Econ Papers Daily / 期刊论文
差异化市场中多个卡特尔组织的稳定性
Stability of multiple cartels in differentiated markets
摘要
We characterise stable market structures under price competition in differentiated markets when multiple cartels may form – this is a marked departure from the predominant assumption in the existing literature that supposes without further justification that at most one cartel may be formed. We find that market structures without cartelisation are never stable and, in stark contrast to the above-mentioned a priori assumption made in the literature, we establish that in markets that are sufficiently differentiated, whenever the formation of multiple cartels is possible (i.e. there are at least four firms in the market), at least one market structure involving multiple small cartels is stable. Furthermore, except for the case where there are only four firms in the market, stable market structures are exclusively characterised by multiple small cartels. Combined with the result that the unique stable market structure under quantity competition is also characterised by multiple small cartels, this underscores the importance of considering the possibility of multiple cartels in competition policy. Comparing stable market structures under price and quantity competition, we find that prices and profits are higher under price competition whenever the market is sufficiently differentiated or sufficiently concentrated.
中文摘要
我们刻画了差异化市场中价格竞争下的稳定市场结构，其中可能存在多个卡特尔——这与现有文献的主流假设形成鲜明背离，后者在缺乏进一步论证的情况下假定至多只能形成一个卡特尔。我们发现，不存在卡特尔化的市场结构永远不稳定，并且与文献中上述先验假设形成鲜明对比的是，我们证明在差异化程度足够高的市场中，只要多个卡特尔的形成是可能的（即市场中至少有四家企业），就至少存在一种涉及多个小型卡特尔的稳定市场结构。此外，除市场中仅有四家企业这一情形外，稳定市场结构完全以多个小型卡特尔为特征。结合数量竞争下唯一稳定市场结构同样以多个小型卡特尔为特征这一结果，这凸显了在竞争政策中考虑多个卡特尔可能性的重要性。比较价格竞争与数量竞争下的稳定市场结构，我们发现，只要市场差异化程度足够高或集中度足够高，价格竞争下的价格和利润都更高。