Bilateral Oligopoly
46 Pages Posted: 18 Jul 2001
Date Written: June 2001
Abstract
In many intermediate goods markets buyers and sellers both have market power. Contracts are usually long-term and negotiated bilaterally, codifying many elements in addition to price. We model such bilateral oligopolies as a set of simultaneous Rubinstein-Stahl bargainings between pairs of buyers and sellers, over contracts specifying price and quantity. Equilibrium quantities are efficient regardless of concentration. The law of one price does not hold. Prices depend on concentration of capital and concentration of sales. If the quantity sold represents a small share of both the firms' sales and purchases, then the price is close to the Walrasian price.
Keywords: Bilateral oligopoly, bargaining, intermediate goods, decentralized trade, Walrasian outcome
JEL Classification: C70, D20, D40, L10, L40
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?
Recommended Papers
-
Vertical Integration in the Presence of Upstream Competition
-
By Celine Bonnet and Pierre Dubois
-
Concentration-Based Merger Tests and Vertical Market Structure
-
Can Vertical Integration by a Monopsonist Harm Consumer Welfare?
-
Vertical Contracting When Competition for Orders Precedes Procurement
-
Exclusivity, Competition and the Irrelevance of Internal Investment
By Catherine De Fontenay, Vivienne Groves, ...