This paper studies the welfare consequences of a vertical merger that raises rivals costs when downstream competition is à la Cournot between firms with constant asymmetric marginal costs. The main result is that such a vertical merger can nevertheless improve welfare if it involves a...

We consider a dynamic platform competition in a market with network externalities. The incumbent platform enjoys a focal position such that consumers expect other consumers to join it, while the entrant platform may enjoy a quality advantage. We examine the effect of an antitrust policy that...

There is not one, perfect model for institutional regulatory cooperation, nor is there a single model for eliminating technical barriers to trade or discriminatory sanitary and phytosanitary measures in a preferential trade agreement (PTA). However, recent experience with PTAs has shown that it...

Many economic and social networks share two common organizing features: (1) a core-periphery structure; (2) positive correlation between network centrality and payoffs. In this paper, we build a model of network formation where these features emerge endogenously. In our model, the unique...

This paper analyzes an early modern German economy to test alternative theories about guilds. It finds little evidence to support recent hypotheses arguing that guilds corrected market failures relating to product quality, training, and innovation. But it finds that guilds were social networks...