Firms willing to enter a market with a new product often face the problem that the market does notknow its quality. Selling through a retailer might avoid excessive entry costs by renting thereputation of an incumbent. The incumbent can apply excusive dealing clauses to his retailer. Weshow that...

We consider a market in which producers and an intermediary have perfect information about the qualities of the goods. Consumers do not observe the qualities. Producers can perfectly reveal that a good is of high quality through certification. This entails socially wasteful costs. Firms can...