We show how a brand manufacturer’s control over retail prices can lead to efficiencies when consumers rely on prices as a signal of quality. For this we first show how higher prices can be associated with both higher quality perception as well as higher actual quality. We next identify a...

A framework is developed for examining the price and welfare effects of the introduction of genetically modified (GM) crops. In the short run, non-GM grain generally becomes another niche product. However, more profound market effects are observed under some reasonable parameterizations. In the...

Cow-calf producers face an annual decision on when to sell their calves. They can sell them at any point between weaning and slaughter, with the objective of finding the profit maximizing selling point. This paper investigates the use of price signals to determine profit maximizing selling...

We empirically investigate the welfare implications of intermediaries in oligopolistic markets, where intermediaries offer additional services to differentiate their products from the ones of the manufacturers. Our identification strategy exploits the unique circumstance that, in the outdoors...

We discuss a subset of vertical mergers, where the exercise of market power and the efficiencies enabled by a vertical merger reduce rivals’ profits, making rivals’ exit a potentially serious concern. Rivals’ exit can fundamentally alter the welfare analysis of vertical mergers due to the...

n 2020, an antitrust lawsuit was filed against the Pork Integrators alleging a §1 Sherman Act violation. At the center of the Lawsuit, there is an alleged exchange of atomistic information about the Pork integrators’ operations using Agri Stats, Inc. as a clearinghouse. We use the Supreme...

The paper investigates pro- and anticompetitive e¤ects of the use of market share discounts (MSD�s). While MSD�s can be used for exploiting a dominant position and may lead to a welfare reduction, MSD�s also can serve as an e¢ cient device for the creation of incentives. Particularly, if...

Abstract The developing literature on consumer information and vertical relations has yet to consider information provision via costly retail price advertising. By exploring this, we show that the double marginalisation problem exists in equilibrium despite an upstream supplier offering a...

The paper explores incentives for strategic vertical separation of firms in a framework of a simple duopoly model. Each firm chooses either to be a retailer of its own good (vertical integration) or to sell its good through an independent exclusive retailer (vertical separation). In the latter...

This paper models the book retail market as a dual market. Consumers choose between competitively retailed, well-identified blockbusters and going to a monopoly bookshop to find the best match for their tastes. I show that uncertainty about the status on a given title (will it be a blockbuster...