Input Specificity and Product Differentiation

Input Specificity and Global Sourcing

This paper investigates the role of productivity on a firm’s organizational choice. We set up an industry-equilibrium model in which heterogeneous firms concurrently choose their type of inputs, ownership structure and location of production. In choosing their type of inputs, firms trade off the extra customization costs of adopting generic inputs against the reduced hold-up friction that gener...

Copyright and Product Differentiation

Product Differentiation

Product Differentiation and Public Education

Beginning with Tiebout (1956), numerous studies have argued that we should expect to see differences in public services among localities as a result of people “voting with their feet”. Here, we consider differentiation in public services as a way of reducing competition among localities (cities). If cities finance their public services with a property tax that generates “tax competition”, we fi...

Credence Goods and Product Differentiation

This paper analyses price competition between two firms producing horizontally and vertically differentiated goods. These are assumed to be credence goods, as consumers can hardly ascertain the quality of the commodities. We provide sufficient conditions for the existence of a unique price equilibrium and we characterize it. To illustrate the model, we adapt it to represent a newspapers’ indust...