This paper studies differential pricing by an upstream monopolist whose cost to supply the intermediate good differs across buyers in the downstream. It is shown that, different from third degree price discrimination based on the downstream firms' cost of transforming the intermediate good into...

This paper examines the effect of private label sold by one of two retailers (the “chain store”) on wholesale prices in the intermediate goods market. Under sym- metric retail costs, the chain store can make the wholesale price lower than its rival (the “local store”) when the private...

Price markups over marginal cost are often higher on "aftermarket" parts and services for durable goods than they are on the goods themselves. A popular explanation is that the aftermarket good is used as a "metering" device. This paper explores what happens in the metering model as foremarket...

We examine the role of private information on the impact of vertical mergers. A vertical merger can improve the information that is available to an upstream monopolist because, after the merger, the monopolist can observe the cost of its downstream merger partner. In the pre-merger world,...

The Intercontinental Exchange's current attempted acquisition of NYSE-Euronext is the third takeover proposal in as many years. In this article the two previous attempts are reviewed and lessons are drawn from an antitrust and competition policy perspective concerning the evolving competitive...

This paper studies optimal sport league size. League expansion lowers average player quality, reducing fans' utility in inframarginal locations, while fan utility in new locations rises. Welfare analyses of such expansions must compare these two effects. Using a model where fan demand depends on...

This paper estimates the extent to which market power is a source of production misallocation. Productive inefficiency occurs through more production being allocated to higher cost units of production, and less production to lower-cost production units, conditional on a fixed aggregate quantity....

This note is concerned with the effects of joint ownership of complements when they are vertically differentiated. We provide strong arguments for the positive nature of network integration among firms, while showing at the same time that, in some circumstances, anti-competitive consequences can...

Growing numbers of legislators and policy experts charge that tech firms such as Amazon, Google, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft are “monopolies,” with the potential power to harm consumers.Many economists, lawyers, and politicians say that economic features of these companies' product...

In this paper we discuss some of the most important economic issues raised in European Commission vs. Microsoft (2004) concerning the market for work group servers. In our view, the most important economic issues relate to (a) foreclosure incentives and (b) innovation effects of the proposed...