研討日期

2006年9月2日上午10:00 ~ 13:00

研討地點

台大社會科學院研究生第一教室

討論文獻

題目

作者

文獻出處

Spatial discrimination: Bertrand vs. Cournot with asymmetric demands

Wen-Jung Liang, Hong Hwang, Chao-Cheng Mai

Regional Science and Urban Economics, forthcoming

報告人

彭正浩

參加人員

梁文榮、吳世傑、彭正浩、李玫郁、林晏如、陳盈秀、曾靜枝、胡均立、周冰瑤、蔡明芳、陳玉晏

討論提要

This paper has developed a barbell model with homogeneous products and asymmetric demands to compare the delivered prices, aggregate profits, and social welfare between Bertrand and Cournot equilibrium, and to analyze the firms' equilibrium locations. It focuses on the impacts of the spatial barrier generated from transport costs and the market size effect of asymmetric demands.

結論

1.          Market asymmetry is crucial in determining the equilibrium locations under Cournot competition, but insignificant under Bertrand competition

2.          If one market is sufficiently larger than the other and the transport cost is high, the Bertrand equilibrium price in the large market may be higher than the Cournot equilibrium price.

3.          Anderson and Thisse (1988) and Hamilton et al. (1989) conclude that Bertrand equilibrium is more efficient than Cournot equilibrium. However, this paper has found that the reverse holds if the demand structure is sufficiently asymmetric and the transport cost is high.

4.          It is not necessarily the case that the more competitive Bertrand environment will generate lower prices than the more accommodating Cournot.

5.          Making markets more competitive will not necessarily benefit consumers once we allow for the impact of competition on location choices and take into account the role of market size.

延伸研究

This topic can be extended to the issue of antidumping duties.

備註