve: A game-theoretic approach," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 6(3), pages 373-384.
    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. R. Rothschild, 2010. "Kinked Demand Curves," Chapters, in: Mark Blaug & Peter Lloyd (ed.), Famous Figures and Diagrams in Economics, chapter 19, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Currarini, Sergio & Marini, Marco, 2011. "Kinked norms of behaviour and cooperation," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 110(3), pages 223-225, March.
    3. Garrod, Luke, 2012. "Collusive price rigidity under price-matching punishments," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 471-482.
    4. Sen, Debapriya, 2004. "The kinked demand curve revisited," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 99-105, July.
    5. Luís Cabral, 2016. "Living Up to Expectations: Corporate Reputation and Persistence of Firm Performance," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 1(1), pages 2-11, March.
    6. Ahrens, Steffen & Pirschel, Inske & Snower, Dennis J., 2017. "A theory of price adjustment under loss aversion," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 78-95.
    7. Gentry, Matthew & Pesendorfer, Martin, 2021. "Pricing with bargain hunting consumers," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 549-569.
    8. Stéphane Dupraz, 2024. "A Kinked‐Demand Theory of Price Rigidity," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 56(2-3), pages 325-363, March.
    9. Pesendorfer, Martin & Gentry, Matthew, 2018. "Price Reference Effects in Consumer Demand," CEPR Discussion Papers 13382, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Hansen, Per Svejstrup & Mollgaard, Hans Peter & Overgaard, Per Baltzer & Sorensen, Jan Rose, 1996. "Asymmetric adjustment in symmetric duopoly," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 183-188, November.
    11. Pannone, Andrea, 2010. "Production, unemployment and wage flexibility in an ICT-assisted economy: A model," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 219-230, August.
    12. repec:hum:wpaper:sfb649dp2014-065 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Alexander L. Wolman, 2007. "The frequency and costs of individual price adjustment," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(6), pages 531-552.
    14. Kimolo, Deogratius, 2018. "Price adjustment behaviour of manufacturing and service sector firms in Tanzania: a survey evidence of price stickiness," MPRA Paper 114941, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Cynthia L. Doniger & J. David López-Salido, 2017. "Hysteresis via Endogenous Rigidity in Wages and Participation," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2017-044, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    16. ., 2013. "Variations in the fitness of firms, dynamic economic performance, and vulnerability," Chapters, in: Competition, Diversity and Economic Performance, chapter 10, pages 202-217, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    17. Gilberto Tadeu Lima & Jaylson Jair da Silveira, 2020. "Macroeconomic performance under evolutionary dynamics of employee profit-sharing," Review of Keynesian Economics, Edward Elgar Publishing, vol. 8(4), pages 589–615-5, October.
    18. Lu, Yuanzhu & Wright, Julian, 2010. "Tacit collusion with price-matching punishments," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 298-306, May.
    19. Michael Bradfield, 2007. "The Kinked Demand Curve with a Conjectural Hitch – A Micro Extension with Macro Implications," Working Papers daleconwp2007-05, Dalhousie University, Department of Economics.
    20. Rodolphe Dos Santos Ferreira, 1999. "La relations salaire-emploi sous l'éclairage de la concurrence imparfaite," Cahiers d'Économie Politique, Programme National Persée, vol. 34(1), pages 15-40.
    21. Adil H. Mouhammed, 2000. "Veblen's Economic Theory: A Radical Analysis," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 32(2), pages 197-221, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Kinked demand curve; Revenue maximization; Profit maximization;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L21 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Business Objectives of the Firm

    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:eee:ecolet:v:116:y:2012:i:1:p:89-91. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolet .

    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.