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Product differentiation, price discrimination and collusion

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  • Stefano Colombo

    (DISCE, Università Cattolica)

Abstract

The existing literature which analyses the relationship between the product differentiation degree and the sustainability of a collusive agreement on price assumes that firms cannot price discriminate, and concludes that there is a negative relationship between the product differentiation degree and the critical discount factor. This paper, in contrast, assumes that firms are able to price discriminate. Within the Hotelling framework, three different collusive schemes are studied: optimal collusion on discriminatory prices; optimal collusion on a uniform price; collusion not to discriminate. We obtain that the critical discount factor of the first and the third collusive scheme does not depend on the product differentiation degree, while the critical discount factor of the second collusive scheme depends positively on the product differentiation degree. Moreover, we show that suboptimal collusion is more difficult to sustain than optimal collusion.

Suggested Citation

  • Stefano Colombo, 2009. "Product differentiation, price discrimination and collusion," DISCE - Quaderni dell'Istituto di Economia e Finanza ief0085, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    • Handle: RePEc:ctc:serie3:ief0085
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    5. Ross, Thomas W., 1992. "Cartel stability and product differentiation," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 1-13, March.
    6. Hurter, Arthur Jr & Lederer, Phillip J., 1985. "Spatial duopoly with discriminatory pricing," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 541-553, November.
    7. Chang, Myong-Hun, 1991. "The effects of product differentiation on collusive pricing," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 453-469, September.
    8. Chang, Myong-Hun, 1992. "Intertemporal Product Choice and Its Effects on Collusive Firm Behavior," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 33(4), pages 773-793, November.
    9. Thisse, Jacques-Francois & Vives, Xavier, 1988. "On the Strategic Choice of Spatial Price Policy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(1), pages 122-137, March.
    10. Deneckere, R., 1983. "Duopoly supergames with product differentiation," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 11(1-2), pages 37-42.
    11. Hackner, Jonas, 1995. "Endogenous product design in an infinitely repeated game," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 277-299.
    12. Hamilton, Jonathan H. & Thisse, Jacques-Francois, 1992. "Duopoly with spatial and quantity- dependent price discrimination," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 175-185, June.
    13. Albaek, Svend & Lambertini, Luca, 1998. "Collusion in differentiated duopolies revisited," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 59(3), pages 305-308, June.
    14. Stefano Colombo, 2009. "Sustainability of collusion with imperfect price discrimination and inelastic demand functions," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 29(3), pages 1687-1694.
    15. Hackner, Jonas, 1994. "Collusive pricing in markets for vertically differentiated products," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 155-177, June.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. John S. Heywood & Dongyang Li & Guangliang Ye, 2020. "Does price discrimination make collusion less likely? a delivered pricing model," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 131(1), pages 39-60, September.
    2. Colombo, Stefano, 2013. "Cartels in the unidirectional Hotelling model," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 690-696.
    3. Helfrich, Magdalena & Herweg, Fabian, 2016. "Fighting collusion by permitting price discrimination," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 148-151.
    4. Döpper, Hendrik & Rasch, Alexander, 2022. "Combinable products, price discrimination, and collusion," DICE Discussion Papers 377, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    5. Colombo, Stefano, 2012. "An indifference result concerning collusion in spatial frameworks," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 18-21.
    6. Colombo, Stefano & Filippini, Luigi & Pignataro, Aldo, 2024. "Information sharing, personalized pricing, and collusion," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    7. Stefano Colombo, 2011. "Pricing Policy and Partial Collusion," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 11(4), pages 325-349, December.
    8. Döpper, Hendrik & Rasch, Alexander, 2024. "Combinable products, price discrimination, and collusion," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    9. Florian Gössl & Alexander Rasch, 2020. "Collusion under different pricing schemes," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 910-931, October.
    10. Stefano Colombo, 2011. "Spatially asymmetric firms and the sustainability of a price agreement," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 31(3), pages 2414-2421.
    11. Kai Andree & John S. Heywood & Mike Schwan & Zheng Wang, 2018. "A Spatial Model Of Cartel Stability: The Influence Of Production Cost Convexity," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(3), pages 298-311, July.
    12. Stefano Colombo, 2012. "Collusion in two models of spatial competition with quantity-setting firms," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 48(1), pages 45-69, February.
    13. Axel Gautier & Ashwin Ittoo & Pieter Cleynenbreugel, 2020. "AI algorithms, price discrimination and collusion: a technological, economic and legal perspective," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 50(3), pages 405-435, December.
    14. Stefano Colombo, 2012. "Colluding on a Price Increase," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 12(4), pages 365-371, December.
    15. Stefano Colombo, 2013. "Product Differentiation and Collusion Sustainability When Collusion Is Costly," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(4), pages 669-674, July.
    16. Rasch, Alexander & Gössl, Florian, 2016. "The scope for collusion under different pricing schemes," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145759, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Horizontal differentiation; Price discrimination; Tacit collusion;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • L41 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Monopolization; Horizontal Anticompetitive Practices

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