We analytically characterize the effects of ownership and competition in the health care industry on quality provision, market coverage and optimal co-payment policy. A private monopoly selects a lower quality than a public supplier, and the socially optimal co-payment rate with a private monopoly exceeds that with a public monopoly. We establish that the optimal co-payment policy is invariant ...

This paper provides a new game theoretic model consistent with the premises of contestable markets. Two firms repeatedly compete for a natural monopoly position. The limit price of the incumbent is disciplined by a hit and run strategy of the entrant. In this model, contrarily to the well known Maskin and Tirole model (1988): i) productive efficiency is encouraged, the more efficient firm gets ...

This paper aims at measuring the loss in the value of a firm due to the gamble for resurrection, in a standard contingent claims model. Just before a debt repayment is due, the equityholders of a levered firm can decide to shut the firm down or to keep it as an ongoing concern. We study how leverage affects the operating decision and we provide a closed form formula for the associated agency co...

A stable market structure is a partition of the firms in an industry such that there is no incentive for any breakups or mergers. Characterizing such stability requires an endogenization of both the core and Cournot equilibrium as well as all hybrid equilibria. This paper solves for the stable partitions in a general oligopoly by providing a tractable condition: a partition is stable if and onl...

I examine the effects of vertical integration between programming and distribution in the cable television industry. I assess the effects of ownership structure on program offerings, prices, and subscriptions, and I compare consumer welfnre across integrated and unintegrated markets. The results of this analysis suggest two general conclusions. First, integrated operators tend to exclude rival ...

This paper examines the elements of institutional development critical to the enhancement of company performance in transition economies. This includes initial conditions, forms of privatization, institutional frameworks and the competitiveness of markets. Comparing empirical evidence, the paper concludes that there is a clear distinction in effectiveness of policies followed and their impact b...

Informality as a Stepping Stone: Entrepreneurial Entry in a Developing Economy We model decisions with respect to formality or informality for entrepreneurs in a new industry for a developing economy. We show that informality allows a leader to explore, without significant sunk costs, the potential profitability of the industry; that is, informality may be a stepping stone, enabling an entrepre...

We analyze the impact of vertical integration when a monopolistic producer can make a capital commitment before deciding on output. For the vertically separated industry structure, we ̄nd that opportunism resulting from competition between retailers leads to a longrun underinvestment in capital. With vertical integration, the capital investment is e±cient but output is monopolistically restrict...

In many important high-technology markets, including software development, data processing, communications, aeronautics, and defense, suppliers learn through experience how to provide better service at lower cost. This paper examines how a buyer designs dynamic competition among rival suppliers to exploit learning economies while minimizing the costs of becoming locked in to one producer. Strat...