Optimal control theory is employed to derive explicitly the optimal (profit maximizing) price of a durable new product over time. The sales rate dynamics depends on the product price and on the unsold portion of the market. Specifically, the hazard rate (i.e. the probability of a purchase by a...

We consider a market consisting of two populations, termed rich and poor for convenience. If a product is priced such that it is very expensive for the poor, but affordable to the rich, then it becomes a status symbol for the poor and this makes it more desirable for the poor. At a lower price,...

We consider a heretofore unexplored explanation for why platforms, such as Internet service providers and mobile-phone networks, offer plans with download limits: through one of two mechanisms, doing so causes the providers of the content consumer purchase to either reduce their prices or...

One of the most famous and outstanding formalizations of the Coase Conjecture is that by Gul, Sonnenschein, and Wilson (1986). A peculiarity of their model — as well as all other examinations of the Coase Conjecture of which I am aware, including that by Coase himself — is that it assumes...

The marginal cost of a good is not usually a relevant factor when crafting intellectual property policy. Marginal costs estimates are based on models of static efficiency, not dynamic efficiency, which is more relevant to policymakers.Profit margins on goods must be high enough to both support...

Current merger review law is critically flawed. Courts in Clayton Act Section 7 cases consider the likelihood that a merger will harm competition as a threshold question before considering the size of harm that could ensue. Under current law, to block a merger a judge must find that the deal is...

We consider a heretofore unexplored explanation for why platforms, such as Internet service providers and mobile-phone networks, offer plans with download limits: through one of two mechanisms, doing so causes the providers of the content consumer purchase to either reduce their prices or...

We discuss network neutrality regulation of the Internet in the context of a two-sided market model. Platforms sell broadband Internet access services to residential consumers and may set fees to content and application providers on the Internet. When access is monopolized, cross-group...

We discuss network neutrality regulation of the Internet in the context of a two-sided market model. Platforms sell broadband Internet access services to residential consumers and may set fees to content and application providers on the Internet. When access is monopolized, cross-group...

Revisiting Rothbardian monopoly price theory and extending it to the realm of factor pricing, this paper explains how grants of privileges to capitalists can lower labor and land factors' prices compared to what would prevail in a free market environment. Monopolistic grants to capitalists make...