We show that application of the so-called "Market Determined Efficient Component Pricing Rule," the "Efficient Component Pricing Rule," and, in general, of pricing rules that are based on private opportunity costs would perpetuate pricing inefficiencies and result in lower social surplus than...

This paper critiques some of the properties of the so-called "efficient component pricing rule" (ECPR) for access to a bottleneck (monopoly) facility. When an entrant/rival and the bottleneck monopolist both produce a complementary component to the bottleneck service, the ECPR specifies that the...

This paper analyzes the economics of industries where network externalities are significant. In such industries, firms have strong incentives to adhere to common technical compatibility standards, so that they reap the network externalities of the whole group. However, a firm also benefits from...

We evaluate the incentive to integrate vertically in a simple 2X2 Bertrand model of two substitutes that are each comprised of two complementary components. We confirm that all prices fall as a result of a vertical merger. Further, we find that, when the composite goods are poor substitutes,...