Content Protection and Oligopolistic Interactions.

In oligopolistic situations, content protection can have unexpected effects as it changes the nature of inter actions between input suppliers. With a duopoly, it does so in a mann er that makes the foreign firm wish to match price increases and decr eases of the domestic firm. Domestic input suppliers can, therefore, lose from such policies, even when set at free-trade levels. The rela tion between input demands, the form of protection, and the degree of substitution between inputs is shown to define the effects of conten t protection and to provide the basis for understanding who might lob by for protection in different environments. Copyright 1988 by The Review of Economic Studies Limited.