{"title":"多市场联系,卡特尔和产品质量","authors":"Neelanjan Sen , Uday Bhanu Sinha","doi":"10.1016/j.mathsocsci.2025.102467","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We demonstrate how multimarket contact can negatively impact the quality choices in two different markets, resulting in a reduction in the availability of high-quality products and an increase in the availability of low-quality products. In our model, the firms can collude during the quality choice in different markets and may under-invest in product quality improvement. We also discuss the stability of these types of cartels. Consumer surplus decreases if both firms collude, such that either or both firms switch to the low-quality product in one or both markets. However, in doing so, the firms earn higher profits under collusion.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51118,"journal":{"name":"Mathematical Social Sciences","volume":"138 ","pages":"Article 102467"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7000,"publicationDate":"2025-09-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Multimarket contact, cartel and product quality\",\"authors\":\"Neelanjan Sen , Uday Bhanu Sinha\",\"doi\":\"10.1016/j.mathsocsci.2025.102467\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"<div><div>We demonstrate how multimarket contact can negatively impact the quality choices in two different markets, resulting in a reduction in the availability of high-quality products and an increase in the availability of low-quality products. In our model, the firms can collude during the quality choice in different markets and may under-invest in product quality improvement. We also discuss the stability of these types of cartels. Consumer surplus decreases if both firms collude, such that either or both firms switch to the low-quality product in one or both markets. However, in doing so, the firms earn higher profits under collusion.</div></div>\",\"PeriodicalId\":51118,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Mathematical Social Sciences\",\"volume\":\"138 \",\"pages\":\"Article 102467\"},\"PeriodicalIF\":0.7000,\"publicationDate\":\"2025-09-26\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Mathematical Social Sciences\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"96\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165489625000824\",\"RegionNum\":4,\"RegionCategory\":\"经济学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q4\",\"JCRName\":\"ECONOMICS\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Mathematical Social Sciences","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165489625000824","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"ECONOMICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
We demonstrate how multimarket contact can negatively impact the quality choices in two different markets, resulting in a reduction in the availability of high-quality products and an increase in the availability of low-quality products. In our model, the firms can collude during the quality choice in different markets and may under-invest in product quality improvement. We also discuss the stability of these types of cartels. Consumer surplus decreases if both firms collude, such that either or both firms switch to the low-quality product in one or both markets. However, in doing so, the firms earn higher profits under collusion.
期刊介绍:
The international, interdisciplinary journal Mathematical Social Sciences publishes original research articles, survey papers, short notes and book reviews. The journal emphasizes the unity of mathematical modelling in economics, psychology, political sciences, sociology and other social sciences.
Topics of particular interest include the fundamental aspects of choice, information, and preferences (decision science) and of interaction (game theory and economic theory), the measurement of utility, welfare and inequality, the formal theories of justice and implementation, voting rules, cooperative games, fair division, cost allocation, bargaining, matching, social networks, and evolutionary and other dynamics models.
Papers published by the journal are mathematically rigorous but no bounds, from above or from below, limits their technical level. All mathematical techniques may be used. The articles should be self-contained and readable by social scientists trained in mathematics.