IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ulb/ulbeco/2013-151678.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The empirical content of Cournot competition

Author

Listed:
  • Laurens Cherchye
  • Thomas Demuynck
  • Bram De Rock

Abstract

We consider the testable implications of the Cournot model of market competition. Our approach is nonparametric in the sense that we abstain from imposing any functional specification on market demand and firm cost functions. We derive necessary and sufficient conditions for (reduced form) equilibrium market price and quantity functions to be consistent with the Cournot model. In addition, we present identification results for the corresponding inverse market demand function and the firm cost functions. Finally, we use our approach to derive testable restrictions for the models of perfect competition, collusion and conjectural variations. This identifies the conditions under which these different models are empirically distinguishable from the Cournot model. We also investigate empirical issues (measurement error and omitted variables) related to bringing our testable restrictions to data. © 2013 Elsevier Inc.

Suggested Citation

  • Laurens Cherchye & Thomas Demuynck & Bram De Rock, 2013. "The empirical content of Cournot competition," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/151678, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    • Handle: RePEc:ulb:ulbeco:2013/151678
    Note: SCOPUS: ar.j
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://dipot.ulb.ac.be/dspace/bitstream/2013/151678/5/012.pdf
    File Function: Full text for the whole work, or for a work part
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Emmanuel Guerre & Isabelle Perrigne & Quang Vuong, 2000. "Optimal Nonparametric Estimation of First-Price Auctions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 68(3), pages 525-574, May.
    2. Claude d'Aspremont & Rodolphe Dos Santos Ferreira & Louis-André Gérard-Varet, 2007. "Competition For Market Share Or For Market Size: Oligopolistic Equilibria With Varying Competitive Toughness," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 48(3), pages 761-784, August.
    3. William Novshek, 1985. "On the Existence of Cournot Equilibrium," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 52(1), pages 85-98.
    4. P.-A. Chiappori & I. Ekeland, 2009. "The Microeconomics of Efficient Group Behavior: Identification," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 77(3), pages 763-799, May.
    5. Afriat, Sidney N, 1972. "Efficiency Estimation of Production Function," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 13(3), pages 568-598, October.
    6. Szidarovszky, F & Yakowitz, S, 1977. "A New Proof of the Existence and Uniqueness of the Cournot Equilibrium," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 18(3), pages 787-789, October.
    7. Philip A. Haile & Ali Hortaçsu & Grigory Kosenok, 2008. "On the Empirical Content of Quantal Response Equilibrium," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(1), pages 180-200, March.
    8. Van Long, Ngo & Soubeyran, Antoine, 2000. "Existence and uniqueness of Cournot equilibrium: a contraction mapping approach," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 345-348, June.
    9. Gérard Gaudet & Stephen W. Salant, 1991. "Uniqueness of Cournot Equilibrium: New Results From Old Methods," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 399-404.
    10. Bresnahan, Timothy F., 1982. "The oligopoly solution concept is identified," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 10(1-2), pages 87-92.
    11. Rosa L. Matzkin, 2003. "Nonparametric Estimation of Nonadditive Random Functions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(5), pages 1339-1375, September.
    12. Newey, Whitney K., 1994. "Kernel Estimation of Partial Means and a General Variance Estimator," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 10(2), pages 1-21, June.
    13. Rosa L. Matzkin, 2008. "Identification in Nonparametric Simultaneous Equations Models," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 76(5), pages 945-978, September.
    14. Chiappori, P. -A. & Ekeland, I. & Kubler, F. & Polemarchakis, H. M., 2004. "Testable implications of general equilibrium theory: a differentiable approach," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1-2), pages 105-119, February.
    15. Lechene, Valérie & Preston, Ian, 2011. "Noncooperative household demand," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 146(2), pages 504-527, March.
    16. Isabelle Perrigne & Quang Vuong, 2011. "Nonparametric Identification of a Contract Model With Adverse Selection and Moral Hazard," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 79(5), pages 1499-1539, September.
    17. Emmanuel Guerre & Isabelle Perrigne & Quang Vuong, 2009. "Nonparametric Identification of Risk Aversion in First-Price Auctions Under Exclusion Restrictions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 77(4), pages 1193-1227, July.
    18. d'Aspremont, Claude & Dos Santos Ferreira, Rodolphe, 2009. "Price-quantity competition with varying toughness," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 62-82, January.
    19. Chiappori, P.A. & Ekeland, I., 2006. "The micro economics of group behavior: General characterization," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 130(1), pages 1-26, September.
    20. Nishimura, Kazuo & Friedman, James, 1981. "Existence of Nash Equilibrium in n Person Games without Quasi-Concavity," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 22(3), pages 637-648, October.
    21. Andrés Carvajal & Rahul Deb & James Fenske & John K.‐H. Quah, 2013. "Revealed Preference Tests of the Cournot Model," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 81(6), pages 2351-2379, November.
    22. Elodie Guerre & I. Perrigne & Q.H. Vuong, 2000. "Optimal nonparametric estimation of first-price auctions [[Estimation nonparamétrique optimale des enchères au premier prix]]," Post-Print hal-02697497, HAL.
    23. Charles D. Kolstad & Lars Mathiesen, 1987. "Necessary and Sufficient Conditions for Uniqueness of a Cournot Equilibrium," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 54(4), pages 681-690.
    24. Pierre-André Chiappori & Olivier Donni & Ivana Komunjer, 2012. "Learning from a Piece of Pie," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 79(1), pages 162-195.
    25. Chiappori, Pierre-Andre, 2010. "Testable implications of transferable utility," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 145(3), pages 1302-1317, May.
    26. Lau, Lawrence J., 1982. "On identifying the degree of competitiveness from industry price and output data," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 10(1-2), pages 93-99.
    27. Matzkin, Rosa L., 2007. "Nonparametric identification," Handbook of Econometrics, in: J.J. Heckman & E.E. Leamer (ed.), Handbook of Econometrics, edition 1, volume 6, chapter 73, Elsevier.
    28. F. H. Hahn, 1962. "The Stability of the Cournot Oligopoly Solution," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 29(4), pages 329-331.
    29. Varian, Hal R, 1984. "The Nonparametric Approach to Production Analysis," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(3), pages 579-597, May.
    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. Moghadam, Hamed M., 2015. "The nonparametric approach to evolutionary oligopoly," Ruhr Economic Papers 576, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    2. Lee, SangMok, 2012. "The testable implications of zero-sum games," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 39-46.
    3. Moghadam, Hamed Markazi, 2021. "A nonparametric approach to evolutionary oligopoly games: An application to the crude oil industry," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    4. Oleksandr Shcherbakov & Naoki Wakamori, 2017. "Identifying the Degree of Collusion Under Proportional Reduction," Staff Working Papers 17-51, Bank of Canada.

    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. Marmer, Vadim & Shneyerov, Artyom, 2012. "Quantile-based nonparametric inference for first-price auctions," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 167(2), pages 345-357.
    2. Van Long, Ngo & Soubeyran, Antoine, 2000. "Existence and uniqueness of Cournot equilibrium: a contraction mapping approach," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 345-348, June.
    3. Hubner, Stefan, 2023. "Identification of unobserved distribution factors and preferences in the collective household model," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 234(1), pages 301-326.
    4. Ewerhart, Christian, 2014. "Cournot games with biconcave demand," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 37-47.
    5. Yao Luo & Isabelle Perrigne & Quang Vuong, 2018. "Structural Analysis of Nonlinear Pricing," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 126(6), pages 2523-2568.
    6. George Halkos & Kyriaki Tsilika, 2015. "Programming Identification Criteria in Simultaneous Equation Models," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 46(1), pages 157-170, June.
    7. Long, Ngo Van & Soubeyran, Antoine, 2001. "Cost Manipulation Games in Oligopoly, with Costs of Manipulating," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 42(2), pages 505-533, May.
    8. Arthur Lewbel & Krishna Pendakur, 2017. "Unobserved Preference Heterogeneity in Demand Using Generalized Random Coefficients," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 125(4), pages 1100-1148.
    9. Lewbel, Arthur & Lin, Xirong, 2022. "Identification of semiparametric model coefficients, with an application to collective households," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 226(2), pages 205-223.
    10. Gaurab Aryal & Isabelle Perrigne & Quang Vuong, 2011. "Identification of Insurance Models with Multidimensional Screening," ANU Working Papers in Economics and Econometrics 2011-538, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics.
    11. Laurens Cherchye & Sam Cosaert & Thomas Demuynck & Bram De Rock, 2020. "Group Consumption with Caring Individuals," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 130(627), pages 587-622.
    12. Laurens CHERCHYE & Thomas DEMUYNCK & Bram DE ROCK, 2010. "Noncooperative household consumption with caring," Working Papers of Department of Economics, Leuven ces10.34, KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), Department of Economics, Leuven.
    13. repec:hok:dpaper:307 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Rothe, Christoph & Wied, Dominik, 2020. "Estimating derivatives of function-valued parameters in a class of moment condition models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 217(1), pages 1-19.
    15. Cars H. Hommes & Marius I. Ochea & Jan Tuinstra, 2018. "Evolutionary Competition Between Adjustment Processes in Cournot Oligopoly: Instability and Complex Dynamics," Dynamic Games and Applications, Springer, vol. 8(4), pages 822-843, December.
    16. Laurens Cherchye & Thomas Demuynck & Bram De Rock & Frederic Vermeulen, 2017. "Household Consumption When the Marriage Is Stable," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(6), pages 1507-1534, June.
    17. Philip A Haile & Yuichi Kitamura, 2019. "Unobserved heterogeneity in auctions," The Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 22(1), pages 1-19.
    18. Zincenko, Federico, 2018. "Nonparametric estimation of first-price auctions with risk-averse bidders," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 205(2), pages 303-335.
    19. Marmer, Vadim & Shneyerov, Artyom & Xu, Pai, 2013. "What model for entry in first-price auctions? A nonparametric approach," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 176(1), pages 46-58.
    20. Perrigne, Isabelle & Vuong, Quang, 2012. "On the identification of the procurement model," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 114(1), pages 9-11.
    21. C. Lanier Benkard & Steven Berry, 2006. "On the Nonparametric Identification of Nonlinear Simultaneous Equations Models: Comment on Brown (1983) and Roehrig (1988)," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 74(5), pages 1429-1440, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Collusion; Conjectural variations; Cournot competition; Identification; Perfect competition; Testable implications;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory
    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity

    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:ulb:ulbeco:2013/151678. 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: Benoit Pauwels (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ecsulbe.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.