This paper investigates the influence of monetary policy on the optimal behavior of a monopolistic bank. More specifically, we discuss how the overdraft rate and the minimum reserve requirements affect the equilibrium values of lending rate and deposit rate as well as the corresponding...

In this paper, we tackle the dilemma of pruning versus proliferation in a vertically differentiated oligopoly under the assumption that some firms collude and control both the range of variants for sale and their corresponding prices, likewise a multiproduct firm. We analyse whether pruning...

Roy (Safety First and the Holding of Assets, 1952) argues that decisions under uncertainty motivate firms to avoid bankruptcy. In this paper the authors ask about the behaviour of a monopolist who pre-commits to price when she has only probabilistic knowledge about demand. They argue that...

Given the possibility to modify the probability of a loss, will a profit-maximizing insurer engage in loss prevention or is it in his interest to increase the loss probability? This paper investigates this question. First, we calculate the expected profit maximizing loss probability within an...

Economy is among us everywhere. Monopoly is one of the key elements of it. The aim of this article is to highlight and describe the advantages and disadvantages that a monopoly situation has. The most interesting part of the article refers to the advantages of the monopoly, things that many...

Under demand uncertainty, a risk-averse seller adopts marginal-cost pricing when clients are homogenous. When the clients are heterogeneous, the optimal unit price tends to move towards marginal cost as the seller's risk aversion increases and equals marginal cost if the seller is infinitely...

Antitrust is back in vogue at the U.S. Supreme Court. Whereas the Rehnquist Court decided few antitrust cases in its latter years (only one from 1993 to 1995, one each year from 1996 through 1999, and none from 2000 to 2003), the Roberts Court issued seven antitrust decisions in its first two...

The paper first summarizes the benefits of competition, i.e. why competitive markets are more efficient than oligopolistic or monopolistic markets, and the threats to competitive markets from cartels, concentration, and government interference. In the main part, the paper presents the key...

In the context of monopolistic nonlinear pricing, we compare the maximum profits of bundling, incremental discounts, and all-units discounts. When the number of pricing blocks is unrestricted, incremental discounts perform weakly the worst. However, if the performance of incremental discounts is...