Improving retailers' incentives for service is a prominent efficiency defense for resale price maintenance (RPM). We investigate the incentives of symmetric manufacturers to use RPM when selling products through common retailers who provide services such as pre-sale advice. We show that the...

The paper introduces a specification of the demand side which allows RPM to have different effects on prices and on service, which may increase or decrease due to RPM. A feature of the model which deviates from those found in the literature is due to the introduction of a class of consumers who...

Proponents of RPM argue that RPM helps to sustain a high level of service at the point of sale and that such a high level is efficient. This paper provides a simple model which leads to the following conclusions: 1) RPM may increase or decrease the level of service. 2) Whether the service level...

Die Monopolkommission fordert in ihrem XIII. Hauptgutachten die Abschaffung der Buchpreisbindung. Im Gegenzug hat sich die Bundesregierung für deren Erhalt ausgesprochen. Ist die Buchpreisbindung notwendig, um Qualität und Vielfalt auf dem Buchmarkt zu sichern? Wie ist sie aus ökonomischer...

Im Mittelpunkt dieses IfG-Arbeitspapieres stehen Wertschöpfungsnetzwerke. Es handelt sich dabei um vertikale Kooperationen in einer bestimmten Ausgestaltung. Mitglieder sind rechtlich selbständige Unternehmen, die auf mindestens zwei aufeinander folgenden Wertschöpfungsstufen...

This paper examines the use of market-share thresholds (safe harbors) in evaluating whether a given vertical practice should be challenged. Such thresholds are typically found in vertical restraints guidelines (e.g., the 2000 Guidelines for the European Commission and the 1985 Guidelines for the...

In some markets vertically integrated firms sell directly to final customers but also to independent downstream firms with whom they then compete on the downstream market. It is often argued that resellers intensify competition and benefit consumers, in particular when wholesale prices are...