IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jeczfn/v126y2019i3d10.1007_s00712-018-0622-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

On the first mover advantage in Stackelberg quantity games

Author

Listed:
  • Kurt Annen

    (University of Guelph)

Abstract

In economic models, “sales equals production” is typically treated as an identity and not as an equilibrium outcome. This distinction, however, matters when production is sequential because of off-equilibrium path behavior. This paper shows that the first mover advantage in the standard Stackelberg oligopoly game in quantities may be reduced when “sales equals production” is no longer treated as an identity. Moving first does not per se produce a strategic advantage. It is only first moves that are sufficiently costly that produce this advantage. With costless production, the advantage disappears completely and the Cournot–Nash outcome is obtained.

Suggested Citation

  • Kurt Annen, 2019. "On the first mover advantage in Stackelberg quantity games," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 126(3), pages 249-258, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jeczfn:v:126:y:2019:i:3:d:10.1007_s00712-018-0622-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s00712-018-0622-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00712-018-0622-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s00712-018-0622-4?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thille, Henry, 2006. "Inventories, market structure, and price volatility," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 30(7), pages 1081-1104, July.
    2. 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.
    3. Mailath George J., 1993. "Endogenous Sequencing of Firm Decisions," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 169-182, February.
    4. Dixit, Avinash, 1980. "The Role of Investment in Entry-Deterrence," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 90(357), pages 95-106, March.
    5. Morten Hviid, 1990. "Sequential capacity and price choices in a duopoly model with demand uncertainty," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 51(2), pages 121-144, June.
    6. Saloner, Garth, 1987. "Cournot duopoly with two production periods," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 183-187, June.
    7. Ludovic Julien, 2011. "A note on Stackelberg competition," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 103(2), pages 171-187, June.
    8. Ware, Roger, 1984. "Sunk Costs and Strategic Commitment: A Proposed Three-Stage Equilibrium," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 94(374), pages 370-378, June.
    9. Hans-Theo Normann, 1997. "Endogenous Stackelberg equilibria with incomplete information," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 66(2), pages 177-187, June.
    10. Larry Arvan, 1985. "Some Examples of Dynamic Cournot Duopoly with Inventory," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 16(4), pages 569-578, Winter.
    11. Pal, Debashis, 1991. "Cournot duopoly with two production periods and cost differentials," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 441-448, December.
    12. 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. Richard J. Arend, 2022. "Breaking Cournot: The Effects of Capacity-Adjusting Technology," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-11, August.

    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. Sébastien Mitraille & Michel Moreaux, 2013. "Inventories and Endogenous Stackelberg Leadership in Two‐Period Cournot Oligopoly," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(4), pages 852-874, December.
    2. Lenhard, Severin, 2022. "Imperfect competition with costly disposal," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    3. Lenhard, Severin, 2022. "Imperfect Competition with Costly Disposal," VfS Annual Conference 2022 (Basel): Big Data in Economics 264038, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    4. Kurt Annen, 2016. "Do Firms Sell What They Produce or Produce What They Sell?," Working Papers 1606, University of Guelph, Department of Economics and Finance.
    5. MITRAILLE Sébastien & MOREAUX Michel, 2007. "Inventories and Endogenous Stackelberg Hierarchy in Two-period Cournot Oligopoly," LERNA Working Papers 07.02.223, LERNA, University of Toulouse.
    6. Poddar, Sougata & Sasaki, Dan, 2002. "The strategic benefit from advance production," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 579-595, September.
    7. Vettas, Nikolaos & Biglaiser, Gary, 2004. "Dynamic Price Competition with Capacity Constraints and Strategic Buyers," CEPR Discussion Papers 4315, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. 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.
    9. Midori Hirokawa & Dan Sasaki, 2001. "Endogenously Asynchronous Entries into an Uncertain Industry," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(3), pages 435-461, September.
    10. 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.
    11. Severin Lenhard, 2021. "Imperfect Competition with Costly Disposal," Diskussionsschriften dp2105, Universitaet Bern, Departement Volkswirtschaft.
    12. van Damme, Eric & Hurkens, Sjaak, 1999. "Endogenous Stackelberg Leadership," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 105-129, July.
    13. 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.
    14. Ricardo F. Reis & Phillip C. Stocken, 2007. "Strategic Consequences of Historical Cost and Fair Value Measurements," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(2), pages 557-584, June.
    15. 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.
    16. Arnold, Lutz G. & Arnold, Volker, 2024. "Energy imports and manufacturing exports with successive oligopolies and storage," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    17. Cabon-Dhersin Marie-Laure & Drouhin Nicolas, 2017. "A general model of price competition with soft capacity constraints," Working Papers 2017-56, Center for Research in Economics and Statistics.
    18. Zemsky, Peter & Pacheco de Almeida, Goncalo, 2002. "Time-to-Build and Strategic Investment Under Uncertainty," CEPR Discussion Papers 3674, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    19. Kovenock, Dan & Roy, Suddhasatwa, 1998. "Dynamic capacity choice in a Bertrand-Edgeworth frameqork," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 135-160, March.
    20. Toshihiro Matsumura, 2003. "Endogenous Role in Mixed Markets: A Two‐Production‐Period Model," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 70(2), pages 403-413, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Oligopoly; Stackelberg competition; Sales versus production;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets

    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:kap:jeczfn:v:126:y:2019:i:3:d:10.1007_s00712-018-0622-4. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.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.