IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/liv/livedp/2003_06.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Incompletely Informed Policymakers and Trade Policy in Oligopolistic Industries

Author

Listed:
  • Mustafa Caglayan

    (University of Liverpool)

  • Murat Usman

    (Koc University)

Abstract

We study strategic trade policy design when governments are incompletely informed about the market demand. Two symmetric, homogeneous product Cournot firms, one in each country, compete in a third country market. Contrary to what common sense would suggest, we show that if governments are less informed on the stochastic market demand, both countries will be better off. Also contrary to findings in the literature, we show that when the government is partially informed, although quantity controls would be optimal for both high and low levels of demand uncertainty, subsidies are preferred for intermediate levels.

Suggested Citation

  • Mustafa Caglayan & Murat Usman, 2003. "Incompletely Informed Policymakers and Trade Policy in Oligopolistic Industries," Working Papers 2003_06, University of Liverpool, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:liv:livedp:2003_06
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.liv.ac.uk/Economics/livdp/wp0306.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dermot Leahy & J. Peter Neary, 2001. "Robust rules for industrial policy open economies," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(4), pages 393-409.
    2. Grant, Simon & Quiggin, John, 1997. "Strategic Trade Policy under Uncertainty: Sufficient Conditions for the Optimality of Ad Valorem, Specific and Quadratic Trade Taxes," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 38(1), pages 187-203, February.
    3. Jonathan Eaton & Gene M. Grossman, 1986. "Optimal Trade and Industrial Policy Under Oligopoly," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 101(2), pages 383-406.
    4. Shivakumar, Ram, 1993. "Strategic trade policy : Choosing between export subsidies and export quotas under uncertainty," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(1-2), pages 169-183, August.
    5. Brainard, S. Lael & Martimort, David, 1997. "Strategic trade policy with incompletely informed policymakers," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1-2), pages 33-65, February.
    6. Hwang, Hae-shin, 1995. "Information Acquisition and Relative Efficiency of Competitive, Oligopoly and Monopoly Markets," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 36(2), pages 325-340, May.
    7. Maggi, Giovanni, 1999. "Strategic Trade Policy under Incomplete Information," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 40(3), pages 571-594, August.
    8. Qiu, Larry D, 1995. "Strategic Trade Policy under Uncertainty," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(1), pages 75-85, February.
    9. Neary, J Peter, 1989. "Export Subsidies and Price Competition," CEPR Discussion Papers 327, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. S. Lael Brainard & David Martimort, 1998. "Strategic Trade Policy Design with Asymmetric Information and Public Contracts Corrigendum," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 65(3), pages 627-630.
    11. Zhou, Dongsheng & Spencer, Barbara J. & Vertinsky, Ilan, 2002. "Strategic trade policy with endogenous choice of quality and asymmetric costs," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 205-232, January.
    12. repec:bla:reviec:v:8:y:2000:i:2:p:311-18 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Russell Cooper & Raymond Riezman, 2013. "Uncertainty and the Choice of Trade Policy in Oligopolistic Industries," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Raymond Riezman (ed.), International Trade Agreements and Political Economy, chapter 16, pages 287-298, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    14. Dermot Leahy & J. Peter Neary, 2000. "Robust Rules for Industrial Policy in open Economies," Working Papers 200021, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    15. Mustafa Caglayan, 2000. "Uncertainty Resolution and Strategic Trade Policy in Oligopolistic Industries," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(2), pages 311-318, May.
    16. Hwang, Hae-Shin & Schulman, Craig T., 1993. "Strategic non-intervention and the choice of trade policy for international oligopoly," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(1-2), pages 73-93, February.
    17. Qui, Larry D., 1994. "Optimal strategic trade policy under asymmetric information," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(3-4), pages 333-354, May.
    18. Arvan, Lanny, 1991. "Flexibility versus commitment in strategic trade policy under uncertainty : A model of endogenous policy leadership," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(3-4), pages 341-355, November.
    19. Laussel, Didier, 1992. "Strategic Commercial Policy Revisited: A Supply-Function Equilibrium Model," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(1), pages 84-99, March.
    20. Brander, James A. & Spencer, Barbara J., 1985. "Export subsidies and international market share rivalry," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1-2), pages 83-100, February.
    21. Hwang, Hae-shin, 1994. "Heterogeneity and the Incentive to Share Information in Cournot Oligopoly Market," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 35(2), pages 329-345, May.
    22. Klette, Tor Jakob, 1994. "Strategic Trade Policy for Exporting Industries: More General Results in the Oligopolistic Case," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 46(2), pages 296-310, April.
    23. Maggi, Giovanni, 1996. "Strategic Trade Policies with Endogenous Mode of Competition," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(1), pages 237-258, March.
    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. Hakan Orbay & Benan Zeki Orbay, 2013. "Export Subsidies and Exchange Rate Pass-through," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(4), pages 627-635, September.
    2. Matloob Piracha, 2004. "Export Subsidies and Countervailing Duties Under Asymmetric Information," Studies in Economics 0410, School of Economics, University of Kent.

    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. Desai, Mihir A. & Hines Jr., James R., 2008. "Market reactions to export subsidies," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 459-474, March.
    2. Dermot Leahy & J. Peter Neary, 2013. "Oligopoly and Trade," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Daniel Bernhofen & Rod Falvey & David Greenaway & Udo Kreickemeier (ed.), Palgrave Handbook of International Trade, chapter 7, pages 197-235, Palgrave Macmillan.
    3. Fabio Antoniou & Nikos Tsakiris, 2014. "Information and Disclosure in Strategic Trade Policy: Revisited," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 415-427, September.
    4. Furusawa, Taiji & Higashida, Keisaku & Ishikawa, Jota, 2003. "What information is needed for welfare-enhancing policies under international oligopoly?," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 31-46, January.
    5. Ning, Haokai, 2020. "Choice of Trade Policy with Incomplete Information," MPRA Paper 101529, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Žigić, Krešimir, 2011. "Does a ‘non-committed’ government always generate lower social welfare than its ‘committed’ counterpart? Strategic trade policy when consumer surplus matters," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 533-556.
    7. Hakan Orbay & Benan Zeki Orbay, 2013. "Export Subsidies and Exchange Rate Pass-through," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(4), pages 627-635, September.
    8. Kresimir Zigic, 2010. "Second-Best Trade Policies, R&D Spillovers and Government (In)ability to Precommit in an Intra-Industry Trade Framework," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp427, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    9. Praveen Kujal & Juan Ruiz, 2003. "Cost Effectiveness of R&D and the Robustness of Strategic Trade Policy," International Trade 0302001, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 04 Feb 2003.
    10. Chen, Hung-Yi & Chang, Yang-Ming & Chiou, Jiunn-Rong, 2011. "A welfare analysis of tariffs and equivalent quotas under demand uncertainty: Implications for tariffication," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 549-561, October.
    11. Maggi, Giovanni, 1999. "Strategic Trade Policy under Incomplete Information," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 40(3), pages 571-594, August.
    12. Delia Ionascu & Kresimir zigic, 2005. "Free trade versus strategic trade as a choice between two 'second best' policies: A symmetric versus asymmetric information analysis," International Economic Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(3), pages 417-446.
    13. Choi, Kangsik & Lee, Ki-Dong & Lim, Seonyoung, 2016. "Strategic Trade Policies In International Rivalry When Competition Mode Is Endogenous," Hitotsubashi Journal of Economics, Hitotsubashi University, vol. 57(2), pages 223-241, December.
    14. Hoefele, Andreas, 2016. "Endogenous product differentiation and international R&D policy," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 335-346.
    15. Kresimir Zigic, 2011. "Strategic Interactions in Markets with Innovative Activity: The Cases of Strategic Trade Policy and Market Leadership," CERGE-EI Books, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague, edition 1, number b06, May.
    16. S. Lael Brainard & David Martimort, 1996. "Strategic Trade Policy Design with Asymmetric Information and Public Contracts," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 63(1), pages 81-105.
    17. Lim, Seonyoung & Choi, Kangsik, 2014. "Strategic Subsidy Policies with Endogenous Choice of Competition Mode," MPRA Paper 59462, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Brander, James A., 1995. "Strategic trade policy," Handbook of International Economics, in: G. M. Grossman & K. Rogoff (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 27, pages 1395-1455, Elsevier.
    19. Qi Duan & Jie Ma, 2017. "A Note on Optimal Industrial Policy Towards Bertrand Homogeneous Duopoly," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(4), pages 292-303, December.
    20. Yoon, Jeong & Choi, Kangsik, 2018. "Why do export subsidies still exist? R&D and output subsidies," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 30-38.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Trade Policy; Incomplete Information; Oligopoly;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F12 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Models of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Scale Economies; Fragmentation

    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:liv:livedp:2003_06. 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: Rachel Slater (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/mslivuk.html .

    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.