[PDF] Spatial Competition In Quality eBook

Author : Tarek H. Selim
Publisher :
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 15,67 MB
Release : 2020
Category :
ISBN :

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Spatial quality choice is introduced, where consumers are horizontally differentiated by taste and firms vertically differentiated by quality location, within an equilibrium model of duopoly competition characterized by asymmetric fixed and variable costs. Firms choose quality location followed by prices but then may vertically re-locate their quality offerings based on changing horizontal consumer taste. A monopolistic equilibrium solution arises with firms achieving positive economic profits through price-quality markups exceeding marginal costs. Under strict inequality conditions, each firm acts as a monopolistic competitor within a range of quality choices governed by multiple relative differentiation outcomes. On the other hand, vertical re-location exhibits a resistance to change on the part of vertically located firms such that firms dislike quality re-location and prefer stable preferences in quality. Such resistance to change is overcome by firms re-locating their quality offerings to maximize monopolistic brand-space gains. It is argued that more horizontal differentiation may force more product differentiation by vertical quality relocation. A relative change in quality preferences may result in wider quality spreads in the market through vertical quality re-locations, even though the resistance to change arguments may still hold good.

Author : Hugh Gravelle
Publisher :
Page : 46 pages
File Size : 44,25 MB
Release : 2018
Category : Competition
ISBN :

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We examine whether family doctor firms in England respond to local competition by increasing their quality. We measure quality in terms of clinical performance and patient-reported satisfaction to capture its multi-dimensional nature. We use a panel covering 8 years for over 8000 English general practices, allowing us to control for unobserved local area effects. We measure competition by the number of rival doctors within a small distance. We find that increases in local competition are associated with increases in clinical quality and patient satisfaction, particularly for firms with lower quality. However, the magnitude of the effect is small.

Author : Stefano Colombo
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 346 pages
File Size : 25,2 MB
Release : 2020-09-23
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 3030400980

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Space is a crucial variable in any economic activity. Spatial Economics is the branch of economics that explicitly aims to incorporate the space dimension in the analysis of economic phenomena. From its beginning in the last century, Spatial Economics has contributed to the understanding of the economy by developing plenty of theoretical models as well as econometric techniques having the “space” as a core dimension of the analysis. This edited volume addresses the complex issue of Spatial Economics from a theoretical point of view. This volume is part of a more complex project including another edited volume (Spatial Economics Volume II: Applications) collecting original papers which address Spatial Economics from an applied perspective.

Author : Anna Nagurney
Publisher :
Page : 41 pages
File Size : 42,92 MB
Release : 2016
Category :
ISBN :

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In this paper, a spatial price equilibrium model with information asymmetry in quality is developed. Producers at the supply markets are aware of the quality of their products, whereas consumers, located at the demand markets, are aware only of the average quality of the products that are shipped to their demand markets. We derive the governing equilibrium conditions, along with the variational inequality formulation. We then extend the model to include policy interventions in the form of minimum quality standards and provide an integrated variational inequality formulation of both models. We introduce a dynamic adjustment process for the evolution of the product shipments and quality levels over time and formulate it as a projected dynamical system. We establish qualitative results, in the form of existence, uniqueness, and stability analysis. An algorithm is proposed, along with a convergence proof. The algorithm tracks the evolution of the product shipment and quality level pattern until an equilibrium is achieved and, at each iteration, yields closed form expressions for the computation of the product shipments and quality levels. It is then utilized to compute solutions to a spectrum of spatial price equilibrium numerical examples in order to explore the impacts of information asymmetry under different scenarios.This work adds to the growing research on spatial competition and product quality but is the first to incorporate information asymmetry of this specific form in both equilibrium and dynamic model versions.