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Price-Matching leads to the Cournot Outcome

Author

Listed:
  • Norovsambuu Tumennasan

    (Department of Economics and Business, Aarhus University)

  • Mongoljin Batsaikhan

    (Georgetown University)

Abstract

We study the effects of price-matching in a duopoly setting in which each firm selects both its price and output, simultaneously. We show that the availability of a pricematching option leads to the Cournot outcome in this setting. This result is a stark contrast to the one obtained in the standard Bertrand competition that the market price in the presence of a price-matching option ranges from the monopolistic price to the Bertrand price. Our result suggests that the effect of price-matching depends on whether the output is a choice variable for the firms.

Suggested Citation

  • Norovsambuu Tumennasan & Mongoljin Batsaikhan, 2013. "Price-Matching leads to the Cournot Outcome," Economics Working Papers 2013-12, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.
    • Handle: RePEc:aah:aarhec:2013-12
    as

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    File URL: https://repec.econ.au.dk/repec/afn/wp/13/wp13_12.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kaplan, Todd R., 2000. "Effective price-matching: a comment," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 18(8), pages 1291-1294, December.
    2. Tumennasan, Norovsambuu, 2013. "Quantity precommitment and price-matching," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(5), pages 375-388.
    3. Doyle, Christopher, 1988. "Different selling strategies in Bertrand oligopoly," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 387-390.
    4. Subhasish Dugar & Todd Sorensen, 2006. "Hassle Costs, Price-Matching Guarantees and Price Competition: An Experiment," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 28(4), pages 359-378, June.
    5. Sridhar Moorthy & Ralph A.Winter, 2006. "Price-Matching Guarantees," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 37(2), pages 449-465, Summer.
    6. Corts, Kenneth S., 1995. "On the robustness of the argument that price-matching is anti-competitive," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 47(3-4), pages 417-421, March.
    7. 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)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Price matching;

    JEL classification:

    • L00 - Industrial Organization - - General - - - General
    • D4 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design

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