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Quality Differentiation in Durable Goods Monopoly Always Yields Strictly Positive Profits

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  • Didier Laussel
  • Ngo Van Long

Abstract

A monopolist producing vertically differentiated durable goods can offer in each period a sequence of price-quality menus to segment the market. We show that, contrary to the Coase conjecture for the homogeneous durable good monopoly, thanks to the ability to produce differentiated durable goods, in all Markov-Perfect Equilibria, the profit of a monopolist that cannot commit to future price-quality menus is bounded below by a strictly positive value independent of the discount factor.

Suggested Citation

  • Didier Laussel & Ngo Van Long, 2021. "Quality Differentiation in Durable Goods Monopoly Always Yields Strictly Positive Profits," CESifo Working Paper Series 9331, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9331
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    File URL: https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo1_wp9331.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Bulow, Jeremy I, 1982. "Durable-Goods Monopolists," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 90(2), pages 314-332, April.
    2. Didier Laussel & Ngo Van Long & Joana Resende, 2021. "Asymmetric Information and Differentiated Durable Goods Monopoly: Intra-period versus intertemporal price discrimination," CIRANO Working Papers 2021s-31, CIRANO.
    3. Gul, Faruk & Sonnenschein, Hugo & Wilson, Robert, 1986. "Foundations of dynamic monopoly and the coase conjecture," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 155-190, June.
    4. Laussel, Didier & Long, Ngo Van & Resende, Joana, 2020. "Quality and price personalization under customer recognition: A dynamic monopoly model with contrasting equilibria," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    5. Inderst, Roman, 2008. "Durable goods with quality differentiation," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 100(2), pages 173-177, August.
    6. Coase, Ronald H, 1972. "Durability and Monopoly," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(1), pages 143-149, April.
    7. Mussa, Michael & Rosen, Sherwin, 1978. "Monopoly and product quality," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 301-317, August.
    8. Didier Laussel & Ngo Long & Joana Resende, 2022. "Asymmetric Information and Differentiated Durable Goods Monopoly: Intra-Period Versus Intertemporal Discrimination," Dynamic Games and Applications, Springer, vol. 12(2), pages 574-607, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Feng Deng, 2022. "Local governments as land monopolists in Chinese cities: a natural experiment of Coase Conjecture in urban land," Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 159-189, February.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    product quality; durable good monopoly; second-degree price discrimination; Coase conjecture;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C73 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Stochastic and Dynamic Games; Evolutionary Games
    • D42 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Monopoly
    • L12 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Monopoly; Monopolization Strategies

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