IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/mateco/v48y2012i3p177-186.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cournot outcomes under Bertrand–Edgeworth competition with demand uncertainty

Author

Listed:
  • Lepore, Jason J.

Abstract

We provide new results for two-stage games in which firms make capacity investments when demand is uncertain, then, when demand is realized, compete in prices. We consider games with demand rationing schemes ranging from efficient to proportional rationing. In all cases, there is a subgame perfect equilibrium outcome coinciding with the outcome of the Cournot game with demand uncertainty if and only if (i) the fluctuation in absolute market size is small relative to the cost of capacity, or (ii) uncertainty is such that with high probability the market demand is very large and with the remaining probability the market demand is extremely small. Otherwise, equilibria involve mixed strategies. Further, we show under efficient rationing that condition (i) is sufficient for the unique equilibrium outcome to be an equilibrium outcome of the Cournot game with demand uncertainty.

Suggested Citation

  • Lepore, Jason J., 2012. "Cournot outcomes under Bertrand–Edgeworth competition with demand uncertainty," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 177-186.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:mateco:v:48:y:2012:i:3:p:177-186
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jmateco.2012.04.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304406812000237
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jmateco.2012.04.001?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. Reynolds, Stanley S. & Wilson, Bart J., 2000. "Bertrand-Edgeworth Competition, Demand Uncertainty, and Asymmetric Outcomes," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 92(1), pages 122-141, May.
    2. Dan Kovenock & Raymond J. Deneckere, 1996. "Bertrand-Edgeworth duopoly with unit cost asymmetry (*)," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 8(1), pages 1-25.
    3. Allen, Beth, 1993. "Capacity precommitment as an entry barrier for price-setting firms," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 63-72, March.
    4. Boccard, Nicolas & Wauthy, Xavier, 2004. "Bertrand competition and Cournot outcomes: a correction," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 84(2), pages 163-166, August.
    5. Boccard, Nicolas & Wauthy, Xavier, 2000. "Bertrand competition and Cournot outcomes: further results," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 279-285, September.
    6. Judith R. Gelman & Steven C. Salop, 1983. "Judo Economics: Capacity Limitation and Coupon Competition," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 14(2), pages 315-325, Autumn.
    7. Dan Kovenock & Raymond Deneckere & Tom Faith & Beth Allen, 2000. "Capacity precommitment as a barrier to entry: A Bertrand-Edgeworth approach," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 15(3), pages 501-530.
    8. Roberts, John & Sonnenschein, Hugo, 1976. "On the existence of Cournot equilbrium without concave profit functions," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 112-117, August.
    9. Maskin, Eric, 1986. "The Existence of Equilibrium with Price-Setting Firms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 382-386, May.
    10. Lepore Jason J, 2009. "Consumer Rationing and the Cournot Outcome," The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 9(1), pages 1-46, September.
    11. de Frutos, María-Ángeles & Fabra, Natalia, 2011. "Endogenous capacities and price competition: The role of demand uncertainty," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 399-411, July.
    12. Carl Davidson & Raymond Deneckere, 1986. "Long-Run Competition in Capacity, Short-Run Competition in Price, and the Cournot Model," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 17(3), pages 404-415, Autumn.
    13. Robert W. Staiger & Frank A. Wolak, 1992. "Collusive Pricing with Capacity Constraints in the Presence of Demand Uncertainty," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 23(2), pages 203-220, Summer.
    14. 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.
    15. Raymond J. Deneckere & Dan Kovenock, 1992. "Price Leadership," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 59(1), pages 143-162.
      • Raymond Deneckere & Dan Kovenock, 1988. "Price Leadership," Discussion Papers 773, Northwestern University, Center for Mathematical Studies in Economics and Management Science.
    16. Partha Dasgupta & Eric Maskin, 1986. "The Existence of Equilibrium in Discontinuous Economic Games, II: Applications," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 53(1), pages 27-41.
    17. Hviid, Morten, 1991. "Capacity constrained duopolies, uncertain demand and non-existence of pure strategy equilibria," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 183-190, July.
    18. Maggi, Giovanni, 1996. "Strategic Trade Policies with Endogenous Mode of Competition," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(1), pages 237-258, March.
    19. David M. Kreps & Jose A. Scheinkman, 1983. "Quantity Precommitment and Bertrand Competition Yield Cournot Outcomes," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 14(2), pages 326-337, Autumn.
    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. Attila Tasnádi, 2016. "Endogenous timing of moves in Bertrand–Edgeworth triopolies," International Journal of Economic Theory, The International Society for Economic Theory, vol. 12(4), pages 317-334, December.
    2. Barna Bakó & Attila Tasnádi, 2017. "The Kreps-Scheinkman Game in Mixed Duopolies," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 173(4), pages 753-768, December.
    3. Kim, Jeong-Yoo & Lee, Myeong Ho & Berg, Nathan, 2016. "Peak-load pricing in duopoly," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 47-54.
    4. Somogyi, Robert & Vergote, Wouter & Virag, Gabor, 2023. "Price competition with capacity uncertainty - feasting on leftovers," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 253-271.
    5. Oriol Carbonell-Nicolau & Richard P. McLean, 2018. "On the Existence of Nash Equilibrium in Bayesian Games," Mathematics of Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 43(2), pages 100-129, February.
    6. Edwards, Robert A. & Routledge, Robert R., 2022. "Information, Bertrand–Edgeworth competition and the law of one price," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    7. de Almeida Prado, Fernando Pigeard & Blavatskyy, Pavlo, 2021. "Existence and uniqueness of price equilibrium in oligopoly model with power demand," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 1-10.
    8. Robert Somogyi, 2013. "Bertrand-Edgeworth competition with substantial product differentiation," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 1332, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    9. Leoni, Patrick L., 2013. "Survival in Cournot games," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(5), pages 429-434.
    10. Christiaan Behrens & Mark Lijesen, 2012. "Capacity Choice under Uncertainty with Product Differentiation," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 12-113/VIII, Tinbergen Institute, revised 20 Feb 2014.
    11. Alexander Maslov, 2023. "Bertrand Duopoly in Online Consumer-to-Consumer Markets," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 63(1), pages 97-109, August.
    12. Jason J. Lepore & Aric P. Shafran, 2013. "Consumer Rationing and Cournot Outcomes: Experimental Evidence," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 79(3), pages 727-746, January.
    13. Somogyi, Robert, 2020. "Bertrand–Edgeworth competition with substantial horizontal product differentiation," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 27-37.
    14. Tasnádi, Attila & Bakó, Barna, 2014. "A Kreps-Scheinkman-állítás érvényessége lineáris keresletű vegyes duopóliumok esetén [The Kreps and Scheinkman result remains valid for mixed duopolies with linear demand]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(5), pages 533-543.
    15. Jacobs, Martin, 2016. "Number of firms, rationing, matching, and knowledge: A comprehensive study of variations in experimental Kreps-Scheinkman markets," Economics Working Papers 2016-02, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Department of Economics.

    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. Allison, Blake A. & Lepore, Jason J., 2014. "Verifying payoff security in the mixed extension of discontinuous games," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 291-303.
    2. Lepore Jason J, 2009. "Consumer Rationing and the Cournot Outcome," The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 9(1), pages 1-46, September.
    3. Marie-Laure Cabon-Dhersin & Nicolas Drouhin, 2020. "A general model of price competition with soft capacity constraints," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 70(1), pages 95-120, July.
    4. Attila Tasnádi, 2016. "Endogenous timing of moves in Bertrand–Edgeworth triopolies," International Journal of Economic Theory, The International Society for Economic Theory, vol. 12(4), pages 317-334, December.
    5. Simon Loertscher, 2008. "Market Making Oligopoly," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(2), pages 263-289, June.
    6. Jason J. Lepore & Aric P. Shafran, 2013. "Consumer Rationing and Cournot Outcomes: Experimental Evidence," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 79(3), pages 727-746, January.
    7. de Frutos, María-Ángeles & Fabra, Natalia, 2011. "Endogenous capacities and price competition: The role of demand uncertainty," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 399-411, July.
    8. Simon Loertscher, 2005. "Market making oligopoly," Diskussionsschriften dp0512, Universitaet Bern, Departement Volkswirtschaft.
    9. Vettas, Nikolaos & Biglaiser, Gary, 2004. "Dynamic Price Competition with Capacity Constraints and Strategic Buyers," CEPR Discussion Papers 4315, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Simon Loertscher & Leslie Marx, 2014. "An Oligopoly Model for Analyzing and Evaluating (Re)-Assignments of Spectrum Licenses," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 45(3), pages 245-273, November.
    11. Knittel, Christopher R. & Lepore, Jason J., 2010. "Tacit collusion in the presence of cyclical demand and endogenous capacity levels," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 131-144, March.
    12. García Díaz, Antón, 1998. "List princing and pure strategy outcomes in a bertrand edgeworth duopoly," UC3M Working papers. Economics 6089, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía.
    13. Tasnádi, Attila, 2001. "A Bertrand-Edgeworth-oligopóliumok. Irodalmi áttekintés [Bertrand-Edgeworth oligopolies - a survey of the literature]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(12), pages 1081-1092.
    14. García Díaz, Antón & Hernán González, Roberto & Kujal, Praveen, 2009. "List pricing and discounting in a Bertrand-Edgeworth duopoly," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 719-727, November.
    15. De Francesco, Massimo A. & Salvadori, Neri, 2016. "Bertrand-Edgeworth games under triopoly: the equilibrium strategies when the payoffs of the two smallest firms are proportional to their capacities," MPRA Paper 69999, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. De Francesco, Massimo A. & Salvadori, Neri, 2015. "Bertrand-Edgeworth games under triopoly: the payoffs," MPRA Paper 64638, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Bergman, Mats A., 1998. "Endogenous Timing of Investments Yields Modified Stackelberg Outcomes," SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 272, Stockholm School of Economics.
    18. Vettas, Nikolaos & Kotseva, Rossitsa & Christou, Charalambos, 2007. "Pricing, Investments and Mergers with Intertemporal Capacity Constraints," CEPR Discussion Papers 6433, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    19. Ravi Anupindi & Li Jiang, 2008. "Capacity Investment Under Postponement Strategies, Market Competition, and Demand Uncertainty," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 54(11), pages 1876-1890, November.
    20. Alexander Maslov, 2023. "Bertrand Duopoly in Online Consumer-to-Consumer Markets," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 63(1), pages 97-109, August.

    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:mateco:v:48:y:2012:i:3:p:177-186. 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/jmateco .

    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.