Manufacturers discriminating among retailers is an important issue in competition policy. Specifically, the EU allows quantity discounts but forbids discriminatory discounts – a policy that does not jive with standard economic analysis which suggests that banning price discrimination improves allocative efficiency and typically also raises overall welfare. This column argues that the research – and the recommendations that flow from it – are based on excessively restrictive assumptions. When there are nonlinear wholesale contracts, e.g. quantity discounts, the presence of private information can reverse the standard analysis in a way that supports the EU’s policy.
Related
-
Jesus Felipe, Utsav Kumar, Arnelyn Abdon
Most Read
-
Huber
-
Égert, de La Maisonneuve, Turner
-
Chaudhary, Viswanath-Natraj
-
Frey, Presidente
-
Lafrogne-Joussier, Levchenko, Martin, Mejean
-
Burgess, Sievertsen
-
Eichengreen, O'Rourke
-
Mitze, Kosfeld, Rode, Wälde
-
Heldring, Robinson
-
Allen
Blogs&Reviews
-
Carraro, Cœuré, Dhand, Eichengreen, Mills, Rey, Sapir, Schwarzer
-
Evenett
-
Fullerton, Levinson
-
Hoffmann, Moench, Pavlova, Schultefrankenfeld
-
Reichlin, Adam, McKibbin, McMahon, Reis, Ricco, Weder di Mauro
Don't Miss
Events
-
23 - 24 May 2022 / hybrid I Vienna / Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB) and SUERF - The European Money and Finance Forum
-
14 - 17 June 2022 / University of Pisa, Dep. Economics and Management / University of Pisa, Dep. Economics and Management
-
22 - 24 June 2022 / Lucca, Italy /
-
5 - 15 July 2022 / Warwick/Coventry / University of Warwick
-
11 - 13 July 2022 / / National Council of Applied Economic Researach (NCAER)
CEPR Policy Research
-
Gobillon, Solignac
-
Giglio, Maggiori, Stroebel, Weber
-
Summers, Fatás
-
Favero, Galasso
-
Butt, Churm, McMahon, Morotz, Schanz
-
Eichengreen, Avgouleas, Poiares Maduro, Panizza, Portes, Weder di Mauro, Wyplosz, Zettelmeyer
-
Baldwin, Beck, Bénassy-Quéré, Blanchard, Corsetti, De Grauwe, den Haan, Giavazzi, Gros, Kalemli-Ozcan, Micossi, Papaioannou, Pesenti, Pissarides , Tabellini, Weder di Mauro
-
Baldwin, Nakatomi
-
Thimann
-
Goodhart, Perotti