While vertical integration is traditionally seen as a solution to the hold-up problem, this paper highlights instead that it can generate hold-up problems — for rivals. We first consider a successive duopoly where competition among suppliers eliminates any risk of hold-up; downstreamfirms thus...

While vertical integration is traditionally seen as a solution to the hold-up problem, this paper highlights instead that it can generate hold-up problems — for rivals. We first consider a successive duopoly where competition among suppliers eliminates any risk of hold-up; downstreamfirms thus...

I show that partial vertical integration may either alleviates or exacerbate the concern for vertical foreclosure relative to full vertical integration and I examine its implications for consumer welfare.

This paper analyzes the effects of net neutrality regulation oninvestment incentives for Internet service providers (ISPs) and contentproviders (CPs), and their implications for social welfare. We show thatthe ISP s decision on the introduction of discrimination across contentdepends on a...

This paper argues that a cable operator with sufficient market power in the downstream multi-channel video programming distribution (MVPD) market can deny access to unaffiliated programmers, resulting in an upstream programming rival's exit or impaired dynamic efficiency. Further, market...

The regulation of vertical relationships between firms is the subject of persistent legal and academic controversy. The literature studying vertical trade relationships seems to assume that an upstream monopolist prefers downstream competition over exclusive distribution arrangements. We derive...

Abstract We study the impact of net neutrality on the content market with endogenous product differentiation. We show that when the Internet service provider is allowed to offer different connection qualities to content providers, it has incentives to favor contents that have a broader market...

The net neutrality debate has brought out economic rationale for andagainst a variety of proposals of the broadband service providers todifferentiate between different classes of users. Broadband users arecharacterized by the differing amounts of content they request online,as well as their...